Transitioning to Virtual and Hybrid Events. Ben Chodor

channels in places like Apple TV, Roku, and Smart TVs, where the audience will go to get news and information from your organization, directly on their TV sets and conference room monitors. Your content can be delivered to any Smart TV or OTT device anywhere in the world. So technically anyone in the world could have access to your content if available on 50″, 60″, and larger television monitors with a click of their remote controls.

       Use Cases

      Marketing – A major announcement where your number‐one goal is to reach as many people as possible. You care more about the mass numbers you reach than actually knowing who is watching – think television. You want to make it easy for the audience to log in from anywhere. Instead of making the audience come to your destination and registering, you're bringing your content to the places that your audience likes to get their content. And you're not limited to one: you can syndicate your content to many locations at once, like Facebook Live, LinkedIn Live, Twitch, your partners' websites, etc. You're hoping that they will like what they see and then come to your website to engage or purchase.

      Corporate Television – You're a large association and you want to create your own TV channel to launch at your annual event and run all year round with new programming segments broadcast multiple times a week. Your first program can be viewed by the audience live at the conference, on a hotel TV channel, and on conference monitors; their virtual audience could watch the content via the association's website, a virtual event platform, and via your very own Roku channel. Your goal is to debut your program everywhere your audience wants to watch and drive them to continue to get similar programming through your TV channel 24/7 and 365 days a year.

WEB CONFERENCING

Web conferencing is a collaboration tool; it is a many‐to‐many solution – think of products like Zoom, Webex, BlueJeans, Hoot, and a whole host of others. These are perfect solutions for internal meetings and customer‐facing product demos where you connect through your computer and activate your webcam so everyone can see each other and share your computer screen. You will normally purchase web conferencing technology on a license either annually for your entire organization or monthly for individual users or for small companies and start‐ups. Also, unlike webcasting, webinars, and virtual events, you have one link that is dedicated to an individual, which is your web conference ID. This is a lower‐cost way that you could accomplish the same goal as a webcast or webinar, but you do not have all the functionality like polls and surveys and you will also be limited to how many users can be on your conferencing tool at once.

       Use Cases

      Internal Communications – There is no better way to have a meeting than via a web conferencing tool; the keys are the ability to see and hear all the participants, screen sharing, and text chatting. It allows a geographically dispersed group the ability to feel closer and go over important matters, share information, or just have a team meeting or daily or weekly update. It is what the conference call used to be. During COVID‐19 the use of web conferences went from something a lot of organizations used to one that now virtually everyone uses. Zoom changed how the world looked at web conferencing; they made it easy to use and very accessible for anyone. We have all been invited to Zoom happy hours, birthdays, and workout classes. One of my favorite parts is that you can access Zoom from any device and that I get to see and hear whomever I am engaging with.

      Sales – To me this is one of the best use cases. It gives you the ability to see and hear your customers and prospects and it's the ideal way to share your slides, your screen, and demo your products and solutions right from your computer. It also can be scheduled but does not have to be; in other words you can just send out your custom link and anyone globally can log instantly on, and in a matter of minutes.

DETERMINING THE RIGHT PROGRAM FOR YOU

So now the hard part: What is the right solution for me? The good news is you don't have to pick one solution and you can always change your solution based on your use case.

      One of my goals in this book is to give you the tools you need to make the shift to virtual and hybrid events, but it's also to take away some of the fear you have in making this transition. Trust me, you will make a few mistakes along the way, but as long as you are creating content that is high quality and engaging, the rest will be easy. I have also said before, one of the best parts of virtual events is no one has created the perfect mousetrap yet. I have produced and been part of thousands of events; I have made more mistakes and miscalculations than I can even remember, and I have helped create some of the best innovations and worked on some of coolest and most engaging events as well. So, for all we know it's going to be one of you reading this book who creates the next great virtual event innovation.

      Take a deep breath and ask yourself these questions. After you've answered them, all the support information on what you should do next you'll find in chapters throughout the book.

       What are your goals of the program?It could be attendance sizeIt could be number of engagementsIt could be the time an attendee spends inside the virtual eventIt could be the number of sessions or programs that the attendee watchesIt could be the number of booths each attendee visitsIt could be the number of qualified sales leads that you or your sponsors getIs it brand recognition for your company or organization?Is it about accreditations and learning?

       What is the ROI (return on investment) you're looking for?Is it revenue from registrations?Is it the revenue from exhibit booths sold?Is it how many demonstrations your team can give during the days of the virtual event?Is it the revenue from sponsorships?Is it increasing membership?Is it to increase your visibility?Is it education related, in other words the number of certifications achieved?Is it public relations related, the number of stories written about your events and sponsors?

       How important is interaction?Is it the number of one‐on‐one interactions?Do you want the audience to answer polls?Do you want to test new products and offerings on your audience?Do you want to have gamification and contests? (I will cover this in greater detail later in the book.)Is it important for the attendees to interact with each other?

       How important is video?Will your presentation be live video or prerecorded?Will you enable your sponsors or exhibitors to add videos?Will you create an event‐opening video?Will you have your speakers present via their webcam, or will you send a video crew to their home or office, or will you have them go to a local studio, or will it be a combination?Will you want the ability to have multiple presenters from different locations on the screen at the same time?

       How important is two‐way video?For your breakout roomsFor your classroom programsFor media interviewsIn your exhibitor's boothIs it important to have the audience show their video when they ask questions during sessions?

       How important is your support material?SlidesProduct demosHandouts for your presentationsWhitepapersScreen sharing for breakout room presentations

       What types of presentations will you have?General sessionsKeynote sessionsBreakout sessionsTraining sessionsFireside chats sessionsWill the presentation be live with question‐and‐answer periods?Will the presentation be simulated live with Q&A periods?Will the presentation be prerecorded or a combination of live, simulated live, and prerecorded?Will any of your presentations be audio and slides, or will it be video and slides, or will it be a combination of audio and video programs? (I am a big fan of video programs whenever possible. It not only gives your audience the ability to hear what the presenter is saying, it allows the audience to see the presenter's facial expressions and it makes it easier to engage with the presenter.)

       How important is polling and/or surveying your audience?You have a unique opportunity to keep your audience involved in the program and not just voyeurs with polling and audience surveys.Instant feedback may or may not be important to you, but it's something you need to plan for before the program begins.

       Will you be having certifications or continuing education programs