Ask event teams about their high-priority KPIs and good audience engagement is sure to feature in the list. But keeping the audiences engaged in a virtual setup can be hard. Great event teams do a few common things to up their audience engagement game. Here are five of those tips for your next virtual event.

1. Create an engagement-first agenda: You get the audience engagement you plan for. So, start with creating an agenda that is conducive to driving audience participation. Plan for activities that need audiences to get involved during the event, and not just sit back and listen. Schedule time in the agenda for audience polls, dedicated networking sessions, contests, group video calls, etc. Or even plan a hands-on workshop to get attendees to collaborate.


2. Get your session content & delivery right: Plan relatable and insightful content for all the sessions. Tell your speakers about various audience engagement options, such as live Q&As and audience polls, they can use to make their sessions interactive. Do test runs with speakers to walk them through the virtual event platform you are using. Familiarize them with all the features that may come in handy.


3. Leverage personalized notifications: Virtual event platforms give you tons of powerful audience insights. And you can use these insights to send intelligent, personalized notifications to your audiences. Let attendees know the session they had bookmarked is about to begin. Or tell them about a breakout room sponsored by the exhibitor whose virtual booth they just visited. Send notifications your audiences care about.


4. Gamify audience experience: Check out all the gamification features your virtual event platform offers and choose the ones that work best for your kind of event. Use a leaderboard to create a healthy competition. Set up polls and contests to get audiences involved. Start conversations using a buzzing event feed. Incentivize participation from attendees with rewards, gifts, and coupons to be won.


5. Make time for networking and fun: People love to interact with industry professionals and like-minded peers. So, give audiences what they want. Virtual event platforms offer many networking options such as group video calls, scheduled meetings, theme-based breakout rooms, lounge areas, etc. Don’t only stick to formal networking. Plan for some fun breaks as well. Host a virtual music concert, a multiplayer jigsaw puzzle, or a quick Zumba session. These segments are your sure shot way of meeting your engagement goals.

Get yourself hooked with a powerful virtual event platform that's built to deliver exceptional audience experiences. Use these tips to make the most out of it. And you will be set to achieve your audience engagement goals.