MediaPlatform^® Blog

By Ilana Greene

I recently sat down with an event planner friend and posed her a set of questions that could only be asked in 2011, around the subject of how she plans an event that no one actually attends in person… a virtual event.   Even there are no paper invitations, table cards, cocktails to serve or coats to check, a virtual event webcast is very much an event. 

1) How do you think through the audience's experience from start to finish for a virtual event?

• It’s got to be easy for the first time visitor - Any event website should be planned on the assumption that the viral visitor is a "first-time" visitor. Accordingly, the site should have a simple design for easy navigation and help the visitor fulfill the purpose of their visit. 

• Capture the audience’s attention -  A successful virtual event depends entirely on the effective capture of the user's attention. The audience must be drawn to the subject matter instantly, and will only remain engaged in the event if the experience is being delivered as expected. User expectations are typically derived from event marketing and branding.

• bear in mind that the presenter is not directly in front of the audience he or she is speaking to, which means things like tonality, subtle facial expressions and wit/sarcasm may lost, even if you are streaming in high definition video.  I try and stay very direct or very obvious as not to accidentally convey something I do not mean. This might mean being delving into more than one example, or providing a host of reasons as to ensure my audience understands the message I am trying to convey.

• Know Your Customer - The first step in planning a virtual event webcast would be to conduct a needs analysis to determine the audience's goals and objectives, and then build an event plan around those goals and objectives. Whether the stated goals involve increasing sales, marketing a new product or service, or making a press announcement, the usual desired outcome is to facilitate some action on the part of the audience members. Any event, virtual or otherwise, should account for the client's desired action from his/her audience. 

• Test the concep t - When planning a virtual event it's extremely important to put yourself in your audience's shoes and make things as simple as possible. If you’re planning your first virtual event, it's good to attend other virtual events to get a feel for what you like and what you dislike and what works smoothly and what you can improve upon. 

2) What are the pitfalls of a virtual event? Where can things go wrong?

• Make It Simple -  With the web landing page – or lobby – for a virtual event, you only have one chance to make a first impression. If the site is difficult to understand or the visitor can't find what they are looking for, the visitor won’t return. Even if those errors are corrected in the future, reclaiming that lost visitor is nearly impossible. The best webcasting/virtual event solutions enable you, the event planner, to create a Web lobby that caters to their audiences' wants, needs. A messy, or overly cluttered, Web lobby is the most common problem and can frustrate the user. Organization is key to maximizing the user's experience.

• Murphy's Law of technology plays a role - If it can go wrong, it will!  Even with the best webcasting tools, glitches happen, systems crash, and programs freeze. It can be a nightmare, but there are ways to mitigate any serious event damaging problems.   Test, test test…  you absolutely have to test every link in the technology chain before you do your event – and use exactly the equipment you will use in the real show.  It’s no good to test with camera A and Encoder B but go live with camera C and encoder D. You might as well be leaping without a  safety net.  Make sure you webcasting/virtual event service provider has a dedicated tech support person for your event.

• Virtual events also don't allow for the personal one-on-one interaction  which can be important in terms of building lasting, meaningful relationships. 

3)  Is it important to you to control the look and feel of every aspect of the experience, like the html invitation, the registration page, the reminder emails, the archive?

• Yes. Every step of the user's experience should be thought through and streamlined. Your branding, website, email invitations, social media sites, and marketing tools related to your virtual event need to look extremely professional and polished. From a both a branding and marketing perspective, nothing is more important than a solid and consistent "look and feel" throughout all stages of virtual event planning.  The more professional your marketing tools are the more likely people will be to register. 
• E-vites, registration pages, follow-up emails, surveys and thank you should all seamlessly blend. Colors, layouts, and typefaces must be the same. Based off of his/her initial viewing, the user should be able to instantly know, without "digging" through the content, exactly where and what a given supplemental branding/marketing piece is in reference to.
• Aesthetics also convey a message, so try and stay mindful of this aspect of the experience as well.  It is basically a challenge to try and navigate the fact that people will have different takeaways from your presentation, but it is your job to try to be as thorough as possible to accommodate as many people as possible. 

4.)          How about the presentation itself?  What's important in terms of managing the presenter and making sure that he or she has a good experience?

• Chronological order  Make sure that all your objectives are in chronological order to build to your concluding point. Always provide examples on how the information can be applied and used in a real setting/situation, as well as the benefits of your points. Provide a recap with notes. And make sure all deliverables are provided in a timely manner.

• Know the material  A good corporate communications team will ensure that the presenters are well-briefed on the issues and, in the case of an executive town hall session and the potential for employee discontent, aware of any hot-button topics that could derail the presentation. I've seen nothing worse than an ill-prepared presenter who fumbles through his PowerPoint slides, gets defensive or gets off-message. It is important to find a presenter who has had experience with virtual events.  Having the ability to screen questions before the presenter responds to them (or even send them to legal for a quick look during a live presentation) can be extremely useful.

• Succinct and on point  Giving a virtual presentation is different from doing an in-person presentation in the sense that the presenter needs to be succinct and on point because he does not have the luxury of subtle non-verbal communication.  Even with high quality, high definition streaming of video, the audience generally isn’t paying as close attention to the presenter as they might in a live setting. 

• Mimic the "look and feel"  The presentation should also mimic the "look and feel" characteristics exhibited throughout all branding and marketing phases and sub-phases. Typically, virtual events are much shorter in length of time than those "physically housed" (standard in-house events). Virtual events are instant and energetic. Consequently, a virtual event must be hosted by someone who shares similar qualities. 

• Mental stimulation . A good audience needs mental stimulation. The user needs to be entertained. Asking questions, talking about breaking news (relevant to the subject matter, of course), and listening to the user's feedback are all host/presenter must-do's. 

5.)           How about the audience? Do you want to be able to make sure that everyone is happy? How important is it to have real time awareness of what's going on, say through live chat features during a webcast?

• Real time awareness is essential -  it is really the only way to know if the audience is actually interested and engaged in the subject matter. Engaging with the audience through the use of a live chat, for example, provides an excellent way to ensure that the user experience is being met - or not met - as expected.

• Include Q&A - The audience needs to be able to ask questions or make comments through the virtual event. Have a dedicated person monitoring this chatter and responding to comments and questions. Also be sure this person has a way to convey what is happening to the presenter. Have a forum for the audience to send questions live so there's real time Q& A. Real time awareness and participation is very important so the audience is engaged and not feel like he/she is being lectured.  Monitoring chat is also an effective way to build community around the event, but it’s not wise to let people just comment without an intermediary filtering out odd or counterproductive material.

• Understand what is being presented -   The audience is most content when they understand what is being presented, and understand how they can use the information that is being presented. Otherwise, if the benefit of the information is not obvious, people begin to feel like you are wasting their time, or that you do not understand their needs.