Different Types of Virtual Events

Virtual events come in many different shapes and sizes. In this chapter, we’ll take a look at some situations where you can connect with your audience virtually with great effect.

Product Demos

One of the advantages of remote digital presentations is the ability to dynamically demonstrate your products in action. 

With traditional forms of online content and sales it’s very hard to do this, and even videos don’t quite capture the real-time nature of a good demo. Also, with static channels, your audience can’t ask questions live or interact with the demonstration.

Virtual events are perfect for this. They allow you to showcase features of products and services in real-time, so the experience for viewers is almost like actually being there in person. A great example for this is the Three Live experience, a solution powered by Whisbi Conversational Marketing platform, that enables the best sales staff to broadcast from the Three website to all web visitors and showcase the newest products and bundles. 

Here’s how to get your virtual product demos just right:

• Be clear on the purpose. Is it a how-to video, or a troubleshooting guide? Are you introducing a brand new product or a new feature on an existing one? Are you just clarifying a common issue?

• Rely on your sales teams and their knowledge. Sales staff are often more intimately aware of the product and its features and benefits than anyone else.

• Connect a chatbot to your broadcast — viewer can go straight to any landing page via chatbot to make the final purchase of the product they have just seen 

• Adapt your content based on what your viewers want to know / learn about.

Crisis Communications

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for effective brand communication in times of trouble. Virtual events can be a powerful tool in crises of all kinds. They help reassure your customers, provide vital information, and respond quickly to events as they unfold.

It’s a more personal way to share urgent information, and you can respond to questions and issues live. Here’s how to use virtual events in a crisis:

• Be informed and a source of reassurance. Show that you know what’s going on and that customers can turn to you.

• Pack the event with ideas, guidance, stories, and actionable advice. It’s serious, but it doesn’t have to be boring or unpleasant. Make it engaging without losing urgency.

• Instill hope and position yourself as a reliable source of guidance. Don’t dwell on the negative, but don’t downplay things.
  
• Provide information and guidance in regards to cancellation/ changes/ delays etc

FAQs

FAQs are one of the oldest formats of content on the internet. They’re a great way to neatly address some of your customers’ biggest concerns, saving an unnecessary phone call or email.

If done right, FAQs are also a powerful channel for engaging with your audience, building relationships with them, and forming a brand identity. In many ways, they’re the original form of Conversational Marketing.

Virtual events can be packaged into an FAQ format, delivering quick and dynamic answers to common questions. Here’s why live FAQs work so well:

• You can address common questions live, before a large audience

• You can take questions in real-time at the end, quickly resolving any issues that weren’t already covered

• They can be a great opportunity to emphasize your strengths and advertise products

• They allow for more detailed and dynamic answers

• You can demonstrate products and features in action

Whisbi’s Broadcast solution contains the option to include a chat function where customers can write their questions. They’ll show up on the presenter’s tablet, so he/she can then pick out the best questions live and answer them during the presentation.

Remote Training

Remote work is becoming an increasingly common format. Almost three-quarters of people worldwide work remotely at least once a week, and many of us work remotely full-time. The Coronavirus crisis has accelerated this trend.

This has created a new demand for remote training. How do you train our workforce when they’re scattered around the world? Virtual events are the answer.

87% of remote workers get regular training — just because you aren’t in the same physical location, that’s not a reason to miss out.

Here are some of the main advantages of remote training:

• Update staff about new products immediately. For example, if you’re releasing a new car model, you can quickly train your entire staff, wherever they are.

• Keep all your staff aligned and at the same level and quality of knowledge about your products

• Save time and costs on an impressive scale

Creating Virtual Experiences

To make a powerful impact with your virtual events, it can help to approach them as virtual experiences, providing a memorable and truly engaging result for your attendees.

This means looking beyond the idea of a simple event and striving to deliver an impactful and memorable experience for your customers, something that will stay with them for a long time.

How can you do this? Here are some best practices:

• Always plan sessions well in advance. Have a clear timetable and plan every step of the way in detail. Don’t leave anything to chance.

• Nominate a virtual host — someone who will promote the event and engage the audience before, during, and after the event. This person will be the face of your event and the face of your organization. This is usually your product marketing expert.

• Get creative with visual aids and prompts. Make up for not being there in person by putting on a dazzling show and engaging your guests from start to finish.

• Repurpose existing content like blog posts, case studies, whitepapers into presentations. This can be a great way to create valuable content for your event with minimal effort.

Monitor your Event

It’s not enough to just guess how well your event was received and how well it achieved its goals.

It’s critical to carefully track the success of your virtual events, for all kinds of reasons. These include:

• Understand your audience better. Find out what they like, what turned them away, and what they want to see more of.

• Improve future events and deliver more of what guests want

• Prove the value of the event to others in your company

This is where Whisbi Deck + Analytics can help, by providing a detailed analysis of your event’s performance and allowing you to make data-driven decisions and changes.

Virtual events are versatile, and there’s a lot you can achieve with this format. Getting better at virtual events, and using the right tools, opens up a lot of possibilities.