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virtual event checklist

Virtual Event Planning Checklist by an Award-Winning Agency

Are you planning a virtual event? Don't stress, let this comprehensive online event checklist from an award-winning agency guide you through the process from start to finish. Define your event purpose, target audience, and budget. Plan your event design, delegate tasks, and book your vendors. Keep your objectives clear, and don't forget practical considerations like scheduling and speaker reminders. Learn how to organize and execute a successful virtual event today!
Contents

The Only Virtual Event Checklist You'll Need

Are you ready to take on the world of virtual events? While they may seem like a cheaper alternative to in-person events, they require just as much effort and organization. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with this tried and tested virtual event planning checklist. 

Whether you’re a seasoned event planner or new to the game, this checklist will make sure your virtual event is a hit.

Virtual Events Are Cheaper, But Not Necessarily Easier

Planning a successful, large-scale online event like a conference, summit, or symposium is no small task. It can be daunting on the first go-around.

But as virtual events have become more commonplace, they’ve proven themselves as the best way to engage with your audience even after physical gatherings become possible. This is because virtual event technology and production have rapidly evolved. There is no better time to incorporate virtual events in your organization’s strategy.

a video production studio during a virtual event

Get Our Best Tips From Planning Award-Winning Virtual Events

The below event checklist can act as your roadmap to designing engaging and sustainable virtual events.

We’ve attempted to be budget-agnostic, trusting that anyone reading this has an educated sense of how much or little outside help they would need.

Our collective experience at We & Goliath reflects that of our clients: nonprofits, unions, green business, health & wellness, music festivals and more (i.e., we gravitate to clients we love working for). We’ve been in the shoes of most people reading this. We hope our value add as consultants, producers, and event tech experts makes this the only checklist you need to read.

Benefits of Virtual Events

You’re probably already aware of the main benefits of going (and getting good at) virtual events: It’s so much cheaper than in-person. Plus, it can provide you with better returns and an expanded reach. You can leverage data in new ways – and indeed, event platforms are developing features based on the behaviors that their clients want to measure – and maximize the outcomes. Also, there’s reduced environmental footprint.

Here are a few more specific benefits to consider…

With a virtual event, you can:

✔️ Target your specific audience around the world
✔️ Track the popularity of sessions
✔️ Get data on attendee behavior
✔️ Know which sessions attendees visited
✔️ Set custom registration fields
✔️ Score leads
✔️ Create polls and quizzes
✔️ See location, demographics, and attendance rate
✔️ Download chats and recordings
✔️ Get real-time feedback and more

You don’t need to:

❌ Plan and spend on travel 
❌ Look for venues
❌ Pay for the venue
❌ Allot costs for stage design
❌ Spend on event decor
❌ Pay for expensive sound setup
❌ Plan and spend on food and entertainment
❌ Commit to unreasonably expensive “hotel blocks”

If you’re ready to reap the benefits of organizing virtual events, keep reading.

NOTE: This is an interactive checklist – just click on each item to check it off as you go through your virtual event planning process.

Plan with Strategic Event Objectives in Mind

Here are a few starting points to help guide you through the process of thinking big picture at the outset of your event planning.

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
(say that five times fast)

Tip: Request a free consultation with our event marketing experts to help you start planning early on, and avoid mistakes that could cost you significant time, energy, engagement, and revenue.

Establish Goals – What are your primary and secondary goals for the virtual conference or summit? Which take priority or have dependencies? Examples we see among our client goal sets are revenue generation and/or fundraising; email list growth; social media community growth and engagement; expanding audience reach and authority; nurturing partnerships and sponsor relations; facilitating specific follow-up actions.

Conference vs. Summit – A virtual summit often includes a single host/moderator who guides the conversation of panelists, guest speakers and interviewees. The focus is a message and call to action, therefore you tend to see fewer interactive features. A virtual conference usually provides more variety in session formats, interactivity, “main stage” & “break-out room” virtual venues, vendor area(s), networking opportunities and contests, to name a few.

Who, When, Where, and How? – Determine a window on your organization’s calendar that works for you and your speakers. Consider differences in time zones, any geography-related logistics and needed speaker tech trainings.

