Five things you need to know about virtual events

1. Treat your virtual event with as much attention as a physical event. Whether you run a stand-alone virtual event or as an add-on to a physical event, treating it with the same attention to detail will stand you in good stead.

Start with a clear definition of your success criteria and how to measure it. Also make sure your virtual event is visually aligned with your brand in terms of color, design, typeface and the tone of voice, all the elements that resemble the experience at a real event and create brand awareness.

Also choose the date and time carefully, the first date after holidays when people have a full inbox to clear may not be an ideal date for a virtual event.

2. Pick your service provider according to your needs. Ensure your vendor can provide a stable and proven platform. Check on their capabilities to adjust to your functional, design and language requirements, and ensure they support attendee registration, data management and reporting. 

Their choice of backend content-delivery-networks (CDN) is also important and ensures you have enough bandwidth as you don’t want to trade off the quality of the virtual experience when the number of participants increases.

If you are expecting a heavy participation from Mainland China, it is best to have your event mirrored on a China CDN. Let your service provider know how many people you are expecting in general (by analysing registration data) and when the peak hours will be.

3. Content is king. Similar to a physical environment, you need to offer premium content to an audience that is spoiled for choice. Yet, do not hesitate to think hybrid (live webcasting from physical presentations) or reutilising great content from recent physical events. A well scheduled release of content will maximise the return on the costs you may have for speakers and videos.

4. Engage the audience with interactivity. Design your virtual event with your audience in mind. Provide language choices, instant message boards, live polls and chat rooms. The key is to encourage actions and communication from the audience to keep their attention. Visual is also more engaging than just sound -- to have a video-enabled event with supporting illustrations will help audiences to understand your ideas and insights.

5. Increase your (or your sponsors’) ROI with a targeted follow up. A virtual event provides you with a wealth of insights into the attendees profiles, interests and preferences. Make sure you use the reporting and analytics to grade your leads for the targeted follow-up post event. 

If you have a big-bang session, make sure you publish and promote it to gain real visibility. Seed the multimedia elements by integrating text, video and photos into your post-event PR or marketing effort.  

Increase ‘pull-traffic’ from the virtual event to your company’s website or, ideally, a dedicated microsite.