With the entire world as your market, the possibilities for ticket sales and brand promotion are endless. Interactive virtual sessions let you widen the effect of your event by allowing guests to contribute their own unique insights. Check out these virtual event best practices and our collection of event ideas and formats if you’re looking for some virtual event inspiration.

Continue reading for our comprehensive guide on staging a worldwide online event.

What is the best way to arrange massive virtual events?

To design a successful huge virtual event, you’ll need to think about a few important variables that will help you figure out what your event’s purpose is, when it’ll happen, and how you’ll deliver it to your participants. Continue reading to understand how to analyze these characteristics and how they might help you organize a huge event.

Consider your key objective

The first stage in the planning process is to determine the main purpose of your large-scale event. Your objectives will guide all of your other selections, ensuring that everything from time to streaming options aids in the achievement of the event’s key objectives. Large-scale event planning necessitates careful consideration of not just how to carry out the event but also how to make it relevant for the participants.

Consider the following questions to help you establish the key objectives of your huge virtual event:

• What level of interaction do you desire at your event?  If you want to inform and educate your audience, you might want to hire a professional speaker. Alternatively, you may provide a more interactive experience in which visitors can ask questions, engage in workshop programs, and get to know one another in a virtual environment.
• What will be the source of your audience? You may arrange a worldwide online event with participants from all around the world. Alternatively, you might target guests from a certain location with your event marketing efforts. Determine your target audience today so that your marketing efforts may be tailored to that group. This thought will also assist you in creating a budget and determining the most efficient manner to present the event to a virtual audience.

The perfect date

It’s also crucial to choose the best date for your event. After all, a bad date might restrict your attendance – and your large virtual event’s success. Check the calendar for holidays and customs that may conflict with your event once you’ve identified your audience and where they’re coming from. Avoid not only the holiday itself, but also the week leading up to it, which may be jam-packed with holiday preparations and travel.

You’ll be able to rapidly identify blocks of time that won’t work by assessing your audience’s availability. You’ll also be able to focus your virtual event planning on a time period that works for your target audience. What’s the end result? A well-attended virtual event that fits into the schedules of your target audience.

Time zone

When deciding how to plan and manage a large event that will reach a national or even international audience, it’s also vital to consider the event’s time. Attendees on the West Coast or from other countries may not be able to join a virtual conference held during business hours on the East Coast. As a result, it’s critical to comprehend time zones and devise techniques for dealing with timing issues.

Consider presenting your virtual event in various sessions if you expect to draw attendees from different time zones. For starters, you may schedule sessions at various times with different presenters in the same time zone. You may also experiment with presenting on-demand material that is available at different times based on your audience’s availability. To guarantee that your virtual event is provided at a time that is convenient for your broad audience, combine and match techniques.

Choose your platform

Hosting large events online need a dependable platform that can reach a large audience throughout the country, if not the whole world. Choosing a platform for your virtual event is crucial since you want your event to go well and without problems for your guests.

Concentrate your search on event systems that can handle a high number of people checking in from various places. If you’re selling tickets to your event and want to restrict who can see it, you’ll want to be able to password-protect the video.

You may require a platform that allows participants to engage with one other and with you, depending on your event requirements. Look for a platform that has capabilities like video sharing and live chat if you intend on conducting an engaging virtual event. For example, Swivent has interfaces with Zoom and Vimeo, allowing for a seamless delivery of your large virtual event.

Speakers and special visitors might be chosen

Consider your audience base when selecting speakers and special guests when planning a huge event. Because your virtual event is likely to draw people from all over the world, you’ll want to include a varied range of speakers and visitors. Make sure you choose speakers from a variety of experiences and perspectives, as this will help you present more diverse and engaging information to your audience. After all, no one likes to listen to many speakers present the same message.

Choose speakers from various nations and cultures who may each give distinct perspectives to appeal to an international audience. The speakers don’t have to be physically present at the central feed because of the virtual nature of your event. They’ll just need dependable equipment, such as a camera, microphone, and enough lighting, as well as a fast Internet connection to broadcast their presentation from their location.

Technology

When it comes to livestreaming your virtual event, Internet speed and signal are critical. You may have unexpected hitches and delays in the delivery of your movies and sound if you don’t have a solid signal, which may be annoying for both participants and event organizers. Once you’ve decided on a location, double-check that it’s well-equipped for livestreaming. To analyze your venue’s Internet capability, use the following guidelines:

• Visit your location and do a web-based speed test to check the bandwidth, which may help you find Internet speed and address any issues before your event.
• To eliminate any WiFi troubles during the livestream, consider utilizing a LAN connection, which involves connecting the computer to the router through an ethernet cable.
• Bring your own WiFi booster or inquire whether the location has one available. A booster can improve your venue’s WiFi connection, allowing you to broadcast the event without interruption.
• Before you go live, make sure you’ve gone over everything on our Virtual Event Production Checklist.

