You have found the right podcast to give you solid Tips for getting better engagement, smoother and more well run digital and virtual events, trade shows and webinars!

Episode 074 - Tips & Trends #5!

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Tip #1 - Use short segments

·       In past we were used to 40, 60, even 90 minute sessions

·       Your virtual audience can’t handle that much! Attention spans are shorter with so many distractions at home

·       15 min + short Q&A, or have multiple speakers talk for 10 min on a topic and end with panel Q&A

·       Break up sessions with creative breaks – quizzes, trivia, giveaways, musicians, exercise or yoga or more! Be creative – so many options out there. This segment can even be sponsored to make up some costs

Tip #2 - Stay on time with your agenda

·       respect your audience! Don’t go over or you’ll risk losing them.

·       Practice multiple times alone or with your team. Make sure you have your timing dialed in.

·       Day of event – watch your time!

·       Have q&a at end of your presentation. We may be tempted to watch the chat and answer some questions as they come in. But that can throw your timing way off and a chance you won’t get to all of your material or go over time.

·       Have someone dedicated to monitoring the chat.

#3 – Have backup plans for when tech goes wrong

·       Be ready to pivot

·       What will you do if one of your presenters can’t log in?

·       Understand all the parts of your event and your tech and discuss all possibilities ahead of time.

·       This will give you greater peace of mind and lead to a smoother, more engaging event.

Trend for more engaging and smoothly run Virtual Events is to pre-record your presentation and take live Q&A afterwards. 

·       First – pre-recording allows you to edit so it is the best it can be

·       Also allows you to include extras into the presentation like titles, cutaways, animation, music and more.

·       New tools are coming on to help make video editing easier in case you’re like me with zero experience at editing video, or you don’t have a video editor on staff, or you don’t want to pony up to use one.

·       One tool that currently is free and has amazing video and audio capabilities is Descript. I use it for audio but have seen some of the features for video editing and really powerful and simple!

·       Check out descript.com

·       Consider this method of pre-recorded video next time you are putting together a digital event, or if you are being asked to give a presentation.

Remember to get over to tradeshowu.biz/challenge and let me know your brand or plan for 2021! Giving away some great prizes and swag!