In our two earlier posts, we focused on virtual conferences and successfully transitioning to them. For this piece, we’d like to provide advice based on all of the conferences we’ve had the pleasure of being a part of and observing what works. We’re not talking about equipment here but structure, format, and presentation approach instead. Here are Baldwin Audio/Visual Solutions’ top five tips when it comes to preparing for your virtual conference:
- Short and sweet
When attending a virtual event, there’s not much stopping people from leaving a talk they think might be going on too long. The medium is the message so make your formats and content concise. With virtual conferences, you’re much better off with three hours of non-stop quality content rather than having it stretched over three days with a bunch of fluff and filler — at least in terms of retention and impact.
- Production value please
Apart from meandering presentations that can be shortened, the factor that tends to lose people most is poor production quality. In today’s golden age of digital content, people expect good quality audio, visuals, lighting, and video recordings. Even people who don’t outwardly express this sentiment react when the production value isn’t present. Presenters don’t need to be equipment professionals (that’s what we do!) but the audience’s basic expectations need to be met.
- Human moments matter
Although production value is important, you shouldn’t be striving for machine-like perfection. The human moments matter, possibly now more than ever. Idiosyncrasy, spontaneity, and authenticity will have a better return and resonate more with virtual attendees than an overly polished experience void of humanity. You want technology connections to be flawless but connections between people should always be genuine!
- Fostering feedback
We’ve noted in earlier posts on the chat and polling capabilities of virtual conference platforms and how this is important for creating participant engagement and networking. These features afford speakers and organizers an unprecedented level of immediate and consolidated feedback, while providing a more interactive experience for attendees. Just look to social media for inspiration with live chat sections full of comments, emojis, and other animations that the live streamer responds and engages with.
- Food and swag bags
Just because a conference event has gone virtual doesn’t mean the best parts should change! Attendees can be sent electronic gift cards for lunches, dinners, and drinks. Swag bags can also be digitized to gift cards, ebooks, animated stickers, desktop backgrounds and wallpapers, etc. There’s no reason why your virtual conference attendees should be hungry and without swag while attending your keynote speaker engagement!
Baldwin Audio/Visual Solutions can help you leverage virtual conference technology that is easy-to-use and cost-effective. We’ll help manage everything from pre-recorded and edited videos, Q&A, or even breakout sessions that run concurrently. Contact us today to learn more about our virtual solution packages!