So, reason enough to take a look at 5 virtual event audience engagement ideas that can be applied to small or large events, live and pre-event surveys. One of the factors that led to the overall success of the event was the effective use of gamification by HAS19 to encourage participation in brainstorming. It's incredibly effective and for good reason. A presenter is just one piece of the event puzzle.
A whole team is required for an event to be successful and attractive. When it comes to hybrid events, you'll need a specialized team to ensure a smooth user experience for both in-person and virtual audience members. It's no surprise that 81.8% of virtual event organizers use event surveys to improve engagement. The poll allows attendees to provide feedback in real time, making them feel valued and more connected to your event.
Depending on how formal you want the event to be, you can encourage the audience to ask questions throughout the presentation for a more conversational atmosphere, or you can wait for questions to be asked at the end of the presentation. With a powerful virtual event platform by your side, designed to deliver exceptional audience experiences, you can easily get out of the park. Creating a foolproof virtual audience engagement strategy sounds difficult, but it's not impossible. The same tricks your presenters use to encourage a selfless audience will work for virtual and in-person events.
And while there are a lot of serendipity and spontaneous human connections that can be found in face-to-face experiences, virtual events are still lagging behind when it comes to audience participation. Fortunately, the rapid emergence of virtual events has led to innovative and creative methods to increase attendee engagement and provide immersive virtual experiences. But staying completely silent until the day of your event won't contribute much to virtual audience participation either. When planning your virtual or hybrid event, think of small incentive structures (such as points earned) that you can integrate into the event experience to inspire conversation and participation.
Create opportunities for audience participation in the physical and virtual worlds with interactive experiences that bridge the gap between the two viewers. When participants create their own experience, they're much more likely to actively engage, introduce themselves, and engage with the fantastic experience you've designed for them. Trust your event management partners to help you understand designing engaging virtual experiences, not just expect it to happen on its own. No matter the format, webinars, or a virtual conference, creating an engaging presentation should be the top priority as event organizers.
All of these are great ways to not only keep your audience engaged during events, but to make your events more engaging as you go along and build a reputation for incredible events that your organization can be proud of. A great speaker can work wonders for virtual audience participation, but if you're using boring PowerPoint presentations, the audience is likely to start yawning. Accept that your virtual audience will not behave in the same way as your in-person audience and plan for this.
