Perfect Live Virtual Events in 2021 - The Definitive Guide

 

How to Make Your Audience Desire Your Live Virtual Events and Come Back for More...

Live virtual events are on the rise. Conferences, conventions, seminars are canceling their physical venues and many are scrambling to deliver their content virtually. Of course, so are smaller training events. I highly suspect that 2020 will be the Year of the Webinar!

However, there is more to hosting a webinar than simply having one. You need to ensure that it’s fun, informative, and useful, as well. When people go to a live virtual event (large or small), most know that they’ll get a sales pitch eventually. But what makes them come back for more is the actual content outside of the sales pitch. Plus, if they choose to purchase due to your sales pitch, the product must be fabulous. If you offer your audience amazing promises, you need to live up to them.

Here are some tips to help you make your live virtual events more effective for you and more valuable for your attendees.

Make Virtual Live Events Informative

All worthwhile live virtual events should offer a message that educates the audience on something they want or needs to know and can put into action right away. If the message is informative and gives them something they can do without even buying your offer, they’ll want to see more from you and may eventually buy your products or use your services.

I’ve been to many events where the information was not much more that I could find using Google or was so fluffy that even if I implemented it, it would not have much of an effect. So give your audience something meaty. You don’t have to give away all you’ve got, but you should give them something actionable and meaningful.

Keep the Message Clear

If your message isn’t crystal clear to your audience, they may leave your webinar confused. You don’t want that to happen. You want your audience to be able to digest the information in an understandable way. This means that you make sure that:

·      You organize your presentation well,

·      You set the right tone for your message, and

·      All your content moves your audience closer to the end result for your webinar

Be Entertaining

While you’re getting them the information, it’s important to also not make it boring. Be lively and entertaining. Share a story that they can relate to. Show your humanity to them and they’ll want to know more.

And use the right visuals. There is an art to creating a slide deck that supports your content and engages your audience.

Pick an Awesome Topic

This is really the most important part of live virtual events. Your topic should be something that makes your audience excited to learn more. In order to choose the right topic, you need to match your expertise, and the expertise of your guest speakers, with what your audience wants and needs.

Give Attendees a Special Gift

Approximately 75 percent of the people who sign up for your webinar will not attend. But, you can boost attendance if you give those who attend something no one else will get. Make it something people will talk about.

You can go one step further and also offer a gift that they can only get if they stay through to the end. There online meeting tools that can automate this, but it doesn’t need to be that complex. Simply have the gift available at a specific — and non-public — URL and share it only when the time is right:

·      At the beginning for a “gift for attending” item

·      At the end for a “gift for staying until the end” item

You can either tell people the URL, share it in the comments, discussion area, or have it on a slide.

Host Your Virtual Live Events on the Right Days and at the Right Times

Knowing your audience will also help you know the perfect day and time to host your webinars. You may ultimately choose to host more than one in order to cover all the bases.

Create an Awesome Information Page for Your Live Virtual Events

This is not a sales page, but instead a page that lets those who have signed up for your event know what exactly will happen at the event. You can mention the freebies you’ll be giving away during the webinar and the information you’ll cover more in-depth.

Follow Up

When someone signs up for the webinar you should have an autoresponder set up to immediately thank them for signing up, sharing the information page, and other information that will encourage them to attend the webinar live. In addition, you should consider creating a follow-up sequence that reminds them to attend, as well. Sometimes people do not attend the webinar live simply because they forget. Some webinar systems have the ability to set up reminders, but even if yours does not, you can set them up with the autoresponder system in your email marketing platform.

You can work diligently to make your live virtual events successful, but if you don’t include these factors you may not have as many attendees as you’d like. Understanding who your audience is and what they need is your first step to ensuring that all your webinars, teleseminars, and online summits resonate with your audience. The more your events solve problems for your audience, as well as entertain and wow them, the more likely they are to come back for more.