Throughout 2020, we became used to seeing events as virtual, with some triumphs and some other, more mixed results. In this article, we take a look at what works in an online space, and what trends we are expecting to see in 2021.
The biggest mistake you can make with your virtual event is treating it as a back-up plan. After nearly a full year of Covid restrictions, in-person events are still being prioritised - often leading to last minute cancellations and a rushed, low-budget virtual event being produced. The sooner events managers start to look at virtual events as a top option, the sooner their full potential can be explored and gained from.
Zoom was a huge breakout in tech tools back in March last year, and has remained the go - to for many events companies. But if you compare its features with what events managers and audiences alike are looking for, you’ll begin to see there are some shortcomings.
You can have the best speakers in the world, but if their internet connection isn’t good, it won’t matter. Their session won’t get through to the audience. It was this exact issue that inspired us to create Camflare - which doesn’t rely on internet connections to record, and will upload your speaker’s session, full frame and with an individual audio track, directly to your Dropbox for you.
Pre-recording also gives you the option to add frames that best show off your sponsors and enhance your event’s branding throughout. Any mistakes can be cut and you can include cutaways, multiple framing options and additional video material without the faff of screen sharing. It also means that you can record sessions at times optimum for the speakers wherever they are in the world, but then release it at a time that suits your target audience best.
So, it’s clear that there are many benefits to pre-producing your event, but you still want to create a draw for your audience, which brings us to…
You might not be producing your event as live, but that doesn’t mean you can’t release it as one. Audience engagement is one of the biggest challenges of holding an event online, but releasing the event at a particular time brings your audience together in one place where they can start a conversation. You can incentivize your audience to attend live with gamification through competitions and discounts to try and get the initial numbers as big as possible.
FREE
- Download recordings
- Recordings up to 30 seconds in duration
- Record video up to 720p*
- Unlimited number of remote contributors
- Upload to Dropbox
- Teleprompter
- One concurrent admin user
$25/mo
Pay annually save 20% $240
- Download recordings
- Recordings up to 20 minutes in duration
- Record video up to 720p*
- Unlimited number of remote contributors
- Upload to Dropbox
- Teleprompter
- One concurrent admin user
PRICE ON REQUEST
- Download recordings
- Extended recording duration
- Record video up to 1080p*
- Unlimited number of remote contributors
- Upload to Dropbox
- Teleprompter
- Add your own logo to the studio
- Unlimited concurrent admin users
* Maximum recording resolution when using Camflare's mobile app. Recordings made in web browser will match the maximum resolution of the camera connected.
Social media continues to be a key component of promoting your event, but creating content for it doesn’t need to be time intensive. You can easily capitalise on the remote nature of the event to encourage User Generated Content.
Why not ask speakers to send in short videos introducing their segment? If you want to encourage engagement early on, you could even ask your audience to send in questions via video beforehand, and you can incorporate them into the relevant sessions. Collecting their responses is really simple too - create a link on Camflare to send out, and they can record from desktop or mobile with a couple of clicks. Their video will arrive directly to your Dropbox, ready to go!
After all the work you put into creating your event, don’t let it slip away straight after the last session. A post-show podcast will allow audience members to voice their questions and have them answered, without having to spend the same time or money as creating whole new sessions. Make sure the event attendees feel involved throughout in order to increase value. 2020 saw a huge change in the way we do events, and 2021 is likely to be full of surprises too. Tech has evolved massively, and it’s important that you are knowledgeable about what options are available in order to provide speakers and attendees with the best experience possible.
It might feel like there’s a lot to keep up with at the moment, but that’s an exciting opportunity too. 2021 is going to see virtual events becoming more creative and diverse than ever, and working on an events team means that you get to be part of that process. You can sign up to Camflare for free here to help you get the most out of your event with maximum convenience for you and your team.
