Virtual conferences are certainly not a brand new phenomenon. Video conferencing, as a technology, has been around since as early as the 1990s, albeit in a much more primitive form. However, it’s no secret that the global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the popularity of virtual conferencing, and now more and more people have treated virtual conferences as the “new normal”.
While it does have its limitations when compared to traditional conferences, virtual conferencing does have some surprising benefits. However, planning and hosting a virtual conference would need a unique approach and strategy when compared to planning your traditional event.
With that being said, in this post, we will share some of the best virtual conference best practices to help you plan and host a successful conference.
Let us begin right away.
1. Define a Clear Purpose
Contents
- 1. Define a Clear Purpose
- 2. Know and Understand Your Target Attendees
- 3. Decide on a Theme
- 4. Intuitive and Reliable Registration
- 5. Use a Reliable Virtual Event Platform
- 6. Market Your Virtual Conference
- 7. Set Goals and KPIs
- 8. Secure Sponsors Early
- 9. Facilitate Networking
- 10. Deliver Customer Service Excellence
- Are You Ready To Host Your Successful Virtual Conference?
What are the purpose and objectives of this virtual conference?
While defining the objectives of an event is important for any event, it’s arguably even more important for a virtual event since it will dictate many different elements of the event: technology solutions you’ll need, what types of content should be published, how will you deliver the event, and so on.
So, before anything else, define the purpose of the virtual conference, and define clear and specific objectives based on this purpose.
For example, if the purpose is to assist a product launch, then one of the objectives can be “100 preorders for the upcoming product launched”.
2. Know and Understand Your Target Attendees
Your event should be designed based on your target audiences’ needs and preferences, and not the other way around.
Conduct market research so you understand the talents/speakers your target audience would prefer, the overall presentation of the event, and so on.
Remember that in a virtual conference, people can easily get bored, so your content is everything. On the other hand, in a virtual event, you can target attendees from all around the world since geolocation will not be an issue. Take this into consideration when identifying the ideal audience you’d like to target.
3. Decide on a Theme
Once you’ve identified your target audience and understood their needs, you should decide on the main theme or topic you’d like to be the focus of your virtual conference. Decide on the main topic, and you can branch out to several sub-themes if necessary.
This overall theme can help you design the tone of the virtual conference, and also to decide on the speakers you’ll feature and the topics they’ll talk about.
4. Intuitive and Reliable Registration
In hosting a successful virtual event, it’s very important to make sure it’s as easy as possible to register for the conference and buy a ticket. Make sure to integrate a reliable online registration solution to your website, or you can also opt to use all-in-one event management solutions like Eventtia with built-in event registration functions.
Ideally, you should also create a specific registration landing page that includes:
- The virtual conference name and purpose
- A schedule/agenda that informs potential attendees about dates/times, sessions, and keynotes
- Price (if any)
- How to access content during and after the event
- FAQs
- Contact information
This way, you can make sure potential attendees can get all the information they’ll need, which can potentially remove obstacles for them signing up for your event.
5. Use a Reliable Virtual Event Platform
A virtual event platform will help you plan, manage, organize, and run your virtual conference in just a single dashboard. You can also use the tool to perform internal collaborations with your team, prepping your speakers before the session, and manage all the small details of the event.
You should also choose a virtual event platform that offers analytics and reporting, like Eventtia, so you can track which sessions are performing well and which can be improved, your audience’s interactions and activities within each session, and more.
The platform will also help you manage your sponsors, speakers, talent, and exhibitors in a single dashboard.
In short, this technology will make your life as a virtual event planner easier.
6. Market Your Virtual Conference
No matter how good your virtual conference is, it is doomed for failure if you can’t attract enough attendees to join.
Marketing is very important, especially in today’s very saturated virtual conference market.
So, make sure to plan a comprehensive marketing strategy for your event while considering all the different channels:
- Social media is obvious, invest in paid advertising if necessary, and partner with relevant influencers
- Email marketing can be effective, especially if you’ve gathered enough email addresses from your past events
- Run referral campaigns (i.e. group discounts), so people will bring their friends and peers to join your conference
7. Set Goals and KPIs
You should objectively measure the success of your virtual conference based on the objectives you’ve set above. Define the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) for your event, and decide how you are going to measure key metrics.
Measuring your performance is very useful if you plan to host other events in the future, and you can also use the data to secure future sponsorships.
8. Secure Sponsors Early
Speaking about sponsorships, make sure to reach out to sponsors as early as possible in the planning stage of your virtual conference. This can help you weigh which potential sponsors are interested in the first place, which can save you time later on and provide you more space to secure more sponsors.
9. Facilitate Networking
Networking is one of the main reasons people attend conferences, and facilitating networking should be a core aspect of your virtual conference.
Provide an interactive chat so people can interact with each other during the session, and you can also offer a dedicated networking session in your schedule.
10. Deliver Customer Service Excellence
In a virtual event, customer support is arguably the most important part of your team.
Your customer support team is responsible for providing guidance to speakers and sponsors before and during the event, as well as supporting attendees during the event.
So, make sure your support team is well-trained in using your virtual event platform.
Are You Ready To Host Your Successful Virtual Conference?
With these virtual conference best practices, you have all you need to plan a successful virtual conference and attract a lot of attendees.
Remember that the key is to design your conference based on your target attendees’ needs and not the other way around. Consider their needs and preferences, and build your event around them.