What’s Your Budget? – As you think about logistics and technical overhead, your budget comes into view. Will Zoom plus a few affordable app integrations foster the experience you have in mind, or will you need to invest in a more robust platform? Run a cost-benefit analysis on taking things in-house vs. outsourcing. Also, don’t forget to budget for marketing and promotion!

Income – This can include online ticket sales, sponsorship, donor base, fundraising proceeds, or merchandise sales. Be realistic.

Event expenses – Think of everything you might need to spend on, from technology costs to entertainment and staffing and speaker costs. Create a buffer in your budget.

Promotional expenses – The marketing strategy for promoting your virtual event is extremely important. Depending on what you want to do, you might need to set aside a budget for paid ads, public relations, paid social media, or direct mail.

Contingency fund – When it comes to organizing events, there will always be unexpected costs. Give yourself a separate budget for these unforeseen expenses.

Track estimated vs. actual costs – You need to have two budgets: estimated income vs. expense and the actual running total of your income vs. expenses. Be as detailed as possible so you can budget and plan better.

Free or Paid? – Having goals and (at least) a ballpark budget in place will help you determine if event registration should be free or paid. If your top goal is community growth (on email, social media, etc.) then free might be your best bet. If your event has can’t-miss features like celebrity performances or prize incentives, a ticket fee might seem reasonable to attendees.

Brainstorm Your Agenda – One helpful exercise at this stage is to imagine the point at which you have speakers and dates firmly in place. Depending on the scale of your event, this can be a personal mental exercise or a team brainstorm. Start with your gut: Who would you/your team want to see in the event line-up? What thought-provoking titles & taglines would color your agenda? It’s useful to start here because you can work backwards from your vision and objectives and see what is and isn’t possible. This will help you and your team express themselves, and, in the long run, set realistic expectations.

❒ How Many Speakers? – This item goes hand-in-hand with event duration (see next). The number of speakers and their respective availability helps you understand how the number of required sessions and days. It’s best to prioritize your speaker list before you begin soliciting their participation. There are some you’ll want to make special accommodations for because of their prominence or availability. Also, keep a deep enough bench of backup options should someone have to cancel.

Event Duration – Online summits tend to be of shorter duration, often one or two days. When you’re organizing a virtual conference, the possibilities for additional days, sessions and features can seem endless. Fortunately, you’ve covered the checklist items previous to this one. Knowing your budget, goals, speakers, etc. will help you right-size the duration.

Keep Sessions Short(er) and Informative – Be aware of session length. Make sure to include various content formats and keep presentations engaging. Keep sessions shorter than you normally would in an offline event.

Team – You started to consider the roles your staff will have in the budgeting process. Now that your conference or summit is taking shape you can see who goes where and when. It’s worth your time to write out brief descriptions of each person’s role, who they answer to and work with, and what their respective goals are. Typical roles include: director/vision; speaker outreach/management; sponsor outreach/fulfillment; partner/ affiliate outreach/support; software research/setup/training/support; marketing, advertising and promotion.

Create a Promotion Calendar! – Based on your target audience(s), conference/summit goals and agenda, define the story and content types that will promote it most effectively. Then determine in which channels (email, social posts, ads, sms, calls) that story will resonate best with your audience and how. Don’t forget that your speakers and partners will be part of this arsenal. You will have put work into getting them so put them to work for you.

Make it Fun & Interactive – Virtual conferences and summits have come a long way, so the bar is high to make it stand out. But the options are many: e.g., virtual performances by guest artists; crowd-sourced lip-synching; games; interactive discussions; host a talent show or a dance party.

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Positioning Your Virtual Event

Positioning your event is a creative process. And like most creative processes, they risk becoming open-ended, inconclusive at worst. One central question to help reel it all back in: Why should people invest their time and money at your event? With that said, consider the following:

Tip: Talk more about your audience than yourself. Don’t just describe WHAT your event is/WHO you are, but also the WHY, for WHO, and HOW it will improve their lives. Then set out to solve their problems.

