5 Virtual Engagement Mistakes (+5 Easy Fixes)

Imagine this: You have spent weeks or maybe even months planning a virtual event. The event is now live, the platform looks great, people are joining, and you are ready to host a spectacular event. But wait, polls are unanswered, there is silence during Q&As, and people are dropping off!

Your mind goes blank. You can see your event efforts go down the drain. You are panicking.

You might wonder why all of this is happening. Well, we have the answer. You have made some common yet event-sabotaging engagement mistakes.

Don’t worry; this article is the savior for all your future events. In light of Epic Event’s podcast, we have addressed the most common virtual engagement mistakes that organizers and planners make with their easy fixes.

The interesting conversation between Candice Davis, the director of event programming and creative services at vFairs, and Scott Gould, Author, Consultant, and advisor on Engagement, has everything virtual event planners could ask for—and more.

So, let’s begin. 

But wait, before we jump into the nitty gritty of our topic, we want to know if you really understand what the term ‘engagement’ actually means. And no, we are not talking about the bookish definition. 

What is Event Engagement?

 Engagement can mean different things to different people when it comes to events. However, here is the definition by the expert of this term:

Event engagement is making relational bonds between at least two parties or objects and maximizing those bonds

Scott Gould

Author, Consultant, and advisor on Engagement

In simpler terms, engagement is about how people interact with each other at an event. 

Event organizers are in a constant battle to grab attendees’ attention. 

From the pre-event marketing campaigns to activities during the sessions and post-event follow-up, all of the efforts of event planners circle around delivering a worthwhile event experience that forges long-lasting connections. 

But while all event planners aim to create an event that is highly engaging for the event participants, only a few are able to pull such an event. 

The majority of event planners often find themselves making pretty common yet disastrous virtual event mistakes that often cost them through low event engagement. 

 Let’s find out what these common yet hidden engagement mistakes are and how we can tackle them for a successful event. 

Common Virtual Engagement Mistakes and Their Solutions

Over the years, eight years to be precise, Scott has seen it all—from choosing the wrong speakers to neglecting what the audience wants. He knows all the dos and don’ts of planning a highly engaging event. 

To ensure your event is memorable rather than forgettable, the experts have addressed the common engagement mistakes that can lead to disastrous outcomes, but with their easy fixes. Let’s explore them.

Mistake No. 1: Choosing Multiple and Complicated Event Platforms

The attention span of virtual attendees is short. Really short.

 Most event planners choose multiple platforms for a single virtual event. For instance, as an event planner, if you select one platform to display event presentations and another one for virtual activities, you are setting yourself up for a massive event failure. 

Asking them to log into different accounts to access presentations, speaker sessions, or participate in activities will only drive them away from the event.

 Solution: 

To avoid this mistake, choose a single event platform that assists you from the beginning to the end of the event. 

vFairs is a best-in-class example of a perfectly designed single-event platform. It enables you to host virtual events in an immersive virtual environment where you can keep your attendees entertained and engaged all in one place. 

Besides this, the platform provides multiple engagement tools such as spatial networking, smart matchmaking, live feed, breakout rooms, and much more to boost event engagement.

Having an event on a single platform, where everything is in one place, will reduce the chance of attendees drifting away. Attendees will be more focused, and everything will be easier to manage.

Mistake No. 2: Irrelevant Speakers Offering Low-Quality Content

Content is king, especially for keeping the virtual audience engaged. 

Virtual event stats show that 62% of virtual attendees expect to educate themselves from events. Therefore, event planners who settle for low-quality content do not deliver what the audience wants. 

Event planners often struggle to keep the audience engaged while providing valuable content. As a result, planners usually create disengaged audiences who consume low-quality material.

Solution:  

One way to keep the event engaging while educating the audience is by having dynamic yet relevant speakers for your webinars. 

Having a set of passionate speakers at your webinars who involve people with compelling storytelling skills, address frequently asked questions, and keep the event alive is great for your event.

Even more necessary is having speakers who engage the audience and possess the right knowledge on the topic of interest. Having well-learned speakers will ensure that the audience gets the education they came for. 

