Virtual Events are all around us these days. From the medical community to corporates, educational institutions to government organizations, virtual events help each and every industry.
Almost every business in the world currently has either held a virtual event or is in the process of planning one right now.
After all, virtual events are the new cash cows & lead generation machines.
They help get the word out about your business, & also lead to greater revenue generation & visibility for your brand.
Virtual Events also drastically increase your consumer base & brand outreach.
They help put an interactive, human face to your brand & allow your customers to connect with it.
But not all virtual events are designed in the same way. Some hold more value for attendees than others, while some others are more exciting to be a part of.
Your next virtual event can either be a huge success or can go down without leaving a mark on your attendees.
Much of it depends on the kind of virtual event you’re hosting, & how good it is at engaging your attendees.
For the same to be effective, you will need to plan good & effective virtual events based on some amazing, creative ideas.
In this blog, we tell you the top 10 effective ideas to know before your next virtual event.
Stand up comedy performances
If you wish to keep your audience engaged, then providing them adequate entertainment opportunities is the best way to achieve this goal.
In-event entertainment options like live comedy performances, karaoke sessions, poetry recitals, book reading, etc. can all help engage your audience with the event.
Comedy performances take the trophy for probably being the most entertaining engagement activity of all in this list.
Everybody loves a good laugh, & by providing your audience with something to chuckle about collectively, you open the channels of communication between them.
Thus, including impromptu comedy performances in-between sessions is a great way to get your audience to be engaged with your virtual event.
Virtual Concerts
Virtual Concerts are another way to engage your audience in your event. And no, by virtual concerts we don’t mean a live-streamed version of an actual, live concert.
We mean full-blown virtual concerts that come with all the interaction & networking capabilities consistent with well-designed virtual events.
You have to actually engage your audience with the event, & not just have them watch it from the sidelines.
Virtual Concerts help you with this by making your audience feel included & involved in the event.
They can shout, sing along, & interact with other attendees in the virtual concert. Virtual Concerts, in this way, also act as a creative ice-breaking activity.
Organized event content
If your virtual event consists of multiple sessions across a wide variety of topics & interests. It’s important to categorize it effectively into specially curated streams, also known as ‘session tracks’.
These session tracks will help your attendees segregate their favorite sessions by simply looking at the session descriptions & categories.
For example, if your virtual event consists of sessions aimed at AI, arts, culture, fashion, animation, decor, & more. Organizing your content according to the various industries they cater to is a great way to help your audience decide which ones they want to attend.
This will increase audience engagement, as well as help them navigate through your virtual event smoothly.
Dynamic Leaderboard challenges
Leaderboards are a great way to engage & interest your audience with the prospect of having their names displayed to all the other attendees.
Leaderboard challenges include allotting points to your audience on the basis of various activities they complete in the event.
For example, attending a session completely can have a fixed number of points. Similarly, asking questions during a Q&A session, engaging in live polling, networking with the other attendees, etc. all can have some points associated with them.
Based on what all activities your audience performs in the virtual event, you can allot them points. These points will reflect on their leaderboard rankings, with the top ones eligible for a special prize or a memento.
Leaderboard challenges are sure to engage your audience with the event. They also help increase audience engagement with your event by incentivizing them to attend each & every session and activity.
Virtual Photo Booths/Mosaics
Just like experiential technology installations in physical events, virtual events can also benefit from wide-ranging audience engagement installations.
Virtual Photo booths are one example. You can have your attendees pose in pre-designed creative & fun templatized booth formats. These pictures can be either sent to them individually or utilized to form a mosaic of all attendees at the event.
This mosaic can be set up as a virtual background for your event, allowing your attendees to visualize their contribution to the virtual event.
Virtual Exhibition Halls
Virtual Exhibition Halls help your attendees get in touch with your sponsors, as well as allow your sponsors to pick out their target audience.
You can set up a well-designed, custom expo hall with special graphics for each of your sponsored exhibits. Your attendees can click on the booths to be automatically taken to their web pages or specially designed custom exhibition halls.
They can check out their products, services, special offerings, & chat with them individually.
This helps increase the networking potential of your virtual event, & also provides good sales leads to your sponsors.
Sponsored sessions
Sponsored sessions provide attendees with a way to interact with some of the most well-known brands & their leaders.
This adds a human touch to your virtual event, & allows your attendees to engage with your event in a better way.
Sponsored sessions are a great way to provide increased visibility & traction to your sponsors within your virtual event.
You should leverage sponsored sessions to enhance both audience engagement & sponsor visibility at your virtual event.
Sponsored giveaways
Sponsored Giveaways are also a great way to engage your audience in your virtual event.
Have your sponsors produce a wide range of giveaway products to send away to your attendees.
Sponsored giveaways help engage your audience by giving them the prospect to receive a good quality sponsored souvenir from the virtual event.
The more exciting & valuable the products, the more engaged & interested your audience will be in attending your virtual event.
Custom attendee avatars
Creating custom avatars of your attendees helps them feel engaged & involved with the virtual event.
Custom avatars also help your attendees feel that they are actually present in the event through technology. Rather than just being a mute audience watching the event sitting in their home, custom avatars allow them to be actively engaged with the entire event.
3D Immersive Virtual Environment
3D Immersive virtual environments are also a great way to engage your audience with your virtual event.
Immersive and realistic virtual environments provide a way for your audience to feel enveloped in a real, live physical event.
They get to feel as if they are a part of an actual in-person experience, rather than attending the event through a screen.
This will undoubtedly translate into increased audience engagement & retention rates for your virtual event.
These virtual event ideas will surely help your virtual event become a success in practically no time.
Utilize these ideas to turn your next virtual event into a hotbed of audience engagement & interaction opportunities.
