How To Host A Successful Virtual Conference – Here Is All You Need To Know
If you have ever wanted to run a virtual conference, you are at the right place. One that is entertaining engages your audience and makes them feel as if they got value from it?
The popularity of virtual conferences is due to their opportunities for knowledge-sharing and relationship-building between experts and professionals worldwide. A virtual meeting eliminates the logistics and costs of being face to face.
Still, it allows you to network, share ideas, and participate in collaborative sessions with many experts from different countries. Holding a virtual conference is a great way to bring people together. And there are not many events that share the same atmosphere.
There are more than one ways to run virtual conferences, but I’ll walk you through the most common patterns and suggest what each one of them can do for you.
Here we have added a list of 10 ways to host a successful virtual conference. So without further ado, let’s get started.
Benefits of Hosting Successful Virtual Conference
You can reach an international audience, which opens up more significant opportunities to expand your business.
Connecting with your customers or clients is more accessible because no geographical restrictions often limit you from meeting them in person.
You also will not have to worry about travel costs and long hours spent on travel. With a virtual conference, you can do it all while sitting at home or in the office.
- Reach an International Audience
If a physical conference is limited by location and time, the virtual meeting is not. You can easily connect with people, even if they are not physically near you. It gives you more time to prepare content, which helps you attract more audience members.
- Save Time and Money
Hosting a virtual conference is cost-effective compared to holding one in the real world. You do not need to go through the hassle of reserving space, hiring technicians, and paying travel expenses.
Virtual conferences are held remotely, so there is no need for you to pay for travel expenses. With meetings, you can reach out to more people without spending much money, making it perfect for startups just starting.
- Less Time Consuming
Compared to physical conferences and events, hosting a virtual conference does not require much time from you. It also saves you from traveling long distances and spending sleepless nights working on it.
Top 10 Ways to Host a Successful Virtual Conference
A virtual conference is an online event designed to provide information, education, and entertainment to participants through electronic media. A virtual meeting can also be considered a live stream event where attendees watch presentations and speeches via computer or mobile device.
- Start Planning Early
Plans for a virtual conference should be initiated as soon as possible, much like a real-life event. More time to plan to mean, the easier it will be to ensure a successful virtual conference.
Tasks such as contacting vendors, writing up a schedule, and determining the best time for your event can be done well in advance.
Begin by determining the length of time you want your event to run, depending on how much content you present and how much interaction participants wish to have.
- Choose the Right Virtual Platform
You are trying to figure out what platform is best for your virtual event. What works for one event might not work for another. The more you know about the different platforms, the easier it will be to decide which one to use for your event.
If you are hosting your first-ever virtual conference, here are some questions that can help you decide which platform is right for you. It will help you determine how many people you need to register for your event successfully.
- Functionality – Does the tool have every feature you need for your event? If not, will it be willing and able to add features in the future? What features does it offer that you don’t need?
- Security – Do you trust the platform’s security? What are their policy on data protection and privacy? Is it accessible for attendees to join a session securely from any device or country?
- Are they hosting Options – How easy is it for attendees to join the meeting from their devices? Can they attend via phone, on-demand, or through an app? Are there limitations on screen sharing, recording, or other functionality?
- Customer Support – What are their policies regarding customer support during your event? Will they offer free technical support before and during your event?
- Community – Is there a community of users already using this platform, and do they seem happy with it?
With these features, a virtual conference platform allows the user to embed slides and presentation videos, breakout rooms, and more. The presenters can use the zoom button to change the size of their video image.
The remote control-like arrows and canceling and submenu buttons on the interface help them jump back and forth between each Presentation.
- Invite The Right People
The answer is relatively simple when it comes to virtual conferences: you should invite people interested in the topic at hand. It means that the people you ask should be interested in the subject of your virtual discussion, but it also means that these individuals should be interested in the event itself.
If you’re hosting a virtual conference on blogging, your audience will be interested in blogging. However, if this is your first virtual conference, it’s a good idea to try and find those who are already successful bloggers and think they can share some great tips with others.
- Don’t Limit Yourself to One Presentation
Suppose your organization is hosting a webinar or online conference. In that case, you will want to make sure you have enough presentations and other content options available for attendees to choose what they want to watch and when they want to watch it.
You don’t have to have multiple presenters for every session, but it’s always nice if you do. For example, if you’re hosting an event with three sessions, one presenting company spokesperson might not cut it.
You could offer two different speakers from the same company or even from various company’s altogether. The idea is to give people more choices and make your event more interesting for them.
- Promote Your Event
Trying to promote a webinar can be a daunting task. You want to make sure that you are getting the word out so that people will sign up.
- Assign Moderators
Moderators are critical to any successful virtual conference. They help keep track of time and control the movement from one speaker to another, so the flow is uninterrupted during the event.
- Choose Speakers Who Attract People
The speakers you choose should be genuine experts in their fields, which will attract people to attend your virtual conferences on their own accord.
- Be Personable and Interactive
The key to the success of your virtual conference is to interact with your attendees and make them feel welcome. The more comfortable your attendees think, the more likely they will attend sessions and participate in the discussion forums.
Be prepared to answer questions. You will get them during your Presentation, so stand by! Have a list of potential questions and possible answers.
Have your bio ready for the end of each session. It is where you can tell people about who you are and what your company does. Make sure it is short and gets straight to the point, as most people will scroll down and check out who you are after each session has finished.
- Communicate With Attendees Before, During, And After The Virtual Conference
Your virtual conference will succeed if you communicate effectively with attendees before they arrive, during the virtual conference itself, and afterward.
Send an email or newsletter out well ahead of time, letting people know about your virtual event. Please include all relevant payment details and let them know what to expect from day one.
Provide live updates during your virtual event so all participants know what’s happening and what to expect next.
Thank everyone for attending your live stream event by sending out an email or newsletter to those who registered for your virtual event. Do this even if you’ve offered free registration because it’s important to show appreciation and recognize their efforts. You can also ask if they had problems with any aspect of the webinar and how
- Have Fun!
You want your audience to be engaged with what is going on and have fun while there. Having fun will help them learn more than if they weren’t having fun. You can add jokes and funny moments between sessions and breaks.
If you can make people laugh while they’re learning, then they will remember what they’ve learned much more manageable.
Bottom Line:
Virtual Conferences, while they have proven to be practical time-savers for many businesses, can sometimes feel like a daunting task. However, if you keep these steps in mind and plan thoroughly before launching your virtual conference, you can show up prepared and looking your best.
Hosting a virtual conference does not have to be an all-day job if you plan ahead of time and follow the tips outlined in this article.
Do you have suggestions for future topics? Please post your thoughts in the comments section below.
