Organizations and businesses experienced the advantages of online events when several restrictions were imposed on us and physical events came to a halt. Though physical events didn’t leave the event grounds, virtual events gained popularity and created their own space in the event industry.
Though almost everyone was a bit skeptical in the beginning about online events, they later realized that attending events from the comfort of sofas while sipping on some coffee isn’t actually a bad thing. As the popularity of virtual events grew, organizations and businesses started incorporating new ideas into their online events to make them more engaging and as real as physical events.
Speaking of virtual events and the ideas one can make use of to make them more engaging and immersive, there are several that one can utilize.
In this blog, we will share with you a few ideas one should consider to make virtual events more engaging and immersive. So, if you are someone who is planning to host a few virtual events in the near future, hold on. This blog is for you.
1. Live Games and Contests
One of the best ways to boost audience engagement during a virtual event is by hosting live games and contests. What you can do is split your attendees into small groups and conduct some live games and contests that will require them to compete against each other. It is a great idea to instill a sense of team spirit in the attendees. Contests and the chance of winning something attract attendees at an online event, and it is the reason events with contests are a great hit.
You can ask the attendees to present their ideas and talents and entertain their fellow attendees. Later, you can ask the audience to vote for their favorite entry.
2. Invite Keynote Speakers
The next thing you can do to make your event stand out from the crowd and keep your audience hooked is to invite some famous faces for keynote sessions. It is also one of the best ways to expand the reach of your event and increase its turnover. Not only this, but inviting keynote speakers to your event helps you bring a different perspective to your event. In addition, with keynote speakers, your audience will be able to learn more about a particular topic, which will help them broaden their perspective on that topic. With it, you can assign the chat box to someone, where the attendees will share their comments and ask questions. This way, your attendees will feel answered, and it will boost audience engagement at the event.
3. Live Polls and Q&A
Conducting live polls and asking questions of the attendees is considered one of the best and most reliable ways to boost audience engagement at an online event. You can make use of an online event platform that comes with engagement tools such as live chat, live polls, and Q&A sessions. The fact that attendees will get answers to their questions in real time will encourage them to ask more questions, which will keep them hooked on the event.
Apart from that, using live polls and hosting Q&A sessions will help you understand how your audience feels about your event. In short, it is a great way to collect audience feedback in real time.
4. Live Musical Night
The next thing you can include in your strategy is planning a live musical night or a concert for your audience. Who doesn’t enjoy a live musical night? You and your audience would also want to have a fun-filled few hours after a day of work and meetings. Hence, the musical concert will not only enable your attendees to have fun; it will also be one of the biggest factors behind the event’s success.
For a musical night or concert, you can invite singers or bands to perform and entertain your audience. You can live stream their performances on your online event platform so that all of your attendees can enjoy them together.
5. Host Some Mindful Activities
Another unique idea to make your online events a great hit in 2023 is hosting mindful activities. We all know how important it is to take one’s health seriously, and the good part is that many people have started to feel it. More people are now indulging in mindfulness and activities related to it. There is nothing better than doing some mindful activities with your attendees and making them do such activities. You can host some meditation sessions as well as some zumba sessions for your attendees. You can either have some experts aboard or use some videos for guided meditation and other activities. It won’t only help your attendees unwind, but seeing the organizers being so concerned about the attendees’ health will surely be a reason for your event’s success.
6.Virtual Movie Night
Another engaging and immersive idea that you can include in your online event is hosting a virtual movie night for your attendees. You don’t need to be physically together to enjoy a movie together, and online event platforms as well as online meeting platforms are living proof. You can make use of an efficient online meeting platform, stream a movie, and enjoy it with your attendees. The selection of a movie can be made based on votes or by watching what’s trending. Also, to get a real movie night feeling, you can ask all of your attendees to be in their PJs and have buckets of popcorn ready.
Planning and hosting online events is one thing; planning a strategy to keep the attendees engaged is another. While many organizers have successfully cracked the code on how to host events seamlessly, not many know the best ideas to keep audiences engaged. It goes without saying that maintaining a constant audience engagement rate is tricky, but it is one of the most critical aspects of an event. As an organizer, you should have some ideas and tactics ready so that you can make your event an engaging experience. The ideas we have shared with you in this blog won’t only help you make your event a success, but they will also help it stand out and keep your audience engaged.