best practices for taking your physical events...

WHITE PAPER

Best Practices for Taking Your Physical Events Online

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We live in a changing world, and an increasingly global business landscape. Technology has utterly transformed the way we conduct business. There was a time when conferences and another types of events were impossible to conduct except in person. With the growth of the internet, however, it is more common to do business with associates and organizational members who are geographically dispersed. Events can now take place in a virtual venue.

Advancements in TechnologyCutting-edge advancements in video, audio, and integrated communication technologies have made it possible to do much more online. Gone are the days when companies were forced to deal with bulky, unintuitive webinar programs that produced poor-quality video or choppy, broken audio. Webcasting technology that unites high-quality, crystal-clear audio and video, PowerPoint, live chat and Q&A into a single streamlined interface has removed technological barriers for large and small businesses allowing for simple global communication and engagement.

Global BusinessesBecause of the prominence of the internet, it is now more common for companies to operate remote o!ces and do business with associates around the world. Even relatively small companies need to regularly communicate with distant co-workers, partners and clients.

Budget RestrictionsThe past few years have been very tough on businesses. The economic recession that began in 2007 may be diminishing, but that does not mean many companies are not struggling to cut back on expenditures, expand operations, and move into new markets with limited budgets. Although physical events are a great way to bring people together and are here to stay, it is not always feasible for businesses to consider investing tens of thousands of dollars to set up a booth at a physical convention center. Online events, on the other hand, cost a fraction of what physical events do, and they save time and money for partners, associates, and customers.

If your company has been conducting business in person and hosting physical events for many years, it can be hard to imagine making the transition to online events. Even so, you can easily calculate the money saved using webcasting for your online events. For many companies, the savings can total tens of thousands of dollars a year — or more. In this step-by-step guide, we will walk you through the transition from physical to online events.

What changes have paved the way for online events?

Introduction

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Online events have numerous benefits. Hosting events virtually is a wonderful and highly e"ective way to expand your reach and engage your audience without expanding your budget. Your cost savings will be dramatic, and so will your time savings, which in turn boosts company productivity. Software used to host virtual events provides you with real-time analytics and other statistics used to enhance your presentations while in progress. You can use that same data to measure overall impact/success and improve future events.

Another benefit of going virtual for your next event is going green at the same time. When you host an online or hybrid event, you use fewer resources and reduce your company’s carbon footprint. Did you know that a study by the EPA revealed that the average attendee at a convention staying at a hotel generates 20 pounds of trash per day? Compare that with the 4.6 pounds of trash per day accumulated by an attendee of an online event sitting at home. Online and hybrid events make a di"erence for the planet, and it is a di"erence that will compound year after year.

Before you can start hosting successful online events, it is important to understand the key di"erences between the three types of events: physical, online (an event taking place entirely on the Internet), and hybrid (physical and virtual elements).

Three Types of Events: Physical, Online, and Hybrid

Benefits of Virtual Events






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Physical events are traditional in-person events hosted at brick-and-mortar locations. You may have attended dozens of these events in your lifetime, and you may have hosted more than a few as well. Physical events include trade shows, conferences, all-hands meetings, and more.

Pros of Physical Events: Because we have all hosted and attended events in brick-and-mortar locations, we know the

drill. Planning these events is a familiar experience. You may have already gone through the learning curve and are used to the setup process.

Physical events usually have a certain ambiance, which helps attendees to stay engaged and remember the event later.

At physical events, you can give customers, associates, and other interested parties swag or free gifts such as pens, buttons, and other collateral that promote your company’s brand. At a trade show, for example, you could hand out free gifts which help to later cement the impression you made.

Many spontaneous conversations and connections form in physical venues.

Cons of Physical Events: Not everybody can travel to physical events. You may be limited to a fairly narrow

group of attendees who can a"ord to travel and take the time out of o!ce or away from family.

Physical events are expensive. You need to rent a venue, provide catering, handle travel expenses, and more.

Physical events are restrictive in terms of how many people can attend, how many sponsors can participate, number of concurrent breakout sessions and the number of people who can attend each individual session or presentation.

You can conduct an entire event online without any need for a physical venue — even a convention or trade show. Online events may even take place inside virtual event venues designed to mimic a real-life experience.