The linguistic divide

Language boundaries can be a problem when providing a virtual event to an international audience, but they can be overcome. Consider any audience interpretation requirements when deciding how to arrange a large event. If you want a truly global event, you want everyone to have the same experience with the material regardless of the language they speak, and interpretation makes that possible. When you want to engage participants in their favorite language, you’ll need to employ a translator. Google Translate won’t cut it.

Event marketing for an internet audience on a global scale

A broad and diversified audience is required to successfully stage a huge virtual event. Because securing that audience is entirely dependent on you, marketing is the next critical stage in drawing people from all walks of life. “The beauty of holding virtual events is that you can tap into a worldwide audience,” says Gareth Hornberger, Senior Director of Global Marketing at Swivent. Anyone from anywhere in the globe is welcome to attend. So, to reach as many prospective attendees as possible, your marketing should use all of your distribution channels – email, social media, and paid advertisements.”

With careful organization, it is possible to host large virtual events effectively. The success of your event depends on careful consideration of key planning components, such as the venue’s connection and the availability of your audience. Creating a large-scale worldwide event marketing strategy can help you reach a large audience and increase attendance. Finally, you may create an event that engages people in a virtual world by drawing inspiration from recent online events. Don’t forget to think about online event safety as well.

The post How to Plan Large-Scale Virtual Events for International Audiences appeared first on Swivent.

Volunteers for events are an excellent way to boost manpower while staying on budget. It needs a combination of hard effort and creative planning to know how to attract and keep volunteers. Not only will you need to recruit volunteers, but you’ll also need to persuade them that giving their time to your event is worthwhile. Finding volunteers for charity organizations has the benefit of individuals feeling more comfortable contributing their time to a non-profit than a for-profit company.

After you’ve figured out how to recruit volunteers and how to keep them on your team, you’ll need to master volunteer management – which can be a beast in and of itself – and think about volunteer retention techniques to keep your team with you until the end of the event. None of these obstacles, however, are insurmountable. With Eventbrite on your side, creating events that are effective at engaging volunteers from the start is easier than ever.

  How to Create a Volunteer Program for Your Event

You should start planning your volunteer recruiting techniques as soon as you know how many jobs you’ll need to fill. You’ll need to figure out how much staff you’ll need for your event and whether you’ll need volunteers to help out.

Begin with your event’s requirements

Consider all of the places where volunteers might be beneficial while preparing an event. A well-run event will usually necessitate positions such as:

• Preparation – Moving and arranging chairs, tables, sound systems, video controls, banners, decorations, and kiosks are all required.
• Ticket sales and registration at the door – This person should be stationed at the main entrance.
• Ushers – They are often employed at more formal presentations to escor guests to their seats.
• Handler of swag – If you’re handing out swag or other items supplied by sponsors, you’ll need someone to do it.
• Seller of merch – Do you sell t-shirts, coffee mugs, or other branded items? You’re going to need a cashier.
• Cleanup – After the celebration, it’s time to clean up and pack up, and assistance is always welcome.

Make a list of volunteer criteria for the event. What qualities and talents should your ideal volunteers possess? If your employment requires you to move large objects or walk stairs, for example, make sure you’re clear about the physical demands. You may also need bilingual volunteers if you anticipate a large number of event attendees who speak Spanish, Chinese, or another language. Also, for legal reasons or if alcohol is being provided, consider utilizing volunteers who are above the age of 18 or 21. (check your local regulations). It would be easier to identify suitable matches if you are explicit about your expectations.

How to Recruit Volunteers for an Event

Once you’ve determined your volunteer requirements, you’ll need to understand how to attract volunteers in order to identify the best people to represent your event’s brand. To enhance your pool of potential volunteers, successful volunteer recruiting techniques frequently encompass as many lines of pursuit as feasible.

• Begin with your guests. People on your email list or who have already registered are already enthusiastic about your event. Get in touch with them to see if they’re interested in volunteering.
• Make use of the community. If a community group is already participating in the event, reach out to them and ask for volunteers. You may also call nearby universities to ask if you can inform students about the opportunity and distribute volunteer recruiting flyers on campus.
• Make a social media post. Recruiting volunteers via social media is the new frontier. Post a call for volunteers on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to reach followers and admirers who don’t check their email. You may also publicize your event on sites like VolunteerMatch if it’s for a worthy cause.
• Provide incentives. You should provide an incentive for individuals to give their time if you want them to do so. It’s possible that after their shift finishes, they’ll get a premium level of event access, a discount on items, or tickets to a fun giveaway. The goal is to make volunteers feel important and valued.

How to Prepare Your Volunteers

Once you’ve gathered some volunteers, you’ll need to know how to effectively manage them. Knowing how to train volunteers for an event so they understand their responsibilities come showtime is the first step to successful event volunteer management.

It’s critical to understand how virtual and hybrid events vary from live-only events in terms of needs. Volunteers will be responsible for managing chat rooms and other online conversations, as well as checking for civility and technical smoothness, thus volunteers should be familiar with Zoom, Vimeo, and other streaming platforms.

The post Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers for Your Event appeared first on Swivent.