Hosting a virtual awards ceremony can present some pretty significant challenges. The best way for companies to overcome these challenges is by investing time and effort in planning the event in the right manner. Here are a few tips: 1. Plan to Perfection Organizing a live event, whether offline or online requires meticulous planning. It is even more critical for an online event as it is likely to be shorter with no-breaks. Here are the key elements of the plan: - Event schedule - Event anchors/ master of ceremony - Speakers and presenters - Presentations and videos - List of awardees   2. Choose the Right Technology Platform One of the most critical decisions in the planning of a virtual award ceremony is to choose the right technology platform. There are many factors that would determine this choice: - Scalability – based on the number of participants - Bandwidth requirement – given that the network speed for participants might be different - Stability – the platform should be reliable and not prone to crashes due to peak load - Interactivity – the extent to which participants can get actually involved in the event  The organization could look at various options of technology platforms for organizing a virtual awards ceremony: - Standard Web Conference Tools including the enterprise editions of MS Teams, Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeeting, Google Meet, etc. - Virtual Event Platforms such as BigMarker, GoToWebinar, HeySummit, Hopin, SpotMe, vFairs, etc.   3. Modify the Ceremony for Online Streaming The flow of the event should be planned in a way so as to make the transitions smoother and faster as compared to offline events. Unlike offline events, where transitions and breaks are part of the event flow, they are not possible in virtual events. Also, slideshows and pre-recorded videos of the presenters and awardees should be combined with the actual live streaming. To minimize the transitions, professional editors might be required to create these videos. 4. Set Up a Microsite and Promote the Event It is a good idea to set up an event microsite for the virtual employee awards ceremony, which could be hosted on the company intranet or another internal platform. The microsite can be given the look and feel of a virtual town hall or any other popular venue for hosting the ceremony. Moreover, the microsite should act as the hub of information about the event for the participants with all links and updates.  Also, the organizers should promote the virtual award ceremony to ensure maximum employee participation through email, collaboration platforms and internal social media. 5. Engage the Virtual Audience Engaging a virtual audience is quite challenging as compared to an offline audience as they can easily log off or just ignore the event if they get bored. Hence, the event organizers need to plan and facilitate active participation the audience in the event. This may include: - Q & A sessions - Audience chats - Audience polls (before/ during/ after)·  Quizzes and Contests - Entertainment ((live/ pre-recorded) - Skits - Dance/ musical performances - Stand-up comedy acts - Audience giveaways/ prizes (e-gift cards/ vouchers)   6. Get Professional Tech Support Organizing a virtual employee awards ceremony without proper professional help can become a nightmare.  The organizers should rope in professionals with expertise and experience of digital/ streamed events, whether internal or external to manage the entire ‘backstage’ operations. These experts can help in selecting the right platform, setting it up and managing the platform during the actual event. Also, they can quickly troubleshoot any technical issues that may arise. 7. Do a Dry Run Like offline events, it is critical to do a full dry run of the event to ensure there are no technical glitches in the setup of the platform. Hence, the transitions need to be rehearsed to ensure that they are smooth. Also, it is important to double-check all videos, graphics, audios, and presentations for resolution as well as grammatical and  spelling errors.