Online Events

Physical Events






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Pros of Online Events: The cost of a virtual event is going to be a fraction of what you would pay for a physical,

o#ine event.

You can invite anyone to your event, even someone on the other side of the globe.

One of the most advantageous aspects of online events is the depth and breadth of statistics you can gather by measuring and tracking user activity including chats, document downloads, webcast attendance and more. There is no way to gather this kind of information from physical events.

Without the physical space constraints, the virtual arena allows you to host as many participants as you would like concurrently. This opens your attendees and sponsors up to interact with more people than they ever could at a physical event.

After a physical event is over the content can take time to post in an online directory, if it’s ever posted at all. Online events allow that content to remain accessible, including recordings of presentations, for as long as you desire.






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Cons of Online Events:: With physical events random conversations and meetings with customer, partners and

clients is the norm. Online event limit this type of human connection and interaction.

Online events o"er fewer opportunities for spontaneous meetings and conversations. Almost every aspect of every event must be scheduled and timed.

You can however provide links and helpful documents to attendees.

To host an online event, you need to learn how to use webcasting software to its best result. To help with this curve, INXPO provides white papers, articles, best practices, and friendly customer service to ensure your experience is positive.

Many companies do not want to abandon their physical events. Instead, it is increasingly common for companies to enhance existing physical events with online event programs and content. This hybrid event model combines the best of both worlds while curbing disadvantages. We have also found hybrid events to increase attendance levels the following year, sometimes as much as 30%.

Hybrid Events






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Pros of Hybrid Events:

Attendees to your physical event can communicate with participants online. If you do well integrating your event, your online participants will feel like they are there in person with you in the room.

While you will not save as much money with a hybrid model as you would with a fully online event, you will still have enough cost savings to make a real di"erence with your budget line. The lower your costs, the higher your ROI.

While you cannot collect data on the participants in the room, you can still collect data about online participants. This information can help you improve both the online and o#ine aspects of your experience.

Physical attendees will have access to missed sessions, sponsor content and online documents that they may have missed during the physical event. This allows for continued engagement in the event and with the sponsors or presenters.

Cons of Hybrid Events:The hybrid model eliminates most cons associated with running an event. You do however have the added task of not only planning a physical event and an online event, but also managing them concurrently.

How to Get Started When Taking Your Physical Events Online






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1. Identify your target audience. Ensure you understand who the exact audience is you are planning to address. What are their demographics? Are they ready to participate in an online event, or are there technological barriers? How does that influence your decision regarding the format of your event? What can you do to prepare them for the move to an online platform? If you are running a hybrid event, how many participants can you accommodate in-person, and who should they be?

Are you using your online events to generate interest in your physical events? If so, webcasting is the perfect way to do it. In 2013, INXPO found that

for future physical events.

2. Decide on a format.Before you choose a platform for your online event, you need to decide on the basics. Is this going to be an online event or a hybrid event? Does it make sense for your company to switch to an online platform, or would it be more powerful to integrate with your existing physical events? What is the goal of the event? Is it to facilitate communication inside your organization? Springboard a new product launch? Generate leads? What kind of budget are you working with, and what ROI are you expecting?

3. Get the right sta! members on board.Getting the right people involved from the start will make a huge di"erence. If your company is going online with events for the first time, do you have people on your team who can handle the development of online content and promotion for your event? If not, do you have personnel who can be trained? A successful online event will require a combination of marketing skills, technological expertise, and public speaking capabilities.

4. Choose your platform.You will need to choose an online event platform that provides you with the technology needed to achieve your goals. Not only that but you need to think about the company providing the platform. A great platform will be more than just a platform; it will come with excellent customer service and a team willing to help get your event o" the ground as well as support you, your sponsors and your attendees during the live event. Also look for scalable technology, which is feature rich and supports full integration with your existing presentation methods (virtual or otherwise).

5. Start planning your online event.A successful event takes careful planning and practice. There is a learning curve with online and hybrid events, just as there is with physical events. Your first event will be more challenging to plan than subsequent events, and each event will be a learning experience. The analytic data which your platform provides will help you improve future presentations. Your online event partner should have experience working in your space to provide advice, best practice and guidance on how to leverage the technology in the best way for your participants.






