As a part of our series about “5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kassandra Marsh.
(See full Authority Magazine article here: 5 Things You Need To Know To Successfully Run a Live Virtual Event)
Kassandra Marsh runs Lakazdi a graphic design company that designs educational materials for experts passing on their knowledge. This includes items such as marketing materials to promote virtual events as well as the decks and workbooks themselves.
Picking the right timezone.
Think about where your larger audience is located and use something like WorldTimeBuddy to check the overlapping time zones. It is obvious to find a time where east and west coast US can both attend. Can you think broader, shift it by an hour or two and you can have most of Europe also attend. Or at a different type of day you can have Australia, New Zealand and Asia attend.
Choosing the platform that meets your needs.
Choose the platform based on what you level of interactivity you need. Remembering that people are at home and want to feel like they are gathering with other people. So you might opt for a platform with voice and video for everyone as well as break out rooms for activities. If your event is more of a webinar than only sharing your screen and having all other participants on mute with no video is more appropriate. In terms of ease, it makes sense to stick to platforms that are easy for your audience to use and that included downloading the software and requiring a log-in. Different things to think about.
Getting a professionally designed deck/visuals.
If the deck and visuals is the main thing the participants are going to be seeing, make them good. Don’t skimp here. If you know your design skills are not up to par, don’t jeopardise this opportunity by doing it yourself.
Pre-event marketing.
Find a good pre-event checklist and do the things. It might be the difference between an okay event an a well attended event with suitable hype. I’ll add also that there is some things you should do after the event too. For example: if your event did have slides, send them out to participants. Get feedback and testimonials. Treat your virtual event the same way you would a face-to-face event workshop.
On the day equipment check.
Check, double check and triple check your tech. Everything should be ready to go at least 15 minutes before you go live. If time allows, do a run through before the event. Use this practice run to iron out any kinks.
