Virtual event checklist
By: Phil Mendez
Tags: Work From Home, Events, Digital Marketing, Event Planning, Remote Working

I Made a Virtual Event Checklist Based on 2 Real Events

One had 10 attendees, the other had 1100

Need to organize a virtual event? I just finished two, and I can help. I hosted one with just 10 attendees in June and moderated one with more than 1100 in August. What made the difference?

#1 Cost

10: Free to members.

1100: Free to everyone.

Explanation: free to everyone works because (1) the host still generates leads from non-paying attendees (NPAs), (2) the total number of attendees — an important measure of an event’s success — is boosted by NPAs, (3) NPAs don’t cost anything more in a virtual event, and (4) instead of charging a registration fee upfront, you can invite all attendees and NPAs to show support with a donation, at the end when everyone’s feeling good.

#2 Access

10: Members-only.

1100: Free to everyone + ASL interpreters + diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) task force for accessibility and inclusion.

Explanation: in virtual, the more the merrier. Work to make the event accessible, diverse, and inclusive. And show your community some love by making events free. You’re not going to lose money on catering.

#3 Topics

10: Pizza, design, cookies.

1100: Working from home, DEI, remote teaching, research, and community.

Explanation: in normal times, cookies might be a relevant topic, but these are not normal times! The August event with 1100 attendees recognized things have to change, and the event was going to help us get there. Here is the good news: relevant topics don’t have to be complicated. You can be a school principal, real estate agent, or landscaper. Make your topic relevant by asking how your ordinary work and reality have changed. That’s just what the 1100-person event did.

#4 How content was delivered

10: Public livestreams, private Google Meet sessions, pre-recorded “commercial breaks.”

1100: Live- and pre-recorded videos, 8 asynchronous group chat channels in Slack, interactive Zoom sessions.

Explanation: “commercial breaks” give hosts a rest, prevent audience fatigue, and can be used as backup if technology breaks. To get to 1100 attendees, though, we found there had to be more than just streams and commercials. We needed robust channels. Slack engaged attendees after live sessions, so the conversation could continue offline. Honestly, people were surprised by Slack, and it was a huge win at no-cost.

#5 Volunteers

10: Participants.

1100: Panelists, moderators, organizers, co-chairs.

Explanation: participants just showed up. Panelists, moderators, organizers, and co-chairs had specific roles and responsibilities. As a result, they took pride in their jobs and blew people away with their contributions. Delegating work relieved event leads of stress and fostered community-wide of trust. The content and topics were rich and diverse. On the other hand, event leads had less control. But does that even matter?

#6 The right timezone

10: 5 — 7 PM Central European Time.

1100: 9 AM — 5PM Eastern Daylight Time.

Explanation: business hours Eastern Daylight Time were effective for engaging people around the world. People in California woke up at 6 AM to join us, people in India stayed up late to close with us.

#7 Community-generated content

10: None.

1100: Video and art submissions

Explanation: attendees were invited to create content for the event. Instructions to send a 10–20 second video were sent to attendees. The videos were then mashed up by organizers and released the day of the event.

#8 Not (necessarily) livestreaming

10: Streamyard to YouTube

1100: No stream. Zoom sessions were recorded then uploaded to YouTube.

Explanation: steaming does not always mean success. For the 1100-attendee event, Zoom links were posted publicly so anyone could join (even non-registrants).

#9 A few special touches

10: None.

1100: event badges, custom Google Maps, design snacks, and proceedings.

Explanation: signature touches distinguish virtual events. The successful event had fancy event badge graphics for attendees to post on social media, a custom Google Maps for attendees to post their location, community-generated graphics that were shared in lieu of snacks, and unique proceedings: instead of calling the event done, organizers announced they would accept submissions and volunteers to archive the event.

—

In conclusion

The successful event is free to everyone, has specific people responsible for thinking about accessibility and inclusion, relevant topics, robust channels for content delivery, volunteers with specific roles and responsibilities, the right timezone, community-generated content, not (necessarily) livestreaming, and a few special touches.

Now you're ready to take your virtual event from 10 to 1100.