Four basic steps to plan a Virtual Event
- Apr 3, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
The new reality is a challenge for every event producer to move beyond traditional offerings and enter the virtual world. If you are one of those professionals in the entertainment industry with little to no experience managing platforms that allow you to organize fundraising events, cultural activities, concerts, or any business event, here’s your basic guide to start planning your next virtual event – according to my learning curve.
1st Establishing Event’s Objective:
This first step applies to every event production, although sometimes it’s overlooked. In order to increase the probability of success, it’s important to continue visualizing a virtual event like a property, which might also include partnership opportunities.
The purpose of the event could be raising awareness, raising funds, serving as an educational source, entertaining the citizens, or engaging with your market.
2nd Brainstorm about Event Type:
According to your objective, you should be able to narrow down the types of events you could put together, according to your budget. At this planning stage, you will also need to think about the reach of the event and its governance.
In the virtual world, you could present 5Ks, job fairs, business matchmaking, competitions, scavenger hunts, trainings, coffee meetings, summits, or concerts, among many options. You name it - there could be an option out there. Otherwise, it could be time to create it at a virtual hackathon.
3rd Choosing the Best Platform:
Choosing a virtual event system is like choosing a venue for your event. There are many options that have been available for event producers for many years and are well-proven, and others are brand new with innovative features. But instead of analyzing a quote with food pricing, chairs, and tables, you will be assessing if the provider has troubleshooting capacity, user-friendly apps, ticketing options, login alternatives, user capacity, cybersecurity features, integration with other platforms, among other unique capabilities.
My experience with platforms like All Sport Central and Charity Miles for sports events has been easy, as long as you have basic backend user experience. But other applications, like Eventbrite, are more user-friendly. It will all depend on the type of event you are planning. Perhaps all you need is a strong event property and implementation strategy, which takes me to the next step.
4th Designing the Experience
Once your product is conceptualized and your platform is set in place with a landing page or webpage, you are more than ready to make sure your attendees have a positive experience. At virtual events, you might be able to invest differently in your participants.
For instance, you could invest in a registration appreciation giveaway sent through regular mail. Also, you could put together a virtual goody bag with key partners, which I have tried and had a great turnover. Wrapping up the experience of your participants with something to share with their peers, friends, and family.
Overall, you should be able to itemize your budget differently for a virtual event. Remember to substitute venue for an event management platform, and so on. Let’s be aware that a virtual event could be as inexpensive as you want it to be—but be careful not to compromise the quality of it.
Now that you have the basic steps to plan a virtual event, let’s step up to the challenge of getting out of the box of traditional events and into the virtual world.
