Hosting virtual events has now become the standard. Many minor and major businesses and brands that had never considered going online have now done so. With each passing day, the percentage of virtual events grows significantly. However, many event planners are still unfamiliar with the virtual event paradigm. We’ve compiled a list of the most typical mistakes we’ve seen during virtual events which you want to avoid resulting in low attendance and interest.

Let’s start with the most typical virtual event mistakes that event planners must avoid and correct to put on a successful virtual event.

1. Content Heavy PowerPoint Presentations

The first virtual event mistake is turning your event into a content-heavy PowerPoint presentation. Just because you’re used to giving presentations in person doesn’t mean that’s what you should do for a virtual event. Remember, people are attending virtually, which means they have the freedom to multi-task if they want to. So, if you’re going to bombard them with a bunch of information, they’re likely to tune out or even leave your event altogether.

Creating compelling content keeps participants engaged with the event even when their attention span is short. Attendees aren’t interested in sitting through hours of presentation slides. Instead of relying on PowerPoint slides full of text, try using visuals and graphics to get your point across. You can also use video or audio clips to break up the monotony of your presentation. And most importantly, make sure you engage your audience by asking questions and inviting them to participate in polls or surveys.

Read More: What it takes to host a virtual event

2. Choosing The Wrong Presenters

If you don’t choose the correct presenters, all of your efforts will be for nothing. Speakers are such an essential element of virtual events. We strongly advise you to select people who have previously worked remotely.

You must keep the ball going if you want the audience to have a good reason to stay and attend the event until the end. A good presenter is a digital native who can juggle chatrooms, Q&A sessions, and the camera while still rocking the room, keeping the audience pleased, and begging for more. You also want a captivating and magnetic figure who makes it impossible for others to resist you.

3. Choosing The Wrong Virtual Event Platform

When preparing a virtual event, one of the first decisions you’ll have to make is which platform to use. Thousands of platforms claim to provide the best services and assistance for your project – but how do you know which ones are the finest?

There are various platforms available on the market; however, we prefer a platform created by people who understand the industry. With features like Lobby, Auditorium, Expo-hall, Event Booth, Photobooth, Event bags Etc. You can also customize the event as per your requirements with sacron’s virtual event platform.

4. Not Preparing Participants For The Event

Another critical virtual event mistake is not providing an agenda or schedule of activities for the evening. Just like their offline counterparts, people attending a virtual event appreciate knowing what to expect and when. By listing the planned events and happenings, guests can plan their time accordingly and not feel left out or bored if they log in at a different time than others.

The most successful virtual events prepare attendees by presenting the web tools they can access and a list of virtual booths, rooms, merchants, and other participants with whom they can connect. Event hosts can produce a brief instructional video on participating best using simple screen-recording software. Hosts who fail to prepare their guests adequately end up spending half of the evening acting as an IT help desk.

Finally, many virtual events fall flat because there is no clear purpose or goal for the evening. Is this a networking event? A fundraiser? A product launch? Make sure you let everyone know the event’s purpose, so they know what they are in for. Trying to be everything to everyone generally leads to pleasing no one.

5. Lack of engagement opportunities 

People neglect to plan for extra breaks and new strategies to keep the audience engaged when conducting or promoting a virtual event. They treat virtual events as a poor substitute for live events when they might be even better. Just because people are attending virtually doesn’t mean they don’t want to interact with each other.

Virtual events must engage spectators virtually with things like breakout rooms and gamification in a way that will make them want to attend the event instead of other events. In fact, the chat function is one of the best ways to get people to interact with each other and build relationships.

So, make sure you encourage your attendees to use the chat function by asking questions, starting discussions, and sharing resources. You can also use the chat function to run polls or surveys during your event.

6. Rehearse, Rehearse & Rehearse

Rehearsals are essential for delivering a flawless virtual event experience to participants. Many event planners avoid practising shortly before the big day. As a result, obstructions occur during the actual event, which organizers can solve in rehearsals.

You should be going over everything as though it were live. Then you’ll be able to figure out where the difficulties are. You can figure out what works and what doesn’t. You can tweak the sound, lighting, and scripting at the rehearsal stage. However, once you’ve gone live, there’s no going back.

Run the rehearsal in its entirety, double-checking all of the slides, watching the videos, and taking it seriously. You’ll definitely get better results and more participation from your delegate.

Conclusion

In Virtual events, organizers can use some of the same approaches as in-person events. However, you will need to make modifications because the audience is just looking at their screen, and they’ll be completely focused on what’s happening. You should treat your virtual event with the same care and professionalism as an in-person one. Its a mistake to believe you can build it faster as its a virtual event. 

More importantly, keep track of your mistakes. Understand what you’ve learned and share it with your teammates so you can make the changes the next time.

Learn more about how you can host amazing virtual events here.