Virtual Events Are Boring: How to Up Your Company’s Game Through Creative
The biggest challenge with virtual events is audience engagement. With so much competition for people’s attention, virtual events need to be taken to another level. Sam Kolbert-Hyle, CEO of BrandLive, tells us how.
After two years of work-from-home, your audience is tired of virtual events. Maintaining audience engagement is the biggest challenge for virtual event hosts, according to 61% of event professionals, and it’s even harder over a screen. The cost of everything is increasing while corporate budgets are decreasing, making your audience less likely to travel across town or the country to attend in-person events.
Yet, virtual events are here to stay, because of today’s distributed workforce and the fact that strained corporate budgets are putting a dent in business travel.
The good news is that virtual events, when well executed, can be enjoyable, engaging, and a key component of a strategic marketer’s plan. They can help companies reach audiences they wouldn’t otherwise be able to, while providing great content and dynamic experiences in a much more targeted way (think micro-audiences or subcultures within a larger audience).
The question is, how do you engage an audience less inclined to travel to an in-person event and more inclined to tune out of a virtual program?
To realize the benefits of virtual events, your event needs to be so good that it can compete with Slack, that urgent email that just came in, or that open browser tab just a click away. By thinking about the execution of your event differently and harnessing the power of your team’s creativity, you can create engaging, memorable, and maybe even magical experiences for your most important audiences.
Lead with Creative
Studies show that people remember: 10% of what they hear; 20% of what they read; but 80% of what they see. Studies also show that people tune out of a PowerPoint presentation within 10 minutes, but most companies still relay information in that format. If your company still relies on PowerPoint to communicate with important audiences, you’re probably not getting the audience engagement you’d like.
Most companies pull in the creative team last as the finishing touches. The first step in creating engaging virtual events is to lead with creatives. Reframe how you think about virtual events — instead of treating it as just another routine event, think of it as creating a compelling story like the kind you might see on Netflix.
If you were producing content for an unforgettable or binge-worthy show, ask yourself what you would want your storyline to communicate. What is your theme? What tone do you wish to strike? What are your key messages? If you get stuck, consider utilizing creative tools like mood boards to spark ideas.
Specifically, a few things to consider:
Theme
First, your event should have a theme or a central message or point that is carried throughout the event. With the theme in mind, your creative team can create stunning visuals, well-thought-out color schemes, and high-impact graphics to emphasize the message.
Visual
Second, high-impact visuals matter, and music supporting the central theme is important. High-impact visuals help you tell a story without PowerPoint, and music can set a scene to pump the audience up or call to mind an emotion. I don’t know anyone who can hear the Rocky theme song without wanting to run a flight of stairs to victory.
Run of the Show
Finally, the format of the run of the show should be carefully considered (hint: people like to absorb content in short segments about 10 minutes in length and interesting segues between segments keep the audience engaged) — and it should all tie together in one compelling and memorable experience.
See More: Post-Event Analysis: 5 Virtual Event Metrics To Measure Your Event Success
Dial Up the Fun Factor
Remember that most people spend most of their time on screens, personally and professionally, so the more fun you can make the experience, the more likely you can prevent them from tuning out.
Have an employee awards ceremony coming up? Why not amp it up with an Oscars theme and a celebrity-worthy virtual atmosphere complete with gowns, tuxes, movie critic accolades, gold statues, and more. Have a new product launch? Why not show the product in action with real users?
Or, instead of playing standard virtual event games like trivia, add more interactive games into the mix. You can pull participants up on stage to participate in a Family Feud-esque game or have participants square off for an interactive video game battle.
In one event we produced, a large gaming company wanted to bring its employees together to launch a new product internally. Instead of using traditional product launch tactics, they created a lively, colorful event showcasing top executives playing the new game, positioning them as “elite athletes.” This company kept its employees engaged by editing down the recorded game to entertaining highlights and delivering top-notch and funny sports commentary while providing a unique window into their C-suite.
Produce “watch any time” Virtual Experiences
While the live audience experience is important, it’s also important to provide opportunities for people to watch on their own time. After all, people should tune in when they really can rather than feigning participation during a one-time live event.
To that end, make sure that your playback reflects the high quality of your virtual experience. Don’t deliver a playback that is second or third rate.
Ensure that the tech you’re using to host your virtual events offers options to house on-demand content in one central place, so attendees can watch at a time that’s more convenient for them – or rewatch particular segments they loved.
If you want to engage and entertain your virtual audience truly, it’s time to lean into the creative process as early and often as possible. Flexing your creative muscle in a corporate environment may feel intimidating. The reward is increased attention, and in a digital world, attention is currency.
You may be surprised at the magic you can unlock when your events are driven by creativity. And who ever thought that was possible from a virtual event?
Have you considered using creatives for better virtual meetings? How did it benefit your businesses? Let us know what benefits you have seen on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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