With virtual events on the rise, it is important to be both efficient and intentional with the time allotted for your planned event. Audience engagement is the number one challenge to a successful virtual event.  With all the distractions competing for the attention of your attendees, it is now more important than ever to create programs that keep your attendees engaged for the duration of your event.

How can we do that? 
Find the right balance of rich content and engagement offerings to curate a compelling experience for attendees. 

3 Ways to Enhance your Audience Engagement:

1. Frequent Mind Breaks.
Keeping sessions to 40 minutes or less is best to keep the attention of your attendees.  If you have multiple keynote sessions in a row, we recommend adding “mind break” segments in between each to refresh the minds of your attendees. These can take the form of a live MC interjecting lively commentary throughout or pre-recorded segments with compelling, interesting content that will enhance your meeting content.  Another great option is to run pre-recorded “commercial breaks” from the meeting host or exhibitors, which is an effective way to shift the flow and add value for your sponsors.

2. Add Compelling Entertainment or Networking Segments.
When it comes to entertainment and networking segments, be creative! Think about what added segments can enhance the objectives of your meeting.  This can be as simple as a meeting guest sharing their favorite cocktail recipe, to bringing in a third-party solution for interactive entertainment or games.A virtual cocktail hour is a great way to add networking and camaraderie.  Sending the ingredients list ahead of the event (including recipes for snacks!) and adding some background music can transform an “all business” meeting into an enjoyable time of networking.  But watch out for group unmuting, which takes away from the enjoyment of the experience instead of adding to it.

There are many third-party options to consider adding to your event, such as networking mixers, live music, dancetroups, magic shows and group games (just to name a few) that both include and encourage audience interaction.  Make sure you have a good plan for streaming the content and schedule plenty of quality control testing with the third-party provider ahead of time to ensure a smooth transition to your chosen event platform.

3. Leverage Attendee Chats,
Polls and Incentives.Attendee chatting during event sessions is a good energizer and a way to quickly respond to feedback within each segment.  Be sure you have a team member dedicated to chat monitoring and responsiveness. Frequent polling is useful for “taking the temperature” of your attendees and getting quick feedback on meeting content or overall experience.  Not only does this give you real time feedback on your event, but it allows your attendees to have a way to interact and engage in the experience too.

Some virtual platforms have “gamification” features that allow the attendees to rack up participation points by attending sessions and/or exhibitor booths.  Offering periodic points and the chance to win prizes goes a long way to activate a little friendly competition and audience engagement.We're Ready to Partner with You!

Planning a live event can be stressful. 
There are simply a lot of factors to consider, which is time-consuming and overwhelming. But, we can help! We’ve learned a lot about virtual events.  In fact, we’ve gathered our best practices into the Digital Motion Event Success Plan - something we share with all our clients so they can achieve successful events.

It’s so easy to get started!

1.) Schedule a free, no obligation consultation by visiting  www.digitalmotionav.com.

2.) You will receive our best tips and a customized recommendation for your event, along with an estimate of service options.

3.) Once you are ready to move forward, your dedicated Digital Motion team member will share our Digital Motion Event Success Plan and next steps.

4.) You will be on track to Elevate your Event! We help you make your event a success!

The Digital Motion Team