How to design an interactive online experience during a virtual event?

As an event planner, you must have tried and tested various ways to enhance the event experience of your physical event. In that process, there were different aspects you had to take care of: viz venue, parking, booth exposure, etc. Now when you’re planning a virtual event, your playing field is confined to digital space. You can’t have a successful virtual event unless you design an interactive online experience that’s engaging, interactive, and intuitive. Here are some guidelines that will help you in achieving the same-

Be specific to event needs

• Your event goers are used to a specific event format. They have a pre-defined notion of events in their mind.
• Once you bring that event-specific set-up in a virtual ecosystem, it’s far more relatable for attendees and they engage easily with the event experience.
• Virtual Lounge and networking lobby are exciting ways to boost networking during the virtual event.
• An event setup makes sure that attendees don’t just passively consume the content. They can go beyond it and grab meetings with other attendees to get the maximum value out of the event.

Consider all stakeholders

• It’s imperative for event planners to consider all stakeholders while designing an online experience.
• Exhibitors need virtual booths to exhibit their products and services. Similarly, sponsors seek proper exposure to get the best value out of their investment.
• Besides sponsors and exhibitors, attendees also look for networking opportunities. Afterall! That’s one of those important reasons why they attend the event. Thus, you should also try to prioritize their networking needs in your planning.
• It’s possible to track every interaction within the virtual event, which can open many new revenue opportunities for monetization. Try to inculcate various monetization strategies while planning event experience.

Data-driven planning

• Data plays an important role in many stages and in many ways.
• You can use data insights at the very initial phase of event marketing. This allows you to target the right audience. The effectiveness of online experience depends on the attendees, thereby, it’s important to have the right ones.
• Right before the event, a good analysis of potential attendees gives an insight into how should you curate the overall event.

• Data from previous events provide insights on how participants navigate through the event interface. This is a brilliant way to spot the areas where you need changes.
• Artificial intelligence (based on attendee behavior) can be used to drive engagement and networking. This is helpful in automating the process of matchmaking.

Keep it simple and secure

• The concept of “Less is more” is quite relevant is designing an online event experience.
• You needn’t overwhelm your attendees with a sophisticated and confusing interface. Keep it simple and intuitive so that even less tech-friendly attendees can have a smooth online journey.
• Lastly, security compliance is crucial to ensure the safety and privacy of attendees as per norms established.

Help sections

•  Even if you have worked really well on designing a smooth event experience, chances are that some event-goers might not be tech-friendly. This makes the requirement of virtual help centers inevitable.

• Reception is a go-to place for event-goers during any event. Similarly, in virtual events, you can have virtual reception for providing constant human support for the attendees. You can also place instruction manuals/videos in the reception to illustrate the virtual interface.

So the next time when you plan your virtual event, you can analyze it on the basis of pointers mentioned above. As you go along with more and more events, you will find what works best for you! If it seems like too big a task, you can take support from event experts. This will help you manage, market, and monetize your event in the best way possible.