Successfully planning and running a virtual event is either much harder than you’d expect, or much easier than you’d fear, depending on how you’d approach it. You might think that holding a presentation with a virtual audience might be as simple as a Skype call; you’d be wrong. You might think it requires incredibly expensive or complicated systems and special training. You’d also be wrong.
The truth is, in either situation you’re probably lacking some basic knowledge about virtual events leading you to misjudge putting one together. So let’s take a quick look at the ins and outs of successfully running a virtual event, and see where we end up.
Decide Your Platform and Visuals
There’s more than one way to skin a cut – or run a virtual event. When determining how to put together your event, you need to know what your audience is going to be seeing, and how interactive you want it to be.
- Video feeds are what the virtual audience will be looking at. Do you want them to see a live video? Audio plus slides? A mixture of both? A live presentation that’s filmed with cameras will cost more and involve more logistical steps, but will look better; on the other hand, one that’s a voice and slideshow can be incredibly cost-effective and easy to put together. Whether it will be considered “cheap” by your audience will largely depend on what you’re presenting.
- Like with video feeds, interactivity can range from inexpensive and uncomplicated to logistical challenges requiring teams to pull it off. The easiest way to integrate audience participations is through whatever feature is built in to your event program (usually just a chat window). The more complicated methods involve multi-site events combining virtual presentations broadcast from one location, to a live audience in another.
Choose The Right Location
This is the location of the presenter and the audience. Will the audience be in one location? A series of locations? Just logging in from home? Where will the presentation be held? The easy option is to hold the presentation from your normal office, with viewers logging in at home. This is a simple and cost-efficient way to put together a virtual event.
Check Your Internet Connection
Whether you’re only presenting from your office to home computers, or presenting from a live venue to multiple locations, you need to make sure the internet connection will meet your needs. Inspect sites beforehand to assess the strength and stability of their internet connections for persistent video broadcast. If running from your office, have your IT department make sure your internet can handle it.
As you can see, there are easy ways and hard ways to run virtual events. Consider your circumstances – your budget, your resources, and the nature of your presentation – before thinking about the above points. That will help you put together a virtual event that’s simple, cost-effective, and a great experience for your audience.
