How to boost engagement in virtual events?

Do virtual events have engagement as same as in-person events? This is one common question we often hear or think about when organising a virtual event. 

Yes, without any doubt, it is possible. The participants can have a similar experience of engagement, communication and networking in the virtual events as in in-person events. 

But extra effort and planning are needed to boost engagement and networking in virtual events. As a host, you need to plan activities, games and networking plans to persuade your audience to break the ice and communicate with fellow participants. 

We have listed a few techniques and tips that will help in keeping your audience engaged and provide networking opportunities. 

Ice-breaking sessions, discussion forums and networking lounges

Ice-breaking sessions or activities are the key features that can help attendees come out of their shells and participate in team activities. Discussion forums and networking lounges persuade attendees to communicate, exchange ideas, share experiences and connect with like-minded people. You can also organise debates, where you can provide topics and allow the participants to share their thoughts. Breakout sessions are also a great way to let the audience engage among themselves. 

Bring in external talent

You can hire entertainers, influencers or coaches and let the audience learn and have fun with them. You can also collaborate with any external talent and allow them to host the event. It will add fresh energy to corporate events. 

Gamification

Gamification is one of the most incredible engagement strategies in virtual events. Gamification has the power to infuse instant energy and excitement among the attendees. It can be anything from a fun 3D video game, trivia games based on skills, AI matchmaking, or specialised games for sponsors/exhibitors like lucky draws or scavenger hunts. 

Along with gamification, you can integrate a leaderboard and give your audience a participation score for all their engagement attempts. And at the end of the event, you can award the audience with the highest points. 

Social media contest 

You can ask your audience to share the event experience on their social media and promote the live event. Make this a contest, provide points to the best posts and tweets, and display them in the virtual loby or social wall in the virtual event venue. 

You can also set up virtual photo booths. Photobooth is one of the most innovative, fun and engaging features, as people love to take photos and share them on their social media. You can also give them the option to set up the photo as their event profile picture. 

Give the attendees the option to take group collage pictures. After the event, you can also print these photos and give them to your employees and other participants to make the event more memorable.

Live chat, Polls, emoji and Q&A. 

Polls, emojis, Q&A and live chat are the best feature to promote engagement during the meeting and sessions. It helps the host to engage and understand the audience during the sessions. From this, they can gather feedback instantly. If the mood of the sessions is not moving forward as planned, they can find it instantly and make the required changes immediately. Whiteboard, chat, puzzles, and live quizzes are also a few other features that can be incorporated during the session to make it more lively and engaging.

Conclusion

Interaction and communication add life to the events. When it comes to virtual events needs more attention and planning from the hosts' side to persuade the audience to engage and network effectively. 

As an event planner or host, you need to choose the best virtual event platform with all the requirements to make your event ultimately engaging and memorable. Check Wiz365, an intelligent all-in-one virtual event platform with all the essential features to make the event engaging and memorable to the audience. 

We designed the platform in a highly user-friendly way so that the organisers don’t need any specific technical knowledge to host the event. 

Request a demo now and make your next event a win-win for the organiser, audience and sponsors, as Wiz365 guarantees to give the best ROI!

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