Target Audience – Who are you serving? Understanding your target audience will help you focus on creating the right event.

Problem Statement – What are they struggling with? Offer value to your target audience and give them the answers they need. Creating a problem statement can help you narrow down your content.

Theme – What theme and talks will get your audience excited? Use a survey to find out what your audience wants most (instead of only assuming). How to get answers: Facebook ads; post surveys in a group; ask questions on Instagram Stories; encourage others to do the same.

Benefits – How will your event benefit your attendees? Make a list of the key benefits.

Title – Decide on what to call your event. Just as well-crafted headlines capture a reader’s attention, the right event name is part of your marketing strategy. It’s part of your organization’s and event’s branding, therefore it should be aligned with your core values (especially those that most readily resonate with your audience) people’s interest and entice them to find out more.

Vision-boarding – Think mood boards, but in addition to pictures, a vision board will contain your event goals, objectives, aspirations, and values. Vision-boarding is a crucial step to the creative process, and it can act as a reference point for your team.

Competitive research – Check what your competitors are doing and see what issues they haven’t answered. If they recently hosted a virtual event, check their event hashtag. You might glean some insights from the attendees’ posts.

Differentiation – Describe what sets your event apart from competitors. You need to be able to give your target audience something that your competitors don’t.

Pricing – Define your price or prices. Your target audience should be able to see what they can get at each tier. Virtual events typically offer live streaming for free or for a low price, while a paid or higher tier may get a chance to talk to the speakers in a Q&A segment or access all the recordings.

Date – When is your online event going to take place? Do your research and make sure that it doesn’t fall on the same date as a competitor’s or a special date when most people typically won’t be available. This ensures a high attendance rate.

Create A Content Plan

At virtual events, content drives attendance. It is the core of the event and makes up the bulk of the attendee experience. So, when planning your event content, always go for quality over quantity. A strong content plan will not only help you determine what type of technology your virtual event needs, but it also makes up the foundation for your event’s success.

Tip: Remember the moving parts of event planning, especially those that are beyond your control, like when a new speaker or sponsor decides to come on board. Use those to your advantage in content planning. Every moving part is an opportunity for a new promotional content push.

event team brainstorming content ideas

Brainstorm Ideas – Although your event is virtual, you don’t need to stick to a template. You can include various content formats, like hosting a sneak peek event — or even a teaser video clip! — so potential attendees can get an idea of what you have to offer. Think of possible content ideas to promote your event (we have a few ideas for you in the Misc Promotion Tactics section), and the formats that they should take. Remember that a great virtual event replicates the “human touch” experience, just not in conventional ways. Anything you can do to accentuate the humanity of your event (e.g., “snack-sized” profile teasers about speakers; the use of “portrait” imagery/video). This should also include content during the event, such as pre-recorded interviews with the speakers and entertainment between sessions.

Leverage Different Formats – Sticking to presentation decks can get boring if done by each speaker. Consider using video, panels, and interactive displays and audience polling. If speakers can’t make it to the event live, or they anticipate technical difficulties on their end, consider including pre-recorded segments. The options for pre-recorded segments are limitless: We helped the AFL-CIO (the largest U.S. labor union federation) open Day 2 of its annual MLK Conference with a pre-recorded, virtual lip-synching performance. Pre-recorded performances, animated educational videos, mini-documentaries and even slide shows work well for intermissions, closing ceremonies and fillers.

Less is More – We already mentioned the importance of a shorter session length above, but we’re repeating it here because it’s so critical. Session length is crucial at a virtual event as distraction options are readily available to your attendees. Remember to brief your speakers about this as well so they can prepare accordingly.

Identify Your Technology Needs – Once you’ve laid out your content plan, you’ll get a better idea of what type of event platform or software your event needs.

Integrate Engagement Opportunities – Liven up your event by incorporating various engagement opportunities for your attendees. We’ve already mentioned a few, but at this point you should have an educated guess of what’s possible given your budget and platform.

