Faced with an acceleration of digital events due to the pandemic, new digital interaction solutions are emerging. But by focusing so heavily on the success of digital events, the human and relational side of the event can be neglected. Yet it is essential, especially in this difficult situation, to put the attendee back at the heart of the event, regardless of the type of event.
The importance of humanizing digital events
Staying connected with your partners, customers, and colleagues is more essential than ever. Indeed, being physically far from one another can make us feel lonelier, less engaged, less valued, and less productive. And when companies do run digital events, it's often limited to a simple video call, with no magic to it.
That's why it's very important to offer creative, personalized, friendly, dynamic, even humorous solutions!
Bringing the human touch back to digital events mainly comes down to the notion of engagement. And that engagement needs to be present everywhere.
The attendee at the heart of the digital event
Once the technical organization is under control (we explain all the best practices for organizing a great virtual event here), guiding the attendee through the event experience is crucial.
As a result, several solutions can help keep attendees engaged, entertained, and interested throughout a digital event:
1. Take care of every step of the user journey
2. Create small thoughtful touches that will set your event apart
3. Personalize every aspect of your event for an optimal experience
Take care of every step of the user journey
We recommend checking that the entire registration process is smooth and user-friendly, that the event time is appropriate, that everyone has access to the same information, and that the registration process has no flaws.
Be sure to test your platform across several browsers, and at least once on mobile, the event website and the invitation email, to make sure everything matches your expectations.
Another important point: check that webcams are good quality and that internet connections are fast. This way, attendees and speakers broadcast in HD and the experience is always more enjoyable.
Don't hesitate to debrief or wrap up the event all together, coffee in hand, in a slightly less formal way, to end on a lighter note.
Create small thoughtful touches that will set your event apart
Above all, be considerate and put yourself in the attendee's shoes at every step of the digital event.
You need to guide them and pay special attention to the experience of a virtual event.
With that in mind, take as much care of your attendees as possible, and don't overlook the enjoyment they'll get from the experience! Make sure they have a great time, one they'll remember and that will make them want to attend your future events.
If the event lends itself to it, you can add tangible "beyond digital" touches. There's no shortage of ideas:
· Gift boxes to send;
· Meals delivered to their home;
· QR codes to scan for access to additional content;
· Personalized notes, etc.
The more concrete, sincere, and authentic it is, the more certain you can be of showing your attention and making people happy! For your team-building events and seminars, but also for your external events, always make this effort toward authenticity.
This pursuit of authenticity should also come through in your presentation: virtual formats let you close the distance between you and your audience. In a thousand words, as in a single image:
Personalize every aspect of your event for an optimal experience
Every detail of your digital event should be personalized! Starting with the platform you use. You can ask your digital event expert to customize the look and feel, add chat modules, polls, documents, quizzes, and even event replays based on each attendee's specific interests.
To go further, you should also break your event down into mini-workshops focused on specific sub-topics, so people can go straight to the virtual rooms that really interest them. Round this out by adding 1:1 meetings so your attendees can network and build real human connections.
Your attendees should spend less time passively receiving top-down information and more time actively participating, a bit like the social network Clubhouse. The organization of your event and the activities you offer should be designed with this in mind as much as possible, especially online.
Another way to personalize the experience is to remember to use variable tags in your invitation emails. This lets you personalize them based on your attendees' information (example: Hi {first name}, you're invited to {event} on {date}).
Digital tools go a long way toward putting attendees back at the heart of the event, when these communication channels are used well. This helps make digital communications more human, and the overall experience more enjoyable.
Conclusion
Bringing the human touch back to digital events isn't so straightforward.
It clearly requires full event-planning expertise and a good understanding of your audience.
We also hope this article helps you bring more humanity to your digital events.
Need more best practices? Feel free to browse our blog for a range of tips to energize your in-person, virtual, or hybrid events. You can also download our 17-page eBook on virtual events.
