Here at Beetsol, we assist organizations from various sectors to host large-scale online events. Today, most organizations are successfully managing their entire operations virtually, and hosting an event is one of the important aspects of a business’s marketing operations. However, one crucial challenge they face with hosting a virtual event is to capture the essence of an in-person event.

In order to make events successful, whether in-person or online, you require significant efforts and a detailed plan from start to end. However, most well-planned events also face unexpected bottlenecks, hurdles in execution, etc. So here are some effective lessons learned from hosting large-scale online events.

7 Effective lessons learned from hosting large-scale online events

1. Failing to plan is planning to fail

As the quote suggests, a host must invest their time in preparing a detailed plan for the event despite having access to the most technologically advanced online event management software, knowledgeable speaker, and excellent audience reach. Online events may appear to require less time to set up but require as much effort as in-person events.

A host must plan for the event theme, time zone where her attendees belong, complete schedule, and speakers. Apart from these crucial elements, marketing and promotion efforts also contribute towards making an event successful.

2. Easy registration

Getting participants on board is itself a challenging process. Further, if the registrations process for your event is lengthier and complicated, attendees are most likely to get frustrated and leave the process altogether. This makes the registration process a key aspect to keep your audience interested and to get your event to a good start. Online event management tools can greatly assist you in this pursuit.

3. Communication is the key

Communication amongst your event hosting team is vital in order to avoid duplication of efforts, smooth running of operations, and keep track of progress. To ensure your team has effortless communication, you can either use a virtual event management platform that assists you at every step of the way or multiple communication mediums such as Skype, Email, and text messages.

Being prepared and having a communication plan helps your staff in successfully managing unexpected glitches during or before the event. Remember, you only get one shot at this.

4. Do not expect to replicate the in-person event atmosphere

It is the objective of virtual event organizers to provide unforgettable event experiences. However, understand that your virtual audience will need to have access to virtual chat rooms, proper audio as well as video conferencing devices. Virtual chat rooms can be beneficial to your event since they allow participants to communicate with one another and with the speaker. Furthermore, chat rooms allow participants to ask questions. As a result, the informal environment of chat rooms serves as a fantastic ice-breaker, which eventually helps your event.

5. Focus on offering quality content

It is especially important to provide quality content while hosting conferences and events for industry experts. However, it is always recommended that you provide good, informative, and relevant content to your audience to keep them interested. To achieve this goal, event planners can carefully curate the content from start to end. An event management report from your event planning platform can provide you insights into participant’s preferences and you can prepare a content plan accordingly.

6. Provide on-demand access to content

It often happens that registered attendees could not attend the live event due to some unforeseeable circumstance. But he might want to have access to the content shared during the event, or she may want to review the entire recording of an event. In both cases, you can make the content readily available to attendees and registrants who could not attend.

7. Be prepared for unexpected

Though the event is being hosted virtually and every aspect of the event can be controlled, there is always room for an unexpected glitch. Thus having a backup plan can save you from last-minute trouble.

Even if it is difficult to plan for the unexpected, you can assess things that can possibly go wrong and then prepare a plan B for the same. And not just plan B but plan C if possible. However, make peace with the fact that facing small bottlenecks is okay and perfectly normal.

These are some of the things we’ve learned while pursuing virtual event management. The above points can be used as guidelines for conducting your future events more effectively and providing a better experience for your attendees.