Prioritize Production Value – A well-produced session ensures better-engaged attendees, plus you want your attendees to appreciate and remember your event. According to a study done by HubSpot Research, almost three-quarters, or 72%, of consumers prefer video to text marketing. So, make sure that your videos (pre-recorded sessions, post-event recordings, and highlight videos) are produced well. And make this a serious tire-kicker when assessing virtual event production consultants!

Find the Best Event Platform and Technology

Event technology comes in many forms, sizes and price tags. This is because every event has its own twist, and technology vendors are constantly upping their game to accommodate the latest trends.

Tip: Some event consultants (like us!) not only know this software inside and out but have already invested in licenses that offer better rates than going directly to the software providers.

Summit/Conference Software – The best software should create a seamless experience for your attendees. Ask your industry peers and event consultants for their recommendations.

Custom Landing Page Software – Virtual summit landing pages are critical to attracting the right audience. Integrate regular and prominent calls to action on your landing page to get your attendees to signup for your event.

Analytics & Tracking – Your event consultant will be able to help you with this as some virtual event platforms already include analytics and tracking. This aspect is important because data from your virtual event will give you great insights that you can use in future campaigns.

Install a Retargeting Pixel – Retargeting pixels are useful when you want to run ads. Installing a retargeting pixel on your website or landing page ensures that potential event attendees who visit your landing page will see your ads, which reinforces your call to action to sign up for the event.

Payment Processing – Payment processing is usually built into your chosen summit or conference software. If not, ask your event consultants for other options.

Audio/Video Equipment – Make sure that your speakers have good microphones and webcams. This ensures that your attendees can focus on the content and not on the subpar audio or video quality. Check with your event consultants if you need video splitting hardware.

Design Compelling Event Marketing Materials

The decisions you make around design collateral for your event will impact the way people perceive and interact with the event’s purpose. It’s about more than marketing and promotion. Smart design facilitates the timelessness of your cause or vision, as your audience engages with post-event video recordings, highlight reels, follow up emails, social content — and even follow up events! Consider this as you address each of the following design milestones:

Tip: Consistency is the basis of professional branding. Create all content marketing assets well before your promotion drive.

graphics designer working on an illustration using a tablet

Brand-Consistent Elements – Event logo, sharable graphics & header banners.

One-pager PDF or Slideshow – About the event to send to speakers/partners/etc.

Landing Page – Includes benefits and any bonuses or testimonials, as well as the obvious: speakers, schedule, sponsors.

Event Lobby – Depending on the event platform you are using, options for customization might be limited. Be mindful of logos containing small print. If you’re housing your event on a website (and not an event platform), make sure you’re designing for consistency at each stage of the user experience such as sign up forms, checkout; thank you pages, etc. Other inner pages may include: schedule, speakers, VIP explanation, specific days, sessions, stage events, and contact pages.

General Promo Video – The most simple version of this is a “talking-head” video, inviting people to register and telling them the who, what, why, when, and how. Emphasize the why — what’s in it for them. Ideally, add in some compelling b-roll, and leverage portrait shots of your speakers, which generally tends to resonate with viewers.

Front Load Pre-Production – Batch record speaker promo videos in advance. If recording live, then create these takes within the first “dry run” of the event.

Compile an Inspirational Conference Speaker List

Your speakers might be THE most important aspect of your event’s content. These boxes are not to be checked lightly…

Tip: Speakers are often your best promoters – aim to bring on speakers with large email lists and give them all the tools they need to spread the word.

Make an Outreach List – Keep your target audience in mind when selecting the event speakers and partners/affiliates. If you want to secure a speaker with a large reach (e.g., their email list has more than 50,000 active subscribers), sweeten the deal by offering them sponsor benefits in exchange for a dedicated email blast or promoted social posts. For partnering organizations and affiliates, make sure their branding and messaging aligns with your event’s purpose.

Hit Up Your Contacts – Some of the best options are right in front of you. Go through your list of close contacts and see who might be perfect for your event. Bonus: Some of them might be able to connect you with other speakers.

Personalize Your Outreach – Adding a personal touch to your email invites increases your chance of getting a speaker to agree to join your event. Don’t forget to mention specifics about why they’d be a good fit and how being a part of your virtual event will help their current initiatives. Take some time to build a relationship with each speaker. This way, you can figure out what would make this gig a big win for them.

