How To Increase Engagement At Your Virtual Event

Engagement is the biggest challenge the virtual event industry is facing today. 

When in front of the computer screen, you are highly likely to “zone out,” because you face troubles focusing on the screen. 

Increasing engagement at your virtual event might seem like a daunting task; however, using suitable event technology such as Aladdin B2B and more creativity can drive engagement in a virtual environment. 

If you’re on the lookout for ideas to increase engagement at your virtual event, you’ve landed on the right webpage. We will provide some ideas to hold the audience’s attention and make your virtual event more productive than ever.

Understand your audience first

If you don’t understand your audience well, you can leave no stone unturned and still can’t engage them deeply. The first thing is to gain insights into their interests and leverage that knowledge to add ideal activities to your virtual event. 

Understanding your audience’s needs and their hopes from your event is the bedrock of virtual event planning. It doesn’t only increase engagement at your virtual event but is truly a money-saver. You’ll spend much less on promoting your event. 

Top 5 ways to increase engagement at your virtual event

In 2019, 39% of event professionals agreed that ‘engaging attendees’ is the most crucial element of a live event.

Considering the importance of virtual event engagement, the following tips are invaluable. 

Top-notch and energetic virtual event host

Experienced and great event hosts are invaluable when it comes to capturing the attention of the audience at a virtual event. You need to ensure that attendees feel a part of the event. If there’s no engaging session happening, they’ll soon “zone out.” An energetic event host keeps the show alive and makes the audience feel they’re part of it. 

The event host should be remarkably good and must be well aware of the event’s theme. A knowledgeable host chats with people and excites them about the event. 

Event attendees seek value from the event, and having a knowledgeable and energetic host is imperative. They should be passionately curious and conversation-starters. By asking intelligent questions, they can interact better with them. It requires the host to have an excellent command of the essential questions. 

To keep the communication alive, you should use a comprehensive virtual event tool. 

Exciting content is an invaluable engagement driver for a virtual event

At virtual events, the attention span of the participants can be concise. If you don’t have compelling content, they’ll lose interest within the first few minutes. 

Interactive content like informational and engaging videos and downloadable worksheets are highly recommended. 

If you’re using PowerPoint, make sure it’s not “old corporate” stuff, which’s a huge turnoff for even the most passionate employee. Keep the slides visually appealing and professionally designed.

Adding video content to your slides can put life into your presentation. If there’s a point that needs to be emphasized, then present it in the video content.  

If you have a lot of text content, then adding a short video to your presentation is critical to elongating the attention span of your audience. 

Invest in production quality

Well…you’d never want to neglect the event venue’s look and feel. When you can’t afford to do this with your traditional-style event, why would you do it with your event? Production quality goes a long way in increasing engagement at your virtual event. 

It’s crucial to have high-quality production, no matter the event scenario. If you can’t set up real stands, you should offer a high-quality experience within virtual stands. If you can’t communicate face-to-face in booths, create appealing virtual booths within your virtual event platform. And of course, use a virtual event platform for your B2B meetings, conferences, and virtual events that comes with excellent video quality and networking solutions. 

Choose a virtual event platform that can offer you great video quality and innovative networking tools.

If you seek all of the above, then Aladdin’s platform is an incredibly valuable option. 

Event gamification

It’s a popular and beneficial strategy that encourages participation from the attendees and ultimately increases engagement at your event. 

Needless to say, you should set up virtual booths because that’s where attendees interact with exhibitors. Whenever a participant visits a virtual booth, give them points and rewards. 

You can make your virtual event more exciting by arranging a fun and exciting contest. It’s a creative way to engage participants and compel them to make contributions to the virtual event. 

You can either reward the winners with tech gadgets or prizes relevant to your industry. 

If you are not sure about what you should offer as a reward, ask event speakers for suggestions. 

The following prizes can be valuable to your participants, and mentioning them beforehand can make them engage in your event with more enthusiasm: 

• One month of free access to your product
• An interactive session with an industry expert 
• Free passes for the next event

Apart from these rewards, you may develop a more exciting idea to ensure more engagement at your event. 

Use interactive quizzes

Interactive quizzes are fun, interesting, and engaging to say the least. Quizzes enable event participants to collaborate and try finding the correct answers. Quizzes can increase engagement in a unique way as teams play against each other and compete to win—it creates unending engagement. 

In addition to creating engagement, you can use quizzes to connect participants to your brand by asking questions about the brand. Alternatively, you can create quizzes about industry topics as well. 

When people compete, they tend to be very passionate about winning and engage on a high level. Use touch questions and don’t ask those that can be searched easily on the internet. You can keep a reward for the winning team, which will certainly make participants compete more passionately. 

Engagement is at the heart of an event’s success, and if you want your B2B meeting, conference, or virtual event to be a success, get in touch with Aladdin B2B today!