According to a report in the EventMB, virtual events have not yet evolved into a successful solution for planners as a recent survey shows 40 percent of planners have been unable to organize a successful virtual event this year. EventMB research says that engagement is the biggest hurdle to success for planners, followed by a lack of technology knowledge and sponsorships. Meeting planners are not able to match the engagement of a virtual meeting with that of a live, in-person event.

However, EventMB offers suggestions on how you can improve engagement through a variety of strategies. They say, “One of the most important things to focus on is making the experience interactive and allowing attendees to participate in the event. This can be achieved through basic features [i.e. live polling and surveys], but also through gamification elements or more innovative ideas like an empty chair panel.

“…Another thing to keep in mind is the audience’s attention span — people can much more easily tune out, get distracted or simply leave an online event (or be more willing to, especially if it’s free). In order to address this challenge, it’s important to limit session lengths and ensure the information is easily digestible. In addition, single-day events are generally the way to go with virtual.”

Read more from EventMB on planning virtual meetings here.

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