Hit Up Your Speakers – Birds of the same feather flock together. Your chosen speakers might know another great speaker who aligns with your event’s purpose and who would be interested in the event.

Create a Contract – We’re not lawyers, but we know enough to advise you to acquire legal permission to use — and even sell — the event content post-conference (see sidebar for a list of contract resources). Your speaker agreement should also include details on compensation, your right to review and request for revision on a recording, and agreement to attend a tech check, among others.

Stay in Communication – Staying in touch with the speakers throughout the planning process is important. Keep them updated, remind them about event promos that they can share with their audience, get their sessions configured, and send them an email reminder about the date and time of their talk as you get closer to the event date.

Pave an Easy Path – Make the entire process hassle-free for them. Iron out the small details like acquiring their profile image, bio, and talk title. Send them the recording or live presentation instructions well before the recording and the event itself. Provide them with technical walkthroughs and coaching sessions on how to speak at virtual events. Even for seasoned in-person speakers, adjusting to virtual can be a curveball.

Draft Scripts in Advance – Figure out which parts of the event need scripts and arrange for copywriting and revisions. Examples of scripted event segments include host spiels, speaker introductions, and opening or closing remarks, among others.

Easy starting packages • Advanced options • Proven results

Find Influential Event Sponsors

Your approach to acquiring sponsors should follow many of the same guidelines listed above for speakers. Here are a few stand-out points where you want to dedicate much of your efforts:

Tip: Start small and build up – big sponsors don’t want to be first to the party. Offer your first sponsors a low (or free!) bar for entry.

Sponsor Outreach – Personalized invitations accompanied by a smart email and text reminder sequence (until they reply). Consider sending them something thoughtful from physical world, like swag or just a fun postcard!

Invest in a Sponsorship Deck – Create a well-written and designed deck using PowerPoint, Keynote, etc. From this deck you can generate easy-to-scan 1-pagers, and utilize it as a source for email and other content.

Sponsor Fulfillment – Provide any and all visibility you offered. And do it promptly, giving them the same red carpet touch you would to your most prominent speakers. (e.g., Add sponsors to your website/registration page, marketing materials, etc.

Ready, Set — Production!

Virtual events have unique AV and technological needs. We recommend partnering with a virtual event production company that is familiar with the ins and outs.

event producer with multiple computer screens

Connect Your Talent with the Production Company – Your production company can better coach your speakers and talent on how they can seamlessly integrate their presentations with the event flow (this includes the technical aspects of the event) and better engage with the audience.

Familiarize Yourself With The Technical Terms – AV and production lingo can seem like a totally different language, which can lead to confusion. Keeping up to speed with the industry lingo can help create a seamless planning process with your production company.

Quote Walkthrough – Ask your production company to explain every line in the quote. All expenses should be clear to you. If not, don’t be afraid to ask questions. If they can’t explain something, consider it a red flag.

Always Ask for Updated Quotes – There might be some changes during the planning process, and that’s expected. However, your production company should keep you updated on the added costs. Make sure to keep tabs on the quote to avoid any surprises.

Connect with Your Event Manager – Your event manager is responsible for overseeing the entire event planning process and coordinating with you. You should be able to reach this person anytime you need them to assist with something.

Schedule Production Logistics – Block a few days in your event timeline to shoot for your pre-recorded video content. You might also want to check with your speakers to see if they require a separate video for their session. Coordinate this with your production company so they can supervise the process and ensure that everything fits seamlessly with the entire event.

Apart from this, schedule your preliminary virtual event rehearsal. This helps you determine if something else is lacking from your event flow. A few more rehearsals should still follow this one to ensure that all elements work well together.

Create an Impactful Event Promotion Strategy

Your speakers and sponsors can be invaluable in promoting your event and generating buzz. 

In fact, they can often be your best advocates.

Tip: Your speakers and sponsors are often also your best promoters – give them all the tools they need to spread the word.

