As more meetings and events migrate to virtual and remote alternatives due to the growing cautions and restrictions surrounding the novel COVID-19 or Coronavirus disease, your corporate meetings face the uphill battle of retaining engagement as people stare at a webcam.
Viral outbreak or not, this has always been a challenge; yet it’s the critical component to connecting your people to your brand message. A little creativity and openness to change can go a long way.
Keep these tips in mind while you plan alternatives to your current event schedule:
Tech Alone Can’t Solve Your Meeting Problems
If ever there was a time for thoughtful content programming, it was now. It can be challenging to stay 100% focused in a standard, face-to-face meeting, but compound that through a computer screen, webcam lens and several hundred miles of fiber optics, and you’re bound to see a yawn or 12.
The absence of an engaging welcome party or a diverse exhibit hall means it’s more necessary than ever to engage people with a compelling message and communicate as clearly and effectively as possible.
So, where do you start? Consider leveraging a robust visual component to make your virtual presentation more memorable. Whether it’s at your HQ or a previously established venue – you could still present keynotes on stage and simulcast them to your audience. Within these presentations, design for more interactivity, whether that’s Q&A, open discussion, etc. Often, brands go with a “meeting-in-a-box” solution that brings key elements of the onsite experience to wherever their audience is.
Another critical element is to remain as technology agnostic in your solution and open as possible. The goal should be to get your message across in the most creative, effective way. Often, you’ll need a full-service event partner to pull this off.
In these trying times, you may have more than a few attendees who aren’t regular digital meeting goers. Consider keeping your message fluid, no matter how someone may be viewing it.
Tech Can’t Pivot at the Last Minute—An Agile Event Partner Can
Have a plan for everything—seriously. It’s one thing to have a technical hiccup whenever you’re in a boardroom with additional staff on hand to assist. It’s an entirely different problem to have a technical issue render all of your attendees blind and deaf.
When making any decision regarding your emergency backup plans, always consider every step of the attendee journey from this new paradigm. What can you do to remove as many obstacles as possible from this experience?
Always adapt your content to fit your situation—which is a good tip for any event, remote or otherwise. Also, having a partner who creates and controls the content will help keep the show flow going with fewer headaches for you.
Find a Strategic Partner Who Can Help Transition Your Event to Online While Retaining Quality
Events aren’t going away anytime soon. And the principles behind why we bring people together haven’t changed at all. Nevertheless, amidst scenarios brought on by the coronavirus, the format for your event has changed.
The way that we’re used to considering circumstances is evolving with the growing demand for remote viewers and participants. CPG Agency can help you follow this new attendee journey and keep them engaged and inspired, not merely informed.
Our Experience Design process will reimagine your event for a new digital space without compromising quality to your message. We find ways to mitigate costs and maximize value so that your bottom line is protected as well. When you work with CPG Agency, you have access to dedicated project account managers and full production services—even for remote events.
Going remote doesn’t have to mean disconnecting from your team. We can help you build engaging programming for holistic virtual event solutions.
So, don’t let the Coronavirus impact and the revolving door of significant festival and event closures stop you from connecting with your people. Through a blend of creativity, technology and an experienced production partner, you can still create “Belief Through Experience” with your teams.
