Thinking about running your first event in the influencer marketing world? Ruby Mills, head of events at Blogosphere, shares her tips on how to plan and organise a virtual event.
Blogosphere made the decision to continue bringing our community members together. Coronavirus is what began our journey in virtual events but it is not the reason why we continue to explore it.
Whatever reason you have for exploring virtual events, you are in for a world of possibilities.
What are your options?
You have to choose which platform works best for your event as well as what works best for your audience.
- Live video streaming – Zoom/Skype/Google Hangouts
- Pre recorded tutorial/workshop
- Virtual reality platforms, attended by avatars
- Digital platforms, hubs of conference live streams
- Augmented reality
What to consider?
- The platform must be easily accessible and usable for your audience
- This must fit within the capabilities of the platform you chose
- What does the guest need in order to attend?
3 step plan
- Sponsors and Blogosphere team access only. BUILD – Sponsors taken on orientation. Workshop on how to best use your avatar and the virtual space. Each sponsor would be given a space to set up with branding and presentations.
- Guests invited to the virtual space for test webinar and orientation tours. This would be a soft opening to the event, guests would be able to explore all of the areas presentations or workshops could be taking place in sponsors designated areas
- The main event on dd/mm/yyyy in the presentations room. Panel talks, stage interviews and key speakers will move from the main space and the conference hall. All of the guests will have full access.
Benefits of Virbela
- Imagery is clickable
- Marketing and data analysis opportunities
- Crowd control – mute your audience (no interruptions), manage capacities
- Accessibility for all users across the whole of the UK and globe
- Guaranteed full coverage of the event with good visibility of presentations for all attendees
- Navigation around the event is simple, guests are FREE to explore – they have autonomy to experience the event however they would like
- Each avatar has a profile where you can find contact information for that person – great for networking. As well as the send private message function.
- It provides a sense of togetherness in a time where it is not physically possible
Precautions to take
- Technical difficulties – with any computer program there will be technical issues, whether it is with the program or for the individual. Create a separate channel of communication such as a tech helpline on whtsapp to provide support.
- Lower attendance – with live events you would expect 30% dropout, with virtual expect 50% dropout. To avoid introduce deposits or ticket purchases
- Engagement – without the live aspect, the audience can be harder to engage, handouts and real time activities during the presentation are good techniques for engagement.