Leverage Your Email List and Other Owned Media (social media, blog, sms) – Write and schedule campaigns in advance. Allocate your efforts & time in scale with the size of your list. Include:

❒ Promo email sequence to your list

❒ Send bulk SMS if you have been collecting phone numbers

❒ Write an article on your blog

❒ Social media posting

❒ Post a promo video – ideally an exciting animated event promo video

❒ Send a postcard campaign (you can capture addresses on your site and send with postcard remarketing if you don’t already have addresses)

Paid Advertising – Deciding which channels are best can be tricky. It depends on your audience, subject matter, and, of course, competition in your market. Whatever route(s) you take, make sure your targeting, messaging, and landing page(s) is dialed in to make it worthwhile.

Facebook Ads – Test formats & messaging like video, lead ads, stories, etc.

Google Ads – At the least, create an add on your event name and core brand keyword (use Exact Match targeting to prevent showing ads on irrelevant phrases)

Retargeting Ads – Most ad channels offer remarketing to people who’ve visited your landing page (on FB/Google, or Omnichannel retargeting – sending ads everywhere).

YouTube Teasers

Activate Speakers, Influencers, Sponsors & Partners – This is generally the primary driving force for event registrations.

❒ Reach out to influencers (individuals & orgs) in your space and ask them to share your event video. Consider inviting them to an affiliate program.

❒ Prepare a spreadsheet with your summit speakers, influencers and partners, so you know who will promote & communicate with them clearly.

❒ Send speakers emails they can forward: An event-wide version and another that is specific to their talk.

❒ Always follow up and remind them to email. Give a gentle nudge, make sure they send out a dedicated email with a link to register.

❒ Ask speakers to Go Live with a short promo video that either you or they produce/ self-produce. It’s ideal to have one promoted once they’re confirmed, and another for the day before the event.

❒ Encouraging them to use their social media assets and those you can provide.

Create an Affiliate Program – These are built into some summit/conference software.

❒ Define your commission terms (eg: 10% payout, sent two weeks after event)

❒ Decide who to invite (partners, influencers, big speakers, all speakers, sponsors, your list/public)

❒ Promo email and social post (if it’s public)

❒ Create a signup page

❒ Write and schedule welcome, onboarding, and reminder emails

Misc Promotion Tactics – Some creative ideas to get more eyeballs on your event:

Host a Sneak Peek Event – Gives attendees a taste and something tangible to share. Also serves as a good dry run if your speakers need technical practice.

Create an Awards Ceremony – Get nominations from others and invite people yourself. Make it fun and exciting. Create an awards image and a page for each winner. Can have massive SEO value if you do this right.

PR Stunts – Generate laughter, love and awe; or use brand attack and scare brands about bad coverage.

Guest Podcast & Blog Outreach – Make a list of relevant and popular podcasts, blogs and other websites. Collect contact info and offer to speak/write/video.

Everyone Likes Contests – Use a contest to create “The Viral Effect” awareness about your event. Make it interesting, incorporate video where possible.

Pop Quizzy – Create a quiz to attract people on Facebook.

Smart Targeting – Run ads to speaker followers & common interests.

Facebook Events – Set up individual events on Facebook for each speaker or track and set the speakers as co-hosts (this gets your event to show up in their Events tab).

Eventbrite – Set up an event on Eventbrite for free “sneak peak” events or afterparties. Eventbrite has good organic reach but doesn’t allow external registration URLs like Facebook.

Virtual Swag Bags – Just because your event is virtual, doesn’t mean your attendees have to do without event swag. Put together a bag of goodies from your event sponsors and have them delivered to your attendees before or after the event. In lieu of event catering, you can also enlist food delivery services to add a special touch to your virtual event.

Switch Your List – Invite the right people to the wrong event. In other words, think outside the box about who would be interested in your event and why others could get value.

Develop Backup Plans – Successful events are built on the organizers’ foresight to prepare backup plans for various scenarios, such as technology outage or speaker difficulties.

Send Timely Event Reminder Emails and Texts

Maximize attendance with a multi-channel reminder campaign. Leverage marketing automation software to schedule personalized email, text, phone, and/or ringless voicemail reminders.

reminder emails and event marketing campaigns

❒ Post-registration emails (welcome email, follow up, reminders, tips, spread the word, updates)

❒ Send out text and Facebook Messenger notifications, which get far and away the best open and click-through rates.

