With the current pandemic, most marketers have resulted in virtual events. These events offer various benefits, such as greater audience reach and increased revenue. But, there’s one major drawback: virtual fatigue.
Most people are constantly on their screen with back-to-back video calls, which can be very tiring and boring. To keep your attendees engaged and invested in the event, you’ll need to find ways that can combat the videoconferencing fatigue.
Here are some essential tips to improve digital engagement.
Spark Anticipation
To get your audience excited about a specific virtual event, consider delivering something beforehand, which makes them look forward to the event. For example, you can let the attendees know that the speaker will be a prominent or famous person. You could also include a printed schedule that lets the attendees know what they’ll gain and learn from the event.
Keep Your Audience Engaged
Most people tend to have short listening spans. It’s essential that you keep the audience engaged by asking questions and giving them time to share their ideas. Call them out by name as you ask questions to keep them focused and attentive.
Another great way to keep your audience engaged is using polls. Polls allow the audience to share their opinions and compare their thoughts with those of other attendees. This can be very insightful, especially in generating ideas.
Implement Breaks During Virtual Events
While breaks may give room for the audience to leave and not come back, having breaks is crucial in reducing the need to multitask. If you state in advance that there will be breaks at a certain point, your attendees can avoid multitasking since they’ll have time to handle other tasks.
Before the break, you can tease your audience with an exciting story or announce to cover a great topic after the break. That way, every attendee will be looking forward to the next session. During breaks, you can also treat your audience to a virtual lunch by sending gift cards before the event.
Ensure the Presenter Is Engaging
Live events can be boring if the presenter is not engaging or interesting. Virtual events can be even worse since there are so many distractions and no one else near you to keep you engaged. Be sure to find a presenter who can engage the audience and incorporate storytelling into their presentation.
Entertain Your Attendees
One effective way to combat virtue fatigue is to keep your audience entertained. You can invite a well-known singer or a magician to entertain the audience during the event. If it’s too technical, you can have the entertainment part prerecorded for the event.
You can also use games to engage your audiences in winning prizes. For example, you can have the attendees interact with each other and reach out to sponsors. In return, award them for taking part in the games.
Make Contingency Plans
Virtual events can get distracted by technical glitches. Be sure to have a contingent plan to ensure the event still runs as planned, even in a hitch or technical problem. That way, the audience can remain engaged without any disruptions.
Regardless of how the pandemic plays out, virtual events will still carry on. It’s best that you ask for feedback from your attendees on ways to optimize or improve their experience. You can also leverage the right tech to ensure you get the best virtual experience for your audience in the future.
If you’re planning to hold a virtual event, consider contacting the Big Bold Thinkers to get several creative and marketing services to make your event impactful.
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