With the growing trend of hosting online conferences these days, many corporations and organisations have jumped on the bandwagon to shift their events online.
Hosting a virtual conference would be simple, but how to host a satisfactory one, especially under an online setting seems not a piece of cake. From the planning stage to execution, there are numerous things to consider.
By far we have gathered some indispensable factors which contribute to a fruitful online conference. Reading the following guides can help you realise what are the essential ingredients to a successful online event.
Generally speaking, an online conference lasts for at least one or even two days. Imagine if the theme is tedious, your audience would not have a prolonged attention span to the entire event. Therefore, having an appealing topic and content is of crucial significance.
For a start, creating a well-thought-out event agenda and logistics is pivotal. A typical conference includes opening ceremonies, presentations, lunch and dinner sessions as well as breaks. In order to stand out from your rivals, it is advisable to add more colours to your online conference. Small group discussions and networking sessions, for instance, can be held during the event.
Aside from the content, when deciding the theme, it is equally important to take the tagline into consideration. “Creating Customer Connections”, for example, is a good slogan for a corporate conference, as it is not only catchy but it also utilises parallelism to demonstrate the theme in both precise and concise ways.
Speaking of ways to deliver your messages, most of the speakers would consider speaking with some technical terms and jargons as well as presenting with appropriate body language and gesture.
However, none of the above-mentioned methods are as effective as leveraging data, graphics, animation and videos to visualise your ideas. Compared with solely articulating your thoughts, having a good visualisation helps to deepen your audience’s understanding of the content, thus enhancing their attention span and memory.
With online conferences, nowadays visualisation can be achieved and fully utilised in an easier way, as every participant can both clearly and closely view the visual elements on the online screen.
Audience engagement is another crucial aspect that we should in no way ignore in a online conference. For the sake of facilitating the engagement, live and pre-event polling can be embedded in the online conference. Not only can the live polling create a room for interactivity, but the pre-event one can also boost the audience’s show-up rates.
Since it can make the audience feel that the event is catered to their needs and expectations so that they will be prone to show up to the online event, due to relevant content.
In fact, we can further think of some creative ways to enhance engagement. Reward system, for instance, can be integrated into the online conference. Attendees will be given some points for joining the event on time and other activities such as polling. Those points can be used to exchange some prizes, thus fostering audience engagement.
Networking can be regarded as a vital means for attendees to interact with each other. During online conferences, although the original lunch or dinner session is cancelled, there can still be a room for discussion. Gamification, for example, can be integrated into the online event so as to add more colors and a sense of entertainment for networking.
To be more specific, it is not difficult to hold a photo competition for different themes. During lunchtime, instead of having a break to temporarily end the event, it can be replaced by a photo sharing session. Given that some people might cook at home or have meals at some upmarket restaurants, they can take a photo of their food and share with fellow attendees.
The one who can gain the highest appreciation from others can gain a prize. By doing this, attendees can interact in a more relaxing and enjoyable way, unlike only following the traditional approach to exchange online name cards and have discussions with other audience members in the breakout room.
As the saying goes, “sharp tools make good work”. Finding a reputable online event technology service provider is a prerequisite for a successful online conference. Without having an event technology company to provide relevant service for the event organisers, it is impossible to bring the event from offline to online.
Among all event technology firms, some of them can provide 3D demonstration, live streaming and real-time interactive functions. Conversely, some companies’ services are limited to only creating an online space for holding a virtual conference with fewer diversities in the product’s features.
Apart from that, a stable platform that can enable thousands of attendees to join the event at the same time is also another factor that we should take into account. Of course, having good reputation like those platforms that are highly recommended and appreciated by many customers is also worth considering.
All in all, it is hoped that we can all be cautious about the details of online event management. As long as we bear the aforementioned elements in mind when running an online event, it is believed that event organisers can avoid making some unnecessary mistakes, thus hosting a fabulous event.
Q & A
Q: What are online conferences?
A: Online conferences are an excellent way to get your message out to a larger audience. They allow you to speak with people from all over the world in a comfortable setting, and they offer potential attendees the opportunity to ask questions live.
Q: Why do you need online conferences?
A: Conference scheduling can be a time-consuming and complex process. With the right tools, however, it can be made much easier. Online conferencing allows for real-time collaboration between participants, making it an ideal medium for event marketing. Online conferencing also makes it possible to hold large events with a smaller footprint, reducing costs while increasing efficiency.
Q: I am new to holding online conferences. What should I do?
A: Starting an online conference can be a daunting task, but with some planning and execution it can be a very successful event. There are a few things that you should do to make your conference a success: first, create a strong title and slogan for your event. This will help you identify and market your conference to potential attendees. Second, build an effective website for your conference. This will allow people to learn more about the event and register without having to contact you directly. Finally, develop marketing materials such as flyers and email blasts that promote your event and highlight specific features of the conference. By following these tips, you can ensure that your online conference is a success!