Virtual corporate events are said to become more common these days, and that’s because the digital world is increasingly becoming popular. With a virtual corporate event, you can develop genuine connections and allow your employees to relate in a personal way. This event could be virtual team building, marketing, or any event that promotes your brand or business.
If you’re one of your company’s corporate organizers, here are some viable tips to follow to make your first virtual corporate event a success:
1. Choose A Venue
Even if it’s held online, you still need a geographical location to host the event. The only difference is that your audience doesn’t have to be physically present in the venue. This means you have greater flexibility when choosing the venue since the place doesn’t have to be a big one.
What’s important is that the host can fit in the venue and has a stable internet connection and other technological gadgets required to stream the event. You can even live-stream in your home or office, as long as you can optimize the sound and lighting. You also need to have a suitable backdrop to make it more professional.
But suppose you want a more professional stage and set. In that case, you may need to rent a ‘venue.’ These days, many companies offer a virtual studio where you can host any events, such as virtual corporate entertainment. The virtual studio has all the professional setup you may need, including screens, a digital lectern, furniture, and professional lighting. This is important if you’re hosting an important awards event or a sizeable company virtual event.
2. Keep The Tech Simple
Hosting a virtual event is made possible because of the abundance of technologies. However, it’s best to utilize a tech you’re already familiar with. If you’re in a rush and you plan to use a complicated tech platform, you may ruin the flow of the program. Instead of learning how to navigate the tech, you can use the extra time to boost what you already know.
Your audience will also appreciate it if they know how to use the tech platform. Doing this helps them focus and keeps them engaged in the virtual event. For instance, you may want to use Zoom or any tech that your company is already using for communicating online for closed events such as Q&A and polls. Meanwhile, it may be best to use what your employees already use for assembling, such as social media platforms. That way, your event can cater to what they can utilize efficiently.
3. Try Making Long Events Into Bite-Sized Pieces
Instead of fitting the event into a whole day, it may be best to break them into smaller chunks. For instance, spread the event into a four or five-day event that doesn’t keep your audience stuck on the screen for the whole day. Each day may only require one to two hours of screen time, or even 20 minutes each day.
To make them excited to attend the event, you must also make it educational. Then, use alternative deliveries such as podcasts and other digital content. Your employees can continue their daily activities while consuming digital content.
Since the audience’s attention span is reduced in the digital world, you should also make each piece of content compelling, well-organized, and concise. Moreover, add one instance of audience engagement for every 10-15 minutes of presentation time. Here, you can ask them to contribute to the chat, submit a question, or participate in a poll twice to three times.
4. Market Your Event
Although it’s a company event, you still need to let the expected participants know about the upcoming event. Make sure to promote the virtual event weeks before its actual date.
You can use your announcement boards or tech platforms to ensure everybody can read it. Or, if you have a virtual calendar that synchronizes with your employees, add it to the events calendar. That way, it’ll automatically alert them on the day of the event.
You may also want to pin it on your communication platforms as some employees may not be able to read your announcement on the same day you made it. Implementing this will allow them to prepare and organize their commitments during the dates of the event.
Conclusion
Hosting a company’s first virtual corporate event may be a big step toward embracing the trends in the digital corporate world. This will also allow you to engage with your virtual employees or clients, so it’s best to be prepared. Consider the tips mentioned above to make your first corporate virtual event a success.
