Hosting a Virtual Event: How to Be a Rock star

With technology evolving and being improved every day, possibilities have expanded and transferred to virtual space. This is not that surprising since the audience has changed, meaning that distance is not an obstacle anymore for attendance and thus reaching not only bigger numbers, but the right people has become easier and faster. Producing such an event is not that complicated, all you need is a camera, Internet connection, and a topic, but producing a rock star event may require some finesse and expertise after all. So, here are some tips that might help you be successful.

Find sponsors and/or partners

Having partners and sponsors is part of any event, but choosing the right ones is crucial for a successful happening whether they’re virtual or not. They will help you promote the event, especially if they strongly support your standpoints and ideas, and will also make the entire process easier and executable by providing logistics or resources. Since this relationship is based on mutual benefits, you should consider what you can offer your partners and sponsors and how they would benefit from your virtual event. Remember to show appropriate respect and pay equal attention to all included partners and not leave anyone out.

Gather your audience

When advertising the event, be clear with instructions on how to access it and the manner of participation. Also prepare for possible problems by creating a frequently asked questions page which will cover all basic and usual troubleshooting.  Prepare login and registration forms at the very least, but if you want to have insight into the attendance of your audience, enable them to create personalised user profiles.

When it comes to communicating with your audience, make a newsletter and regular posts on the website about something related to the event, thereby reminding your audience of their attendance and informing them about what to expect. It would also be great if you could present each guest or speaker you’ll have pointing out why they are important and how they contribute.

Test the equipment

The last thing you want is for equipment to fail in the middle of the live feed, so checking that all is in perfect order and working properly should be a priority. If you’re not technically savvy, hire a technician or company to take care of this aspect. Commercial audio and video (AV) installations, however, tend to be expensive so maybe you can offer the store to be your sponsor or partner and obtain equipment in exchange for advertising space.

Also, just in case, have a backup plan if some equipment fails or experiences hiccups. If possible, have replacement equipment in place, but if not, concentrate on ways to continue with the program or fill in the gaps.

Prepare the program

The program includes everything that is part of the event from the moment it is on air to the end. This means that every segment must be planned and timed, as well as monitored and rehearsed. If you have a predetermined time for your event, design the program together with the participants so you will try to provide enough time for each when it comes to their segments. Once drafted, the program should be made public so your audience knows what to expect and when. You can develop a more detailed program for internal use by you, staff and participants which would include more information on the event, such as advertising space for your sponsors and notes for the speakers.

Prepare the content

When it comes to live events, reviewing content would be not only advised but also beneficial for all participants. Although there are those who can argue that it’s a form of censorship, but as the organiser and producer your responsibility is to provide appropriate and quality content to your audience, one that is not offensive or discriminatory in any way. On the other hand, the content is what makes your event attractive to the public eye, so making sure that everything is in order and that the audience will get what they signed up for is part of your job and responsibility. In order not to waste time (and money) try to have a clear image in mind and learn to say no to anything that doesn’t fit it.

Prepare the speakers

Not everyone is good at public speaking. Some are just scared of it, and some are bad at it. What you want to do is coach your speakers on how to present their topics in a more interesting way. This may be a tricky thing to do since you can easily bruise someone’s ego or shatter their confidence, so you might want to use an approach that will be less conspicuous. For instance, you can organise all-attendance rehearsals, thus giving your speakers the role of the audience, and ask them to give suggestions to their colleagues for their performance.

Also, if you can’t change the speaker, you can try and make their material more interesting and maybe inspiring for them to be better or more invested. Intermittent presentations from good and bad speakers may look like a good idea, but will only influence the audience’s attention to check the timetable of the event and not pay attention to content. If all else fails, and you believe it to be crucial, consider replacing the problematic speaker with the better one, in a respectful and non-offensive manner.

In the end

Practice makes perfect and that applies to hosting virtual events, too. Record each one you’ve made and assess how to make it better. Try to keep up with the trends and popular topics, as well as the audience’s expectations as to rhetorical and aesthetic aspects. And soon enough your events will go viral.