What we’ve learnt from our year of virtual events
2020 saw us run 18 virtual events using a variety of technology solutions to connect audiences and communities for shared experiences. What started in April with an informal Zoom dinner for our Snowball community of tech entrepreneurs and investors, quickly grew to include awards ceremonies, a cross-continent team celebration for tech scaleup Labster (complete with one person dressed as a lobster), to a four-day conference for Unilever’s global eCommerce leaders, and everything in between.
As the next few months at least promise no return to in-person events, at Forgather we’re reflecting at the start of 2021 on a few things we’ve learnt along the way.
1. Running a virtual event is like producing a TV show
What might work in person won’t necessarily translate so effectively on screen. We look for speakers with the best on screen presence that can inspire and captivate an audience. Some of our favourite event speakers last year include Eddie Izzard, data journalist David McCandless and Baroness Oona King, VP of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Snap Inc. We went ‘hybrid’ when we could, to ‘up’ production-levels to broadcast standard with multiple camera angles, vision mixing and studio sets. On-location video interviews, shorter sessions and audience polls kept our audiences involved. As does an effective and prepared interviewer – our favourite question-ninjas are Oli Barrett, Richard Fletcher and Hannah Prevett.
2. Connecting people online is a challenge – but worth it
We’ve always believed in the power of ‘who’s in the room’ when considering what makes a good event great. Stimulating content and an inspiring setting are only half the battle. What audiences want most are meaningful connections – something that is much more difficult to achieve online. We’ve tackled this by creating dedicated space in the agenda for one-to-on chats and smaller discussions.
Some platforms like Hopin or Airmeet have a handy speed networking feature (or a ‘colleague raffle’ as one participant called it), and we’ve experimented with 60 second to 5-minute quick-fire conversations. People can be slightly reticent to participate at first, but energised and enthused after giving it a go. When it comes to small group discussions, a skilled (and well briefed) host, armed with some interesting prompt questions to guide the conversation is vital.
One of our favourite moments of audience connection came at Balderton’s virtual CEO summit. An after-party room with cocktails and a live DJ set saw our guests joined onscreen by their children and partners for an unexpected moment of joy! As a shared experience we wish we could bottle it.
3. Keep it short
Zoom fatigue is real, and as the number of virtual event invitations grows, it can be tough competing for your audience’s time and attention. Keep the event short where possible – we’ve found that 90 minutes works well. With longer events, don’t forget to add in stretch breaks, and mix up the format of the content to keep people engaged. For our four-day eCommerce summit with Unilever, we added in wellness breaks each day in the form of yoga, breathwork and self-massage to boost focus, and participant numbers held steady.
4. A new business model?
An obvious advantage of virtual events is that overheads are significantly lower. The benefits of this have been felt most keenly for charities that we work with. In October we helped the John King Brain Tumour Foundation run their first virtual charity auction dinner, where they raised £72,000. With low outgoings, and no restrictions on number of guests, this could be an effective new fundraising model for the future.
5. Tracking engagement
Thanks to the reporting and analytics that virtual event platforms offer, we can crunch the numbers post-event to gather insights on audience behaviour. We’re using information on what time people show up, turnout rates, time spent on the event platform, most popular sessions, how many 1:1 meetings take place and more, to help us improve the events we host.
A look back at some* of 2020’s events in numbers
Most popular time of day: Morning
Early morning events have a better turnout rate, where the audience is primarily in one time zone. At The Times CEO Summit, Young Enterprise, and the first Net Zero event which all started at 8.30am, turnout rates ranged from 62% to 84%.
Events that we’ve run later in the morning or in the afternoon have seen turnout rates drop below 50%.
*Based on eight events that we ran on Hopin for clients including The Times, Labster, and Young Enterprise, as well as Good Growth: Unlocking the Power of Digital for Women Entrepreneurs, and our own series of events, the Net Zero Sessions.