It is more challenging to keep the attendees engaged in an online event than an in-person offline event. Audiences can get easily distracted during an online event.
Failing to engage the audience means that there are fewer chances of gaining any customers or achieving the objective from the event.
Gaining a person’s undivided attention is complex. Online mediums enhance the difficulty as people can now get distracted by text messages, e-mail, or other notifications on their laptops.
So, here are some virtual conference engagement ideas that organizers can implement to help them drive up the engagement rates.
Offer Free eBook
Offering your audience members free eBooks is an excellent way to engage with them and helps the organizers build authority. If any of your speakers are authors, then you can offer their eBooks to people who register.
This will incentivize your target audience to register for your event and give them something to look forward to.
Offer Replay and Slide Deck Options for Attendees
As an organizer, you should work with the speakers to ensure slide decks are prepared for the audience.
Even if some of the members are unable to attend the session due to unforeseen circumstances, you can make the slides and replays available to them. This gives audiences a chance to listen to their favorite keynote speakers.
Moreover, it helps organizers to keep in touch with even those members who missed the live events. You can then send these members invites for future events or include them in your newsletters.
Offer Online Coupons
Giving discount coupons is a sure-shot to win your target audience’s heart. Offer the audience members discount coupons from the sponsors or exhibitors.
This also gives your sponsors and exhibitors a chance to engage with potential customers.
Polls
Polls are an effective strategy to pique attendees’ interest as polls are simple, effective, and quick to conduct.
You may conduct surveys where guests evaluate sessions and polls that direct dialogue toward specific subjects. Speakers can also conduct a short poll during their online session.
Offer an Agenda
Having an immersive agenda is essential to conduct a good virtual event. Giving an interactive plan to the event will help you provide value to the attendees and create a better experience.
For instance, if you are conducting a pharmaceutical conference, the agenda must offer topics and sessions that cater to nurses, doctors, and other pharma companies.
Utilize Social Media
Social media is a necessary tool that every organization must deploy strategically. Using various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, organizers can increase the registrations for an event.
Moreover, you can drive engagement by forming Facebook groups wherein you send regular updates regarding the event, and the attendees can socialize among themselves.
Host Contests
Hosting a contest may seem like a naive idea, but it works well to gain people’s attention and keep them engaged by fueling their competitive spirits. As an organizer, you must figure out the specificity and the reward for the contest before announcing.
Also, holding a contest in the middle of events is a great way to keep people interested.
Promote Communication
Getting people to communicate is an excellent way to get them engaged. “Ask us anything” booth is a great conversation starter that helps attendees interact and engage with you.
It also helps you stay one step ahead of any glitches or confusion that people might be facing.
The information booth can help organizers convert customer complaints into opportunities to provide a better customer experience.
There are endless opportunities for you to engage with your target audience. So, you must be ready to experiment with different ideas.
