You should step up a bit in creating virtual events for your team. I mean, who would show up to a boring event?
Talking a lot to your team virtually is lame, especially when they know you will take too long. You think there’s nothing wrong with taking your time about it because you’re planning well for your company, right?
But that’s so dull! It’ll make everyone sleepy because they’re bored to death. They’ll remember what they dreamed about during the night instead of what happened with your event. You have to get them to engage and cooperate with your event. Make everyone excited and happy to learn. Lift their spirits, show them how to create a fun and exciting virtual event (and keep them attentive!).
Virtual events can be a lot of fun! We have thought of these 6 tips for how you can plan and create an enjoyable virtual event. I promise, these tips will help keep their attention even if the subject matter in itself is boring!
1. Don’t make it long
Why make virtual events long when you can make them short? Pace the meeting to cover all necessary materials for your team. They’re held to teach your team about your projects, not to create a TV show.
Virtual events aren’t television shows that talk about many things. Lengthy meetings can make your team just slack off instead of listening. They’d just think that you have already given the information– why should they continue to listen?
Don’t try to cover too many topics in one call. The event may feel never-ending. Plus, attendees might only retain a fraction of what was talked about during your presentation. They’ll get distracted by other information that isn’t as important or relevant to their work. It’s best to just focus on the main points rather than anything else until later. Everyone needs time to digest everything after a first glance.
Being straightforward and informative while keeping your event short is much easier. If there are shortcuts to conveying the plans, use them. We recommend the length of virtual events be 40 minutes at most. Studies show that most workers cannot focus in meetings for longer than 45 minutes. Engagement sharply drops after the 30-minute marker. If the meeting goes longer, then you can add the next tips of this blog that we are giving you.
2. Add empathy
Put yourself in your team’s shoes. Ask yourself, “Would I engage if I added this?”, “Would I cooperate if I added that?”. “Would I be attentive if this happened?” Empathy always helps organizers or team leaders to create plans for events.
Be relaxed about creating questions to support your team. Don’t overthink it or it will make your event too long. Think through the points you want to communicate. Put them in order according to how easily your team can absorb them. You could do that if you were in their shoes, right?
But always remember to consider their feelings. Imagine that each of your team members can hug the information like a teddy bear. The goal is to make them comfortable in dealing with things in their work after your virtual event. Sometimes you just have to make your events their comfort place, a resource that makes their lives easier. That should start by letting yourself experience them with empathy.
3. Add fun
Fun is a great tool to get your team members to cooperate and engage in your virtual events. When you maintain that fun factor, they’ll look forward to your presentations. They’ll be surprised to see that they all really enjoy your virtual meetings.
Fun should always be involved when working to maintain attention. People will not engage in things that are not fun. I’m not telling you to make a wacky face or dance hilariously. You can add humor to what you are telling them ( if you don’t have that somewhere inside of you, better start practicing! 😉). They will love cooperating with you when they feel that fun is on their side.
You should remember to limit fun also. Your objective is to make your team focus on the goals of your virtual event. Fun is to keep them engaged and cooperating with you. You’re not producing a clown show – fun is there to keep them on track.
4. Create Live Polls
Responding to a poll is exciting, right? You get to answer the questions freely. Get your team members to engage and cooperate with fun live polls. This is also one of the funniest things to add to your event.
You can let everyone rate anything. Add humorous yet relatable questions to your poll. From “what is your favorite color” to “what are your thoughts about this feature”, your team can engage and cooperate with you. The results will not only surprise them, they will help them get to know one another better.. You’ll also get to know them more. It’s so much better to know what your workers have in common, right? You can learn what unites them as a team from the poll results.
Finally, add a question about how satisfied they were in the event. The answers will give you thoughts and ideas that can make your next virtual event a more successful one. Let them give you opinions about which part of the event you could improve. Every virtual event is an opportunity to learn, after all. That’ll show them your engagement and cooperation with what the majority wants. If there are negative comments, don’t get put off! Don’t let them get to you. Instead, crave them. Strive for improvement.
5. Virtual Quiz
Do you know why quiz shows are compelling to the audience at home? It’s because the audience tries to answer the questions too. What if we were to add quiz questions to a virtual event you’re handling? Your team members will do the same thing! They will engage and try to answer all the questions you’ll ask. Of course, the prizes you’ve prepared will interest them too. Adding this ingredient to your virtual event will increase the engagement of your team members.
Prepare quiz questions that connect with your audience. Write out 10 to 20 questions, where you can add general knowledge quizzes. Don’t forget things that are related to your presentation. Here’s a tip for you: you can put the general knowledge questions in the slides randomly. Place the questions from the topic of your presentation at the end of each one of them. That way, they won’t only learn to engage but they’ll learn more about your presentation and some general knowledge.
You can also let them ask questions after your presentation. To get them to brainstorm about the material presented, offer a prize for the most interesting questions. This will lead them to invest in your event and become more knowledgeable about what it is about. The next time you schedule a virtual event for them, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled to join.
6. Create a way of communication
ALWAYS, always let your team communicate with you. It’s a means of engaging with them, plus it will make them feel like they’re part of the team. This is the aspect of virtual events that should be unlimited.
Don’t limit your team’s freedom to speak. Let them bring ideas and questions about the projects you’re presenting to them. That’s the reason why we put the quiz, live polls, etc. at the top of this list. Try hard to give them the confidence they need to communicate.
For sure, confusing aspects of the project can lead them to ask questions about how to do their work productively. There are many ways to kill a cat. The team can give you ideas to create a simpler or better way to execute the project. Many heads are better than one, so you should take that golden opportunity.
More communication means more relationship building. These events provide cooperation and engagement and help you and your team to bond. You’re the head and your team is the body. With a communicative virtual event, these tips can help significantly increase your team’s productivity.
CONCLUSION
You need to step up your game when creating virtual events. A boring event will inevitably result in a lack of interest and participation. This will only lead to poorer results. To help you get started, we’ve shown you six tips on how to level up your virtual events. This will not only help your team become more productive, they’ll also be excited about the next one!
