Hosting virtual events became a necessity rather than a choice with the beginning of the global pandemic.
Engage Audiences with Interactive Virtual Events
But even now that hosting offline events is easier, many businesses and professionals continue doing everything online.
Utilize quizzes and questionnaires
Indeed, many opportunities are available to you when you are hosting something online. For example, webinars, conferences, and courses can reach much larger audiences when they are hosted online. However, it is also important to keep those audiences engaged. This is why the following ideas will help you make your business easier to manage with interactive features.
I want to remind you that you can organize a virtual conference or meeting with MyOwnConference even in 30 seconds.
Quizzes and questionnaires are both examples of gamification. By gamifying your event, you will engage the audience in fun and entertaining ways. Both quizzes and questionnaires can be utilized for interactivity, but questionnaires are also quite useful for collecting feedback from your audience. Both can be extremely effective for engaging your audience from the start of the event until its very end. By the way, on the webinar platform MyOwnConference, you can conduct tests and surveys right during the event.
For instance, you can start your webinar with a questionnaire meant to collect information about the participants (e.g. how much they know about the topic) and their expectations for the event. Then, at the end of the webinar, you can use another questionnaire to get feedback (e.g. whether their expectations were met, what else they would like to learn more about, etc.)
Quizzes can be used both as education and entertainment. For example, if you are hosting online courses, you will definitely need to use some quizzes to test your students’ knowledge. On the other hand, quizzes can simply be a fun way to test the participants’ knowledge if it’s just a one-time webinar or lecture. You can even use them in a competitive setting by creating a custom quiz on Kahoot or a similar platform.
Read also: How to Do Webinars Free
Set up voting during the events
Another way to introduce interactivity is through voting. Voting makes your audience feel more engaged, and makes them feel their opinions have been heard. In other words, voting allows your audience to feel like it is actually a part of your presentation rather than simply a passive audience attending what you organized. Besides, if you want to make specific decisions during the event, you can use voting to make them democratically.
Voting is also quite similar to polling, though the latter is more casual and can help you collect information rather than let your audience make decisions. Essentially, polls are like mini questionnaires. You can use them to better understand your audience without making everyone complete a lengthy questionnaire.
How does this look in practice? When you are discussing a specific point during your webinar, you can ask a question to your audience and let everyone answer by choosing one of the multiple choices you offer. For example, you can ask, "Do you plan your future?" and provide options such as, "No, I don’t," "Yes, one year ahead," "Yes, three years ahead," "Yes, five years ahead," and "Yes, more than five years ahead."
Ensure clarity in communication
Communication matters in everything from business to education. Communication is particularly important when you are hosting something online because you can’t meet your audience in real life. That’s why you always need to ensure clarity in all your communication. Start doing this before the event, keep it up during the event, and do it afterward, too.
Before the event, clearly communicate what it will be like. Will it be a webinar, online course, conference, or something else? How long will it take? How can participants register for it and access it? If you have a website, some basic design tooling helps when you are making the materials to promote your event. That’s precisely where you need to be clear with your communication.
During the event, explain yourself as clearly as possible. It’s a good idea to prepare beforehand and even practice your presentation if you feel that it’s necessary. If everyone in your audience understands what you are talking about, they will be more likely to engage with you in some way (e.g. ask a question or voice an opinion).
Ask questions and listen to opinions
Speaking of questions, you should definitely ask them yourself as well and listen to the opinions voiced by your audience members. Remember that you aim to create a continuous dialogue with the participants of your event instead of viewing them as a passive audience. If you only focus on your own speeches and monologues, you will not be able to see much engagement.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should constantly be asking questions and listening to what your audience has to say. Instead, you need to organize a number of questions you can ask your audience throughout your presentation. You can let several people weigh in on the topic every time after you ask a question, but do not let the conversation stray too far from where the discussion started.
If you hear an exciting opinion, don’t hesitate to respond to it. Voice your own thoughts about what the person just said. Explain things that others may not understand. Ask more questions based on the opinions you hear. Generally, try to be as open to discussions as possible, but remember that you are still the one hosting the event.
Focus on creating experiences
Last but not least, focus on creating experiences. Your attendees need to continue thinking about the event long after it has ended. They need to think about the things you discussed and the things you did together. That’s how you can leave a lasting impact on your audience and encourage the participants to come back to you in the future if you are planning to host another webinar, conference, or online course.
To create lasting experiences, you need to show something unusual. On the one hand, this will be interesting for you to organize and execute. And on the other hand, it will be interesting for your audience, so it will be something the attendees will remember afterward. For example, you can offer an interesting perspective on a widely discussed subject, present the topic in a new format, and so on. Just try to find a way to make the experience memorable.
Society moves quickly, everything keeps changing, and the internet asks us to keep up with all of it. In that setting, experiences are among the most valuable things a person can own. That’s why many people are seeking ways to get such experiences. If you know this, you could be the one who can create such experiences and provide eager attendees with what they are looking for.
To conclude on interactive webinar hosting
Hosting online courses, conferences, and webinars works, as long as you engage your audience and build something genuinely interactive. Use this article’s tips to help you successfully host online events and provide attendees with valuable and memorable experiences. The MyOwnConference platform gives you the tools to make one worth remembering.
FAQ
How can I use quizzes and questionnaires to engage my audience?
You can start your webinar with a questionnaire to learn what participants expect and know. During the event you can run quizzes to entertain and test knowledge. At the end you ask for feedback via another questionnaire to see how well expectations were met.
What is the difference between voting and polling in an online event?
Voting lets attendees make choices that influence decisions during your presentation. Polling is more casual and helps you gather insights from your audience without driving the main flow of your event.
How do I ensure clarity in communication before, during, and after my event?
Before the event explain format, timing, registration and access. During explain your points clearly and give examples if needed. After the event follow up with summaries, answers to questions and materials for participants.
How often should I ask questions of my audience during the event?
You should plan several moments to ask questions so participants feel involved. But do not overdo it so the flow does not get off track. After someone shares an opinion respond and relate it back to your main thread.
How can I create memorable experiences for attendees?
Show something fresh or unexpected in your presentation. Use interactive formats, new perspectives or creative visuals. Make your content linger in attendees’ minds so they want to return to your future events.
