With the impact of Coronavirus being felt across the globe, moving events and services online is fast becoming the new normal. From business presentations and launches to networking events and even Happy Hour sessions, more and more companies are opting to host their events online to keep their employees and customers engaged during the quarantine period.
While hosting an online event might present new challenges, pivoting to digital can also offer you some exciting new benefits. Moving your event online enables you to minimise your impact on the environment and reduce your carbon footprint whilst allowing you to redefine the target audience for your event by reaching out to new users and building a more global community.
As we all learn to adapt to this new situation and meet the challenges of planning a virtual event, we’ve put together a few tips below to help ensure that your transition from live to virtual events goes as smoothly as possible:
Plan ahead
Create pre-event buzz whilst ensuring your guests know exactly where and when to log on
by using an application to schedule your meeting or party. Create a fully customised landing page or evite with apps like Splash, Socio and Bizzabo then upload your programme, images, attendee list and more. Once you’re ready to go, the app will help you to send out all the important event info to your attendees, update them about any changes or delays to the agenda and even send you live updates as and when guests login to make sure you’ve got all the attendance info you need at the touch of a button.
Attention to detail
When it comes to planning a fantastic event, attention to detail is the key to success both on and offline. Take your online launch or presentation to the next level with a little help from an audience engagement app like Glisser or Slido. Turn your event interactive by adding features like Live Polling and Slide Sharing, grab the audience’s attention with an Interactive Quiz or enable a Digital Note-Taking option to allow the attendees to share your presentation on social media. Simple and effective, with a little planning, you can boost audience participation and build engagement for your product, all from the comfort of your own home.
Make connections
Corporate events are all about making connections with people and pivoting to digital offers new opportunities to engage with people across the globe in real-time. Virtual match-making services like Brella or Swapcard make it quick and easy for you to bring your guests together while using a matchmaking bot like Donut will allow your attendees to connect and set up meetings in a private Slack room using their simple online scheduling feature.
Go one-on-one
It might be virtual, but taking your event online doesn’t mean missing out on providing networking opportunities for your attendees. With the help of apps like Zoom (breakout rooms) or Whereby, you can book 1:1 meetings allowing you and your attendees to get together and make personal connections away from the main event. Fully private and secure, online networking is a great way to make sure you and your guests are always in the (virtual) room where it happens.
Go above and beyond
As with any event, when you’re planning a virtual meeting or party it’s the little details that make a big difference. Great ways to make sure your event is memorable include hiring a DJ or musician to perform for your attendees via live stream or by using a virtual photo booth like Snapbar to create fun keepsakes of your online session. Quarantine also offers a unique opportunity for you to offer your network creative and fun ways to get together online, from a live streaming a yoga or pilates class,to enjoying a virtual dance party with Daybreaker or an online escape room experience. With so many options on offer, all you need to make your next online event a success is a little imagination.
Boost Morale
If you’re looking to build morale with your team, why not use Uber Eats to have coffee and muffins delivered before your next online meeting then challenge them to an ice-breaker game online. During this unprecedented time, technology is integral to staying in touch but the human element is even more important so with a little creativity, you can add value to your event while creating real connections with your network.
How we can help you host your event:
Although our spaces are temporarily closed and we’ll have to wait a little longer before we can help you host live events, all the team here at Native Spaces are firmly committed to helping our customers create opportunities to connect. Our mission has always been to make great events happen in unique spaces, and we will keep looking for solutions to allow you to host your next big event even if that means moving it online for now.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve put together a complete list of our technical partners and researched a complete range of new and exciting options which will enable us to offer our clients great virtual and hybrid events. To help you move your live event to a virtual or hybrid format, we will be on hand to assist with everything from design to delivery, including choosing the right platform and applications to suit your goals, booking service providers and more.
As always, your safety both on and offline is one of our top priorities, so we will have specialised antiviral cleaning services available before, during and after the event to keep your venue in 5-star condition. Plus we’ve made sure that all our spaces have high-speed connectivity so once you’re ready to start planning your event, we’ll be on hand to deliver a premium experience to you and your guests.
With our focus firmly on how to best adapt to the changing situation, we have also developed flexible purpose-adapted cancellation policies to ensure you feel comfortable and confident when planning your next event down the line. To learn more about our cancellation policies or to explore our unique range of event spaces across the French Riviera and beyond, simply click here for more information. To talk to us about your upcoming virtual or hybrid event, just get in touch here or on [email protected].