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The following practices are key if you want your first virtual event to be successful:

Get O! to a Great Start. Make your participants (or potential

participants) aware of your event through email marketing, social networking, video teasers, and more. Make it clear what your event is about, and make it exciting.

Acquaint them with the platform and each other, and make them feel comfortable. If anyone has any questions about how to view the event materials, answer them. Do not assume that participants are sure about where to go in the virtual space or what to do.

Upon initial login, capture their attention with the theme of the event and the tone you are trying to set. Give them ideas of where to go and keep the live content and conversations flowing throughout the entire event. Make sure your physical speakers address the online audience, take their questions and include their thoughts, tweets and chat comments to make them feel included. Use games, badges, prizes or other incentives to create a friendly spirit of competition and keep folks engaged in all aspects of the event.

Attendees will want to visit sponsors, have conversations with other attendees, participate in live webcasts and view the on demand content as well as have time to play games or engage in group chats or social media. Providing your audience with a structured day that includes suggestions of how to utilize their free time will be a welcomed benefit and ensure that your attendees take advantage of all the activities. During live webcasts, set the stage for how the audience can participate and encourage them to do so throughout.

What Makes an Online Event Successful?






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Keep Your Presentation Lively and Varied.Online audiences have more distractions than physical attendees during a webcast in the form of internet browsing, email, phone calls, etc… To keep the online audience engaged, the type of content they are viewing should change every two to three minutes ranging from PowerPoint to video clips to polling questions to Q&A breaks. This can help keep viewers alert and also boost their retention of the information you’re sharing. Take full advantage of the tools included in your platform, including PowerPoint slides, polling questions, surveys, testing and certification, video clips, animations, downloadable attachments, screen sharing, or other online content.

When you are planning a corporate event, it can be tempting to fall into the traditional corporate modality. Think about the corporate presentations you have attended. Did you enjoy dry, dull presentations given by speakers who clearly found their own topics uninteresting? Even though these may have comprised the majority, you probably remember the occasional fun, entertaining presentation as a standout. Odds are you also remember more about the speaker’s topic too. If you want your audience members to learn something from your presentation, make it fun. Simply adding a second person as a moderator to guide conversations and questions will help to make the session feel more engaging.

on your presentation and find out whether audience members are retaining information and enjoying themselves. Also get feedback on your topic, and consider it seriously. Respect your audience and they will enjoy being a part of the discussion. Use the information they provide to inform how you continue your presentation. If your audience isn’t understanding a concept, don’t barrel forward, take the time to address their confusion before continuing.

and make the participants feel like they are all in the same room if you are hosting a hybrid event. Audience members in the room may feel disconnected from the audience members online unless you look for ways to connect them. If you receive a question online, don’t forget to announce the question and the person who submitted it. Another option is to include presentation specific Twitter hashtags and encourage both physical and online participants to post comments; have these comments displayed to both audiences to shrink the gap between them.

from online participants with the room. Give participants in the room the option of logging onto the online event as well on their laptops or mobile devices. That way they can also respond to polling questions and download attachments. Show the same videos, PowerPoint, and animations to your audience in the room as you do to your audience online.

What is the purpose of your presentation? Is it to generate sign-ups and sales leads or to inform customers about a new product launch? Whatever the goal of your presentation make sure you o"er a call to action which is clear and easy to follow. Ask participants to share your event with others on social networks, sign up for a trial o"er, contact a customer service representative, or pre-order your new product.






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Learn From Every Event.One of the most valuable attributes of online events (and hybrid events) is that you are able to automatically collect direct and detailed feedback on audience participation. You will be able to find out which online participants logged in and out of your session or spaces, who clicked on links you shared (including share buttons), downloaded attachments, participated in chats, earned badges or filled out surveys and polls. Using the robust drill-down information from each of these reports will help to understand your audience and measure the success of the event, sponsor or individual presentation. Based on this feedback, you can make improvements to future events as a whole or to individual spaces, sponsors or webcasts. With a physical event that has no virtual component, it is incredibly hard to gauge audience involvement and measure the e"ectiveness of your techniques. Virtual events give you an incredible insight into the minds and actions of your attendees. Take advantage of it and leverage that power to deliver better online and hybrid experiences.