❒ Phone calls and/or ringless voicemail

❒ Organic social posts on your pages, profiles, speakers’ pages, groups, etc.

❒ Upload your registration list for retargeting ads

❒ Confirm starting times with your talent and vendors. Ask them if they have any concerns. It’s important to ensure that expectations are clear and issues are addressed as soon as possible.

❒ Check registration progress to sponsorship goals regularly. Do this at least a month before the event date to ensure that you’re on track. If you’re not, you will still have plenty of time of course-correct.

❒ Figure out a way to communicate with your team virtually. Set up a private chat room for your team. This will come in handy during a live event so you can coordinate with everyone virtually.

❒ Ensure that all pre-event bills are paid. See where you stand financially. You might need to push for more ticket sales a few weeks before the event.

❒ Remind your team members and anyone who will play a direct part in the event of the dress code. Looking neat and professional plays a huge part in your organization’s and event’s branding.

❒ Finalize the details and go over them with your team. Everything should be reviewed thoroughly.

❒ Clarify expectations about event duties. All event staff should be clear on what’s expected from them during the event. Make sure to do this at least a week or two before the event.

❒ Review cybersecurity plan. Make sure your virtual event is secured from hackers who can disrupt your event.

Training & Support

Depending on the complexity of your software and the technical experience level of your speakers, staff, and attendees, you may need to provide additional training and support to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the virtual platform. 

Tip: Create a knowledgebase for your event that provides a single place where staff, volunteers, speakers and even attendees can get automated answers and submit questions.

Basic Speaker training – Audio/Video, Scheduling, Presentation tips, How to do Q&A

Advanced technical training – For live presentations with complex tech or interactivity: Schedule Live and/or prerecorded training for speakers/moderators. Do a dry run at least 10 days before the event.

Assistant/Moderator training (to assist speakers with Q&A, soundcheck, etc – good if you have large list of speakers giving live talks)

Sponsor/Vendor support (how to provide and get the most value)

Attendee training (how to have the best experience)

Day-of-the-event support (registration / login, tech issues)

During the Event

Once the day of your virtual event arrives, it’s time to put all of your planning into action. During the event, it’s important to stay on top of any issues that arise and keep everything running smoothly.

event planner activities on the day of the event

❒ Check-in with your sponsors and partners constantly. Check your event hashtag to get a feel of the general feedback from your attendees. When you have your finger on the pulse of the event, you can quickly make changes if needed.

❒ If your event has breakout sessions, make sure to listen to participant feedback and adjust as you go. If the participants want a less structured session, listen to them and reconfigure the next breakout session to incorporate the changes. You will need to keep your moderator informed as well.

❒ If your event has a networking component, get the conversation started by being active on the event community discussion board. You can share your insights on a particular speaker’s topic, share relevant articles, or comment on some of the attendees’ posts. You can even go the extra mile by connecting attendees based on their posts (e.g., attendee A has a question that attendee B has indirectly answered somewhere. A might be interested in further discussions with B).

❒ For multilingual events, live-streamed sessions can be interpreted in real-time with AI software. Check your chosen streaming platform if it has one or ask your event consultants to recommend one.

Don’t Forget Post-Event Promotion

After hosting an event, it’s easy to think that the hard work is over, but it’s important to remember that post-event promotion is just as crucial. This is the time to capitalize on the momentum generated during the event and continue to engage with attendees, sponsors, and partners.

Tip: Based on your goals from the Planning phase, pre-schedule a follow-up campaign including messages, events, and actions that build on your momentum and drive towards your desired results.

Engagement

Stay in touch with post-event follow-up emails, upcoming conference(s), community, and/or offers. Reach out to the community that you created during your conference. Create an online presence for your organization or brand for engagement post-event. Create a blog, website, or other digital platforms where people can find information about your organization, events, and services. Here are just a few creative event marketing strategies to reach out to your attendees.

