Sam Kolbert-Hyle is the president and CEO of brand live. Brandlive helps the world’s best brands create virtual experiences that touch people.
We are all overwhelmed by virtual meetings. With the reality of screen fatigue, we may be even less inclined to participate in a virtual event. Like the kind everyone turned to during the height of the pandemic. Couldn’t hold your live conferences, sales training, team off-sites or shareholder meetings in person? No problem. We just threw them online and expected the public to come – even Pay for the privilege in some cases.
I believe they were usually too easy to switch off or multitask during. Organizers fell into this format regardless of the purpose or importance of a particular event indiscriminately. The attendees experienced faces in boxes all day long, one merging into the other.
Tellingly, I noticed that the most valuable part of events – personal networking – was not replicated. In my opinion, nothing can replace a three- to five-day conference in the Bahamas or Cannes. But there are better ways to create social opportunities in online events.
With all their drawbacks, virtual events are here to stay, because people don’t want to travel to the office.
So where is the virtual event going? Hopefully to a much more lofty and engaging experience. The kind of participants who are willing to make time for their day, or the kind that they can repeat in their schedule (and want to do so).
This is what I think they should look like:
TV quality and bingeable
Many of us love to binge on Netflix, Prime, or Hulu, and we’re trained to expect top-quality viewing experiences. This does not change if we attend an event.
In my opinion, virtual events should be as well-produced, visually appealing and immersive as the TV shows we are addicted to. There should be actors playing a part, even if it’s someone in the C-suite or sales, with a punchy and witty script. I think they need to be pre-recorded for the most part with well-edited video. And don’t forget to add a great music track where needed!
In my experience as the CEO of a company that helps brands create such virtual experiences, I find that engagement skyrockets when entertainment value is high, even if I remain professional and drive business results.
Authentic and fun
That is, events should be fun, not boring. Consider creating play opportunities (eg Family Feud) with an audience on stage, bringing in comments (and cheers and whoops) from virtual viewers. Or host an awards ceremony with MCs, virtual trophies, rolling credits, and “critic reviews.” Perhaps set up a Broadway play theme, complete with digital posters, “actors” bios, and multiple acts. Here it is important to note that people perform best with short segments, so divide the event into mini sessions.
Of course, the type of event determines how kitschy you want to get. For example, I notice that shareholders usually want the facts and figures. But even then, attractive visuals, charts, graphs and a live Q&A can be much appreciated.
Authenticity always matters, so pick the right players for the right parts and let them be their best selves.
Interactive and social
We are social animals, and there is no better proof of that than the meteoric rise of social media. For me, events have always been largely about networking – the part that most pandemic virtual events failed to capture.
It’s now ingrained in all of us to comment, post, like, ask questions, post emojis, send video and other images – interacting in general. Virtual events can facilitate this with live message boards, pre-recorded or live question sessions, digital breakout rooms and audience surveys.
Produced for a hybrid audience
Finally, take a page from the live sporting event script. The Super Bowl was not created with just the stadium viewers in mind. It was made for the millions who listen from their homes. So, if your meeting is hybrid (some people in person, some call in), keep that in mind your production value on both sides.
‘Virtual event’ doesn’t have to be a dirty word. The world is going virtual at a rapid pace. Digital transformation has overtaken almost every industry The past two years. Now I find that people expect – and often prefer – the convenience of virtual. There is a huge opportunity to make virtual events one of your company’s most anticipated events, if you follow the right formula. If you build the right event, your employees will come.
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