You can also find some key tips and tricks from our guide on how to secure the right speakers for your event. 

Mistake No. 3: Neglecting the Audience’s Participation

As we discussed above, virtual audiences prefer to attend something other than boring speaker sessions. Likewise, they will only enjoy activities that encourage equal participation.

Many event planners do not consider the audience’s preference when planning and attending a virtual event. 

Suppose you want to prioritize how your audience feels more comfortable sharing their point of view. In that case, consider giving more control to the participants. 

Solution: 

To encourage equal and active participation of attendees at a virtual event it is necessary to have the right event networking features. 

vFairs has some of the best event networking features. Especially their exciting new addition, Chat Networking, is particularly great for enhancing discussions.

Chat Networking allows thousands of participants at an event to engage in different ways. Attendees can become part of popular chats/topics and also have 1:1 conversations with people of their interests. 

There is so much more that the feature offers which you can check out here. 

 You might think it will be exhausting to manually match people based on their topics of interest and likelihood, But that’s not a problem if you have the right event partner. 

 vFairs facilitates engagement with smart matchmaking and breakout rooms as well. 

Smart matchmaking is an event matchmaking algorithm that enhances attendees’ experience by connecting them with other participants with common interests.

 Similarly, breakout rooms help participants in initiating more minor group decisions. 

Mistake No. 4: Inhibiting Observation / Silent Participation

We talked about active participation, but what about people who do not want to actively participate? In the event world, it is important to be inclusive. 

In today’s time, event planners are trying to replicate all that in-person events provide in a virtual setting. However, they eliminate one in-person event tool, the opportunity to observe what’s happening around them.

 In an in-person event, participants can roam around the auditoriums, visit different sessions, or sit in one place without participating. This silent participation helps attendees grasp the knowledge they want and understand the surroundings at their own pace. 

However, in most virtual events, silent participation does not exist.

Solution: 

One way to allow participants to enjoy silent participation or observation is by organizing round table discussions. 

Roundtable discussions allow virtual attendees to observe and gain knowledge through event discussions without participating actively.

vFairs offers roundtables, a great networking tool that allows participants to have in-depth discussions on specific topics and lets participants learn from others’ conversations. 

Roundtable discussions can help introverts and shy participants learn about the topic of interest or even participate at their convenience. 

If you are wondering how the roundtable feature works, check this:

Mistake No. 5: Not Engaging with the Audience Beyond the Event

Another common yet fairly hidden mistake event planners make is not engaging with the audience after the event. 

Many event planners and organizers think about the the head of the event, which is pre-event marketing. But, what they forget is the heart of the event, which is engaging with audience after the event

Scott Gould

Author, Consultant, and advisor on Engagement

Post-event follow-up is the most essential part of your event, as it helps build and strengthen relationships with the audience afterwards. 

Unfortunately, instead of executing a solid post-event follow-up strategy, most event planners chose to have a weak follow-up style by simply sending an email thanking the audience who participated in the event.

Solution: 

One way to support a successful post-event follow-up strategy is to organize event debriefs. Event debriefs are a post-event follow-up meeting. In the meeting, the event planners and marketers present and discuss event performance and compare the goals achieved. 

 Event debriefs are a great way to bring event planners and leaders on one page to discuss the successes and failures of the event. 

The event debriefing also helps develop the proper follow-up strategies to integrate audience feedback in future events. 

Event debriefs are highly functional when you grab answers from post-event survey questions. Post-event survey questions and their responses help execute desired changes for future events’ success. 

But, What is an Ideal Event Engagement Metric?

We have talked about the mistakes, and their solutions and even added suggestions from the best in the engagement field but there’s one thing yet to address.

You must be wondering how will I know if my event has the right amount of engagement. 

While there has yet to be an algorithm to measure audience engagement at an event, Scott Gould believes ideal event engagement comprises opportunities for the audience to observe, lurk, share their point of view, and put their learning into practical use. 

So, when you are implementing all the right engagement strategies, make sure that you have all these opportunities aligned. 

 To hear all of Scott’s tips, watch the full podcast!