Let’s review so you know exactly what you need to do to get started taking your events online:

Online Event Checklist for Success






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Before Your Event: Identify your target audience.

Decide on a format for your event (fully online or hybrid).

Review the purpose for your event. What are you goals? What do you hope your event will achieve?

Choose sta" members to create presentation materials and manage the presentation. Select your speaker or speakers.

Choose a platform for virtual events that will fulfill all your needs and provide you with fully integration and features.

Plan your event from start to finish, but build in time for engagement and interactivity. If this is a hybrid event, look for ways to integrate it with your o#ine event and bring everybody together.

Start marketing your event or webcast online using social media and email marketing. Write up a brief, clear, and compelling description and consider posting preview videos. Get people excited about what you have to say.

Send out information about the date and time for the event and how online participants can access it.

Welcome your participants when they log in and make them comfortable with the virtual event venue and platform.

During Presentations: Start o" with a powerful, memorable opening. Get your audience involved psychologically even before you

get them involved in the conversation via live chat or polling questions.

Change the type of content on the screen every 2-3 minutes to keep viewers engaged. PowerPoint slides, animations, video clips, links, attachments, and screen sharing are great for sharing information and also for improving information retention.

Use polling questions and surveys to gather opinions on both your topic and your presentation format.

Open up dialogue with live chat or Q&A. Get your audience members to open up and share their opinions and ideas, and to voice any questions they might have.

Be entertaining. Use your hands when you speak, make eye contact with audience members in the room and with the cameras which supply the HD video feed to your virtual audience members. Share anecdotes and jokes, and keep your presentation lively and fun.

Use a strong call to action to compel your audience members to share your presentation, sign up for a trial, pre-order a product, download a brochure, call customer service, or even tune in next week. Your call to action should relate directly to the goal you hope to achieve.






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After the Event: Review your analytics to learn how viewers engaged with your event, sponsors, fellow attendees and webcasts.

Identify strengths and weaknesses, and use that information to improve future presentations.

Follow up with attendees who followed-through on calls to action, had heavy participation, earned badges or won prizes. Also thank attendees who you have access to via email or social networking for taking the time to attend and enjoy your presentation.

When you are shopping for a webcasting provider, you should be looking for one that will provide you with all the features you need to conduct stimulating and successful events and presentations online, and if desired, integrate those online activities with physical events. Here are some of the features INXPO o"ers clients using the VX online event platform and XPOCAST webcasting platform:

auditoriums, exhibit halls, meeting rooms, networking lounges, and more. We also o"er games, prize centers, resource centers, and additional auxiliary spaces. You can even provide your sponsors with their own spaces. Our Universal Space o"ers you a starting point for branding with your company logo, graphics, and colors. You can even personalize the registration and login pages.

INXPO’s Feature-Rich Platform






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your attendee is logging on using an Android or iOS device or viewing your event on a Windows tablet or laptop, they will have the same, great experience.

global event or webcast with 100,000+ users. On-demand monthly hosting is available.

until the event or presentation is over to get feedback on its progress.

but you may invite the audience to participate at any time with live chat, polls, surveys, and more.

for a variety of content options, audience and speaker engagement and full branding all while providing a simple to use interface for speakers.

Our team is here not only to answer your questions, but also to help you learn the ropes and deploy the best online events and presentations you have ever delivered. And if it’s your first, we’re here to ensure you have everything you need to make it a successful one.

Using internet technology to deliver events and presentations is very di"erent from participating in physical events and presentations. You have new technology to work with, and since you are delivering through a di"erent medium, you need to learn how to leverage the power of that medium to the best e"ect while minimizing the disadvantages. One thing you may have noticed however is that many of the best practices for giving virtual or hybrid presentations apply to o#ine presentations too, and many of the skills you already have learned giving presentations o#ine can apply to virtual presentations as well.

At the heart of any event or webcast is the relationship between the host/sponsor/speaker and the audience. Build rapport with your audience by keeping your event dynamic and exciting, and by respecting your attendees and soliciting their feedback. If you can accomplish this o#ine, you can achieve it online too, and you should find the transition to virtual events smooth and manageable. And remember, at INXPO, we’re here to help you. If you’re ready to take your events and/or presentations to the next level, or even if you just have a question or a comment, we’d love to hear from you.

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