How to host a Virtual Event

Read on to find out how to host a Virtual Event

Before we get into the ‘How’ of hosting a virtual event, let’s go over the benefits of doing events virtually as opposed to physical events. There are a variety of benefits that come from hosting events virtually compared to physical events. The biggest benefits are:

The ability to capture a larger audience

The most obvious benefit of organizing events virtually is the fact that since it’s hosted on the internet, it’s not limited to a certain demographic. A person sitting in New York City can attend an event being organized in Dubai, so can someone from Australia. It doesn’t matter where you are present as long as you have a computer or a tablet or a smartphone and an internet connection.

The big question – ‘How to host a virtual event’

There are certain platforms that offer specific services such as online meetings or video conferencing whereas there are others that offer numerous services. Some of these platforms and are free of cost, some are paid and some charge fees for providing certain features. It is up to you to decide which platform offers the best services for your virtual event.

Virtual Conferences, much like in-person conferences involve a variety of factors from keynotes to agendas, Question and answer sessions, etc. The benefit of hosting a conference virtually is the fact that the attendees can participate from anywhere across the globe. They interact with one another without having to be present in the same room and even make use of On-demand content from the recorded virtual conferences for later use.

Now that you have chosen the right platform for your virtual event, let’s move on to the next step which is determining why you need it. Is it an annual general meeting for all your employees across various locations? Is it a live cast of a singer performing for a large audience? Is it a one-on-one chat between two individuals? It is important to have a precise definition of your virtual meet. Once that is out of the way you can focus on the three following steps and move on to executing a successful event.

Step 1: Once you have a suitable platform and have your agenda clear, you can start by inviting people to the virtual event. We will go through a few examples of invitations to clarify any doubts that could arise.Example 1: You are a college professor and want to organize a special guest lecture so that your students can get more exposure. For this, you organize a virtual meeting and send out the invites for it to your students and your guest lecturer with the date and time of the virtual meeting along with the necessary details and a clear subject of what the meeting is about.Example 2: You are a music producer and want to host a live event for your fans across the globe where you plan to demonstrate your latest songs. You create a virtual event with the date and time of your choosing and share a link across your social channels as an open invitation.

Step 2: Having chosen the proper platform to host your event, you will have access to the tools you need for a seamless execution of said event. Be sure to choose the best option to suit your needs. For a private inter office meeting, you can have the meeting password protected whereas if its a large-scale event, it would be a hassle to have to admit each and every one of your attendees manually. It is extremely necessary to ensure that you select the correct parameters to match the kind of event that you are hosting.

Step 3: Before your event starts, it’s always a good idea to do a dry run to ensure that everything is working seamlessly. You can create another event link to check things like network connection stability, audio and video outputs, how the layout looks to your audience and other things. The dry run will help you clear out any chinks and will help you ensure that nothing goes wrong during the main event be it a live singing session or a webinar or even an important office meeting.Are virtual events the right choice for you? The purpose of this blog is to clarify any doubts that one must have about virtual events. The answer to whether virtual events are right for you solely depends on the kind of event you are hosting and its main purpose. If your main purpose is to have maximum physical attendance for a conference from one certain location, then virtual events might not be the solution for you. Whereas if the purpose of your event is to ensure maximum participation from not just one location but across the globe, then it’s the way to go.