I know that as a small business owner finding ways to connect with your customers or clients in the absence of in-person events is a challenge right now.
Perhaps you know that hosting a digital event is instinctively the way to go.
Organising a virtual event may feel daunting especially when we struggle to get our printer to work most days! But with a little bit of planning and with the right support in place, you might just come to love my virtual world 😉
I caught up with another Virtual Assistant, Sanita Guddu, who I’ve been working with on virtual events and she is hot on event planning. Here are Sanita’s top tips on running a virtual event whilst retaining a cool head. Sounds good doesn’t it?
1. Be super clear about what you are trying to achieve
Is the purpose of the event to keep in touch with an existing client base or to attract new clients or customers? Ask yourself is a virtual event the best way to do this? You’ll want to put together a mini strategy that covers the objective, the timings, will you charge for the event or is it a freebie?
2. The tech
We’ve all been to events where the mic doesn’t work for the speaker or the wrong slide is on the screen. Expect the tech not to play ball and you’ll be a lot calmer when something does go wrong.
The key to preventing many of these challenges is to test, test and test the equipment. This is everything from your presentation slides being in order, your internet connection, your microphone and that the hosting platform can do everything that you need it to.
You may want to get in touch with your attendees ahead of the event to check that they are comfortable logging into the program you're hosting your event on. This is also an opportunity to find out more about your audience, and won't you look like the perfect event organiser by making this call?
3. Timing
Your event may be a lot easier to access now it’s online and there aren’t any travel logistics for your attendees to navigate around. But you will still want to make sure that the timing suits your audience.
By doing a bit of research you will know if there are other events that clash with yours, that your audience would be interested in attending too.
Are there certain times of the day that your audience are online? For example, if your audience is 'young mums' you’ll want to avoid school pickup and drop off times.
4. Do the social
What makes your event stand out? Perhaps you have launched a new product or service, or you have an inspiring guest speaker at the event. Once you have determined what makes your event special, you will need to promote it far and wide.
Share the event with as many people as possible. Even if all your contacts aren’t likely to attend the event, are they willing to share it with people that are?
Doing the social media work is the easiest and quickest way to reach your audience through posts, re-shares and likes. Think ahead if you want to do any ads, will you do this on Facebook or LinkedIn?
5. Make it accessible
Although we might assume that any online event is accessible, without captions and the right images and fonts people with a visual or hearing impairment will not be able to engage in your event. Ensure that your event is inclusive.
6. Get people talking
Encourage people to ask questions before and during the event. This can be used to spark conversations and again create further interest in your event. You can create polls and ask people to tweet live.
You can also get in touch with participants after the event for feedback on the event itself and your product or service.
That’s all the 6 tips for creating a virtual event
How are you feeling about running your own virtual event? A little apprehensive? That’s natural. Sanita and I would be happy to discuss with you how we could support you.
You can get in touch with Sanita at www.yourvirtualassist.co.uk or by email at sanita@yourvirtualassist.co.uk