Host a Virtual Afterparty on the last night. Make it extra fun with a virtual DJ or collaborative with a whiteboard session to discuss takeaways

Host a Thank you / Decompression Party with the team and speakers/volunteers

Start a Community – Do you want to create a Facebook Group or membership site?

Do a Monthly Virtual Meetup or Webinar to keep the momentum going

Say Thanks – Send out thank you emails/cards/gifts

Run Retargeting Ads to your attendees inviting them to your next event or other offers

Build Momentum for Next Year – Start reaching out to other speakers for next year with a highlights video. Also reach back out to your A-listers that said, “no” the first time.

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Analyze Event Data

Collect data from a feedback survey and make notes on how to improve your future conferences. The feedback will help you see what was the most successful, what needed improvement, and what did not get audience engagement.

Many times it is easy to get so caught up that you cannot see what really works for your attendees. Reviewing analytics, post-event survey questions, a speaker feedback survey, and follow-up engagement can give you a concrete overview of the success of your conference.

Survey your audience, team, speakers, and volunteers about what went well and what could be improved (segment and analyze your responses). Add an invite about your upcoming conference(s) on the survey thank you page.

Analyze marketing analytics (internal and partner email, social, and PPC reporting) – see which marketing lead to sales

Repurpose Engaging Content

Convert your videos into other formats to maximize overall engagement. Videos can become valuable assets that not only highlight your organization and the conference post-event but will offer an opportunity to build community and audience engagement for months or even years to come. Some video content has “evergreen” value, meaning your marketing team can repurpose it for marketing and future events.

Video content should always be an integral part of your post-event strategy.

Take that extra time needed to capture highlights and special moments. Don’t forget the value of testimonials, candid reels of audience engagement, and other key moments that make social media gold.

Event Highlight Video(s) – For virtual events, we recommend picking the best clips from your talks into one or multiple videos, because signups are generally higher and attendance rates lower than in-person conferences, and highlight videos help maximize replay views on social media accounts especially. For in-person or hybrid events, we recommend one short, punchy highlight video that just builds excitement for next year.

E-Book / Epic guide – you can convert full or partial transcripts of your talks into a valuable e-book

Lead magnet – offer replays or e-books for email signup

Blog posts with video and transcription

Guest posts (offer individual video/transcript to targeted sites)

Create your own podcast – just cut out the intros/outros and create new ones that set the context as a podcast

YouTube videos (full or highlights)

Bonus for other sale – Use the recordings as a bonus for an online course or affiliate promotion

Infographics – summarize key takeaways like best practices and survey data in a single graphic

PRO TIP: Even if you don’t have a big video production budget for multiple professional videographers, take advantage of candid video clips uploaded to Instagram or TikTok by attendees as a way to not only highlight your conference but to increase overall engagement with your attendees post-event. Share these video clips with your hashtag on your official social media accounts, give a big shout-out to the original poster, and even host a fun social media contest for the best TikTok. You will be amazed at how much traction a single viral video can get once it’s circulating online. Don’t forget that by uplifting your community members, you help everyone all the way around. Now that’s making an impact!

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And… You’re Off!

There is no one-size-fits-all formula to making your virtual event a smashing success. That said, we’re confident that if you address all the relevant points in this checklist, you will at least avoid mishaps, and pre-empt game-changing uh-ohs. Lots of hyphens there.

But wait! Your virtual event planning is quite far from over. There is a world of strategy, calculation, technology, and storytelling to leverage during and after your event. Virtual events are like email marketing on steroids: They have become a staple marketing channel. They are the fabric of brand-building, social movements, and problem solving.

If you know you need a virtual event production partner for an upcoming event, wait no further and contact us here. If you made it this far into our literature, we owe you a free strategy session.

Thank you for diving into our world. #OnwardWeGo

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We & Goliath

We & Goliath is an award-winning, top 100 worldwide event agency known for increasing conference attendance by 7X and profits by 3X through beautifully designed virtual, hybrid, and in-person events. Since 1999, their team of innovative strategists and creative designers has worked with global enterprises, SMBs, non-profits, and other organizations to engage audiences and exceed expectations.

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