The Knowhows in Organizing Engaging Virtual Events

By: Ludmila Malcheva / in News

Virtual event formats allow us to use time in a more efficient way, keep us focused on the key takeaways – content and networking, allow a bigger number of individuals to participate one way or another, save costs, give flexibility and generate valuable insights. But what else should we know about organizing successful online and hybrid events?

Planning

Preparing for venue visitors is one thing and planning for virtual attendees is completely different. In order to guarantee optimal audience experience, testing is obligatory. This includes the choice of a web streaming portal, virtual speakers’ rehearsals and, in the case of hybrid format, the quality of the internet connectivity, the software tools and hardware equipment that will be used at the event venue. It’s the event organizer’s responsibility to make sure that all – guests and participants, feel comfortable and familiar with the technology.

Interaction

Interactions between all guests are one of the most important defining characteristics of a virtual event. Otherwise, people will simply be watching a live stream. A virtual/live discussion should be scheduled with a moderator in a virtual conference room so that remote attendees will get to ask their questions. It will be the moderator’s job to make sure that both audiences – live and online in the hybrid case, are on the same page as far as participation is concerned. Other possible alternatives include live streaming via a social media platform, a dedicated hashtag, email question submissions and live chat.

Attendee journey

Engagement is the essential ingredient in virtual and hybrid events. The latter require even more dedication as we should apply extra care to ensure both our virtual and live audiences get the most of our event. A hybrid format should offer experience that caters to all audiences in a viewer-friendly way, putting online and live audience on the same level. Virtual events can take a multitude of appearances, depending on company’s event format and audience but hybrid events have one thing in common: they put the audience journey first, for both audiences.

Partner with the Right Team

Technology is important but partnering with professionals is even more crucial. Count on professionals with extensive experience in virtual event planning who are knowledgeable about technologies, interactions, entertainment options and are able to coordinate and host your next virtual event for success.

Benefits of hybrid events

In conclusion, here are some pros to consider why hosting a hybrid event could be worth the extra set up and resources needed:

  1. Increased reach & attendance – hybrid events allow us to increase reach and gain more attendees, not fewer. With a hybrid event, we lower the barrier to entry for those who want to attend, but can’t, and those who are unsure if the event is worth their time. This increases the reach significantly as we broadcast our event to a larger audience than ever could be possible in person.
  2. Higher engagement with the audience – adding a virtual element opens up many more engagement opportunities. But we need to start planning our event audience first to ensure which engagement opportunities make the most sense to them.
  3. Reduced costs – hybrid events can significantly decrease travel costs across the board for everyone involved.
  4. Content generation – as content is recorded, we can use it for future marketing campaigns and generate new ideas based on audience insights.
  5. Higher ROI due mainly to the increased reach and scalability. Getting more attendance through hybrid events can result into greater views for sponsors and more sign ups after the event. Secondly, we receive more accurate reporting on the performance. Also, it’s easy to replicate the technology process in consecutive events. A virtual event platform doesn’t require crews for set-up and take-down. Plus, there is also potential to scale down the live event while scaling up the online presence. This allows for reducing onsite costs while still reaching a large audience and boosting our margin.

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The Next Wave of Digital Transformation is Here

By: Ludmila Malcheva / in News

Right Image organized for a third consecutive time the Intelligent IT virtual forum for Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium held on November 10th. Intelligent IT 2: Edge-to-Cloud Forum focused on business and technology discussions in the context of the new reality and was attended by 300+ representatives of key industries in Bulgaria. During the third edition of this technology event series, business leaders and technology experts discussed how the next wave of digital transformation responds to the unprecedented pace of change within organizations, the need of financial stability and flexible solutions.

“We’re now in the next wave of digital transformation, fueled by apps and data everywhere, where everything edge-to-cloud is connected, where enterprises unlock value everywhere, revealing new opportunities – new experiences, efficiencies, services and more”, said Iravan Hira, Managing Director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise operated by Selectium. “Three years ago, HPE predicted the enterprise of the future would be edge-centric, cloud-enabled and data-driven. Now it is not just a vision of the future, it is reality.”

The program of the virtual conference brought together business and technological topics presented in an interactive discussion format. During the first business session The Journey to Agility Miroslav Petrov, an experienced telecom professional and current CEO of Lead Vision and Vanya Manova, Regional Director of Mastercard for Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania, discussed with Iravan Hira and Lyudmila Malcheva, founder and CEO of Right Image, how companies can become faster, more productive and more responsive in addressing market requirements, the new business and customer needs. Next in the virtual conference agenda was the technological discussion Digital Game Changers, featuring Hristo Belchev, Director of IT VMware EMEA as a special guest in one of the panels. The participants in the three technology panels talked about the need of flexible solutions to protect investments and enable development in the context of a dynamically changing environment; what cloud experience means and how IT platforms should be provided as a service providing flexibility and financial stability to organizations; how the deployment of smart platforms lead to greater data efficiency.

Keynote and inspiration for participants and audience were the two special guests – Stefan and Maxim Ivanovs. The father and son shared the amazing story of their recent Atlantic adventure – what it means not to rest until you reach your Everest, how to survive amidst ocean storms and succeed, why giving up is not an option when going on a historic voyage across the Atlantic with a hand-made rowing boat in the name of a worthy cause.

The conference was held online with 300+ the virtual guests representing private and public sector organizations, entrepreneurs, technology innovators, consultants, partners and media. More about the forum agenda and participants is available at https://intelligentit.online/.

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