Have you had to organise a virtual event over the last 12 months? Were you stressed out even more than you would have been had it been a face-to-face event because you were:

- afraid the tech might not work on the night?

- panicking that your speaker/panelist/co-host wouldn’t turn up or couldn’t log in?

-terrified that you had set up Zoom (or your preferred webinar video conferencing tool) incorrectly and shared the wrong link?

-stressing that your Wi-Fi would crash and there would be no event?

Last month I have helped 6 different clients organise and run virtual events from workshops on strategy to informal Zoom meetings with renowned world speakers such as Dr Gabor Mate (you can listen to the full event HERE).

Like having a fantastic dining out experience, putting on an event that runs seamlessly (face to face or virtual) is all about the enormous amount of effort put in behind the scenes to make sure it looks seamless! Planning is everything and if you don’t plan a myriad of things can go wrong. In the best-case scenario this can mean an extremely stressful evening and worst -case scenario damage your reputation and potential of attracting future clients!

Organising a face-to-face event is also fraught with fears of what may go wrong but here are some top tips to minimize the risks as much as possible when organising a virtual event and making sure it will be alright on the night!

1. Never assume!

I worked for 10 years in the European Investment Bank and one of the most valuable lessons my then Italian boss give me was never assume! With regards to a virtual event this means:

o Never assume everyone knows how to login/use the features of the video conferencing platform you are using.

o Never assume webinar guests know the etiquette of the night and how they should act.

o Never assume even if you have invited a world-renowned speaker or guest to speak who has done 1000’s of virtual appearances that they don’t want clear instructions beforehand on -how to join the meeting, how long their intro, main session should be.

2. Check in with your guest speakers/hosts/panelists

As soon as you launch your event date, organise an online meeting with guest speakers/hosts/panelists to run through the elements of the event to make sure you are all on the same page and to draft a running order for the night.

3. Agree a running order

Share your running order for the night well in advance with timings so that so are no unnecessarily long silences on the night and everyone knows:

o what they need to prepare in advance

o how long they have to speak.

o who is speaking before/after them.

o give people time to prepare any necessary freebies/downloads they want to share into the chat box during the webinar.

Think about how to engage with your audience , where you could insert polls for example, what questions to pose at the start when everyone is entering your webinar is also important at this stage (see my previous blog on engagement ) https://www.virtuali.uk/blog/youre-on-mute.

4. Have a practice session

If you have never used your webinar platform before and are nervous about the tech, organise a practice session with if possible, your invited cohosts/guests/panelists (depending on their timetable) or with friends who you know will give you honest feedback. Zoom has a great function that once you set up a webinar you can enable a practice session so you can run through everything before the real event. See how to HERE.

5. Sharing links

Think about what useful links you or anyone else appearing on your webinar may want to share in the chat function on the night. Prepare these on a word document or on the notepad on your computer so you can easily share to your screen during the event.

If you have a guest speaker who is delivering a slide presentation, it’s also wise to ask to see it at least a few days in advance to screen that:

-there isn’t anything wildly inappropriate

-that’s its relevant to the content agreed

-and that it’s not way over time or text heavy (generally speaking 1 slide = 1 minute of speech).

6. Remind participants of etiquette during your event

It’s always good etiquette to remind participants of the etiquette of the event! not only as you start the webinar but in all the promotional material beforehand (i.e., in your Eventbrite/ TicketTailor/ Facebook /Zoom/webinar event description). If you intend to record the event and publish somewhere afterwards this is particularly important.

7. Set up a separate way to chat with your guest speakers/hosts/panelists during the event

Setting up a WhatsApp or Facebook messenger group means you have a medium outside of your webinar platform to chat in case there are any problems during the event.

8. Get your audience to pre-register

Getting your audience to register their interest for your event or buy a paid ticket via a ticket platform such as Facebook, Eventbrite , TicketTailor or via the webinar platform itself means you know exactly how many people are coming, their email and name and any other data you want to gather in advance. This makes following up with them even easier (see point 10).

9. Hire a VA for the night

And take extra stress out of the equation!

If you want the time and headspace to really concentrate on what is being said on the night, to observe the comments made and body language of your event participants, it’s good to have an extra pair of hands on the night to:

o to help any of the participants if they have tech problems.

o to monitor questions and comments in the chat box.

o to put up polls.

o to act as a backup in case anything goes wrong.

10.Have your follow up email prepared before your event starts

Make sure that you have a follow up email with some kind of free valuable piece of content prepared to send out the next day to all participants ideally with a call to action. Send this either from the email marketing platform, the platform you sold your tickets through (Eventbrite/TicketTailor) or the webinar platform you hosted it from. If you have a recording but want a few days to edit simply state that but make sure the participants get some kind of follow up the next day when the event is fresh in their minds.

11.Enjoy!

The ways for us to be connected in the world have never been so numerous so enjoy your event and be grateful that you have knowledge that others want to hear about. The essence of being human is connectivity as Dean Ornish says:

The need for connection and community is primal, as fundamental as the need for air, water, and food.

Virtual events are here to stay I think because as a lot of my own clients have experienced you can reach a much wider audience if your event is virtual (and at a time that suits a wider audience). If you would love to run a virtual event but are worried about any of the issues highlighted above, please reach out to me alison@virtuali.uk