You will be able to take your virtual events to the next level only by increasing your audience’s involvement. It is critical to create entertaining events because it’s all too simple for your audience to become side tracked when they’re watching your events on the internet. How many times have you sat through a webinar just to get distracted and do something else? So, how can you make a virtual event interesting in the first place?
You can keep your audience engaged throughout a virtual event by presenting them with activities on a regular basis. You must do something distinctive and shocking to keep your audience engaged. Include interactive components to make your virtual event feel even more immersive for your audience.
Creating a theme for the event
You can essentially take your audience through an experience – pre-event, during the event, and beyond – by adding theme to your event. Assume you’re organizing a virtual gathering around the holidays. It would be fantastic if everyone wore a Santa hat or something like that. These are generally accompanied by interesting stories that help to break the ice.
This works nicely for business occasions as well. People need a little fun in their lives, and if you pull off an exciting event theme perfectly, you’ll put a smile on their faces. Ensure having enough light in your setup for your audience to see you or the host clearly. Without proper lighting, your virtual event’s engagement rate might decline substantially.
Conduct online live polling
There are various ways to conduct a Q&A session. Here are a few possibilities:
Including audio: Audience members can answer a question by unmuting themselves during an audio Q&A. This strategy particularly works for smaller groups of audiences. Well, in this regard, it’s worth noting that you should use only top-notch audio tools. Otherwise, your audience’s experience might get impacted, leading to poor virtual event engagement.
You can also allow participants to submit written questions during the presentation using Chat. The chosen questions might then be read aloud or published for everyone to see.
A chat moderator, for example, may encourage participants to participate in the discussion by asking content-related questions or highlighting significant phrases or moments in the presentation.
Host Social Media Contests
A common advantage of having a highly engaged audience is increased social media exposure. You must use a specialized hashtag at any event. This hashtag will be used by your audience when they post something about your event on social media. Naturally, you may keep track of this hashtag and conduct analysis and competitions using it.
So, at your virtual events, make sure to give your attendees the opportunity to share creative content on social media. Most people enjoy a good competition, especially if there is something they truly want to win. For your massive virtual gatherings, hold some social media contests. You may, for example, ask your audience to share a photo of themselves during your event.
Gamification works wonder
Gamification is a great method to keep audiences interested, irrespective of whether it’s a live event or a virtual one. Have you noticed exhibition halls at large in-person trade events where sponsoring companies have booths where they market their service or/and products? You can accomplish the same with the right virtual conferencing platform. Make a multiple-choice quiz for the entire group. You may also choose a few people to play the game with by allowing them to share their audio and video. To boost engagement, even more, consider allowing your audience to vote on trivia categories. These inquiries can be about the conference, company culture, or even pop culture.