Webinars are becoming an established part of our marketing, education and training departments. The ability to communicate with a mass audience across distance is a huge benefit, but how can we continue to keep them engaging and fun?
It’s important that presenters and organisers work together to find new ways to blend the virtual with the physical and inject the element of surprise to keep virtual events interesting – so how can you make this happen?
Here’s 3 creative ways to keep your online attendees keep coming back for more!
1. We all love a competition!
While we are all familiar with webinar features, how you use them can have an impact on how your webinar runs.
Polls and Chat features can be used to increase the energy in your events, but what do you usually do with the responses? Consider turning your polls into quizzes and give out fun and quirky prizes for the best, or most creative responses.
You can launch these at the beginning, middle or end of your online presentation to keep it interesting and fun. The prize could be given out online, or you can send it to someone once the event is over.
2. Did someone say free lunch?
We can’t always control time zones or speaker availability, and some content needs to be delivered over an extended period of time. So if you’re planning a virtual conference, why not shout your online delegates with a free lunch?
This especially works well if you have a sponsor that would like to cover the cost.
In the online environment, this can be achieved by providing your attendees with a food delivery voucher to Uber Eats or Menulog. Or, consider planning ahead and send a snack pack ahead of time so people can munch in the breaks!
While you’re at it, consider hosting a 3:00 pm meditation or stretching session online to wake everyone up and reinvigorate them. We all need a break from the screen every now and then, and this is a creative way to make it happen!
3. No one wants to miss out on a goodie bag!
We’ve all been there, you turn up to a conference, grab your ticket, and take a sneak peak into the goodie bag. The good news is, you can somewhat replicate this with virtual events.
There’s many companies out there who package hampers for a variety of occasions. Here’s three examples:
Evening Awards Night: Send delegates a gift pack containing their beverage of choice, some snacks and a voucher to make sure they’re set for the night ahead. Depending on your audience, why not send them a face mask to ensure they really ‘relax’ while viewing from home – you can really get creative with this one!
Virtual Drinks: With so many industries moving online, get in touch with a local winery and hold an online tasting in conjunction with your event. Your selected sample wine gets delivered, and you taste online – what could be more fun than that?!
Virtual Conference Bags: We all love swag! Whether it’s a business card holder, USB or phone charger, we all have something lying around! Organise a team to get creative and put together a delegate bag that is sure to impress. Consider online gift cards, streaming vouchers or donations – you can also track what actually gets used for future reference!
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