If 2020 taught is anything, it’s that virtual events are here to stay. Virtual events can be a great benefit to your business, but according to Cynthia Kay, owner of Cynthia Kay and Company media production,  we have a lot to learn to make these events a worthwhile success.

Q: What are the benefits of a business hosting a virtual event?

The pandemic has made people hesitant to engage in person and businesses hesitant to expose workers. It has made virtual events a must. The good thing is, people who you may not have been able to reach otherwise will attend a virtual event.

Q: How should people approach a virtual event as opposed to an in-person event?

What a lot of people try to do is take a face-to-face event and just transfer it to a virtual platform, but simply cannot hold attention on a screen the way you can in person. You don’t have the advantage of the electricity in the air — the atmosphere isn’t there. You have to work harder to have a produced and polished event that engages people.

Q: What mistakes do you see people making when planning virtual events?

Not paying enough attention to the technology. People tend to be surprised by what platform they pick and what it ends up not being able to do. You need to know how many people you can host, if it allows you to share videos, etc. 

People also tend to not prepare to present for a screen. It requires a very different skill set than presenting in person, and you need to practice.

Q: What steps can people take when planning a virtual event to make it a success?

Number one: Understand your audience. Believe it or not, you need to really put some time into getting to know your audience. Number two: Think about how you can make it visually interesting and fun. Talking heads are not interesting … a great virtual event will have people wanting more; there will be a buzz about it and people will talk about it after.

Take the first steps to creating a successful virtual event and following along with Cynthia in the recorded webinar below!

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