Everything you need to host virtual events for your community
Whether you’re an experienced event host or you’re just dipping your toes in, there are many steps to create a successful event. As a professional event planner myself, I have organized countless festivals, dinners, launch parties, meetups, and celebrations. A year ago when the event industry had to quickly pivot to virtual events, myself and fellow event planners around the world made new plans for our experiences. Now a year has passed and virtual events are still going strong.
As vaccine distribution increases and a glimmer of hope for the future sets in, the thought of going back to in-person events feels more real. What I have learned from talking to community organizers over the past months is that for most communities, virtual events will always be a core of their organization now. Many have been able to expand their member base by opening up to other cities, and for people it’s just more convenient to join a gathering from the comfort of their own home. This means virtual events are here to stay.
2020 was a testing year for virtual events. In the beginning there were limited options and we made do with what we had. This isn’t the case anymore. Over the past 12 months, an impressive amount of new tools have entered the market, just check out The Community Club’s Community Tool Database, which they are regularly adding more to. The range of options means that you don’t need to settle, you can create an event system that works for you and your community. It’s also easy to enter analysis paralysis with so many available options.
At Mixily we’ve been working hard, bringing our passion and expertise, to create everything you need to host virtual events for your community. Having been a solopreneur for years myself and juggling all the hats, I empathize with the many community organizations I have talked with who currently jump between platforms to build an ad hoc workflow, adding extra stress to themselves and to their members. We’re here to help. Here’s a checklist to host virtual events for your community and how Mixily can make your virtual events simpler, streamlined and on-brand.
Pre Event
Venue
Where will you host the event? For in person events you have to think about location, size, sound and lighting. With virtual events there are different requirements. How many people are you expecting? Will there be a speaker? Do you need to record? How long is the event? There are many options for a venue, with Zoom being the go-to of the last year. But just as you wouldn’t want to book an IRL venue that is overused and generic (ugh boring ballrooms), why would you want your venue online to feel the same as all other events? With Mixily’s Virtual Venue you can customize your venue with your brand colors and logo and embed it on your website with your designs and call to actions. Your guests will be delighted when they enter your unique venue.
Ticket Page
Are you selling tickets, collecting donations, or is it free to RSVP? You can create a beautiful event landing page on Mixily to sell tickets or collect free RSVPs. All your attendee information will be easy to access within Mixily, so you don’t have to deal with exporting and complicated spreadsheets. Plus, with Mixily’s Stripe integration, you get paid right as someone purchases a ticket, not at the end of the event like on Eventbrite.
Share the event
Depending if your event is closed to members or open to the public, your strategy for promoting the event will differ. If the event is member only, share the event in a member newsletter and wherever your members gather (Facebook, Circle, Slack, etc.). Add the event to your Mixily Event Listings Page for members to easily access. If the event is open to the public, share on your Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, share in relevant event calendar listings, Slack channels, Reddit, and Facebook groups. Have your speakers share the link as well to help get the word out.
Guest Communication
In the same way you would send reminders and important information to guests of in-person events, for virtual events you should also keep your community in the loop. Schedule a pre-event reminder, send the link, include instructions if there is anything they should do in preparation of the event. After the event, send a survey and thank you. You can send all these messages to attendees within your Mixily event. No need to jump between platforms. However, if you do prefer sending messages a different way, you can use Mixily’s Zapier integration to connect with your Mailchimp, send Google Calendar reminders or other app integrations.
Design The Event Experience
After a year of boring Zoom meetings and webinars, the Zoom-fatigue is real. Attendees expect more engagement now when attending virtual events, which means you must put in the time to design out the experience.
Format - What is the format of the event? Will there be one speaker, is it a discussion, a mixer for your community to interact? What’s the goal of the event and how can you achieve the goal with the desired format? Having a smaller event with higher engagement is just as important, if not more, for a community than an event with a large number of attendees but everyone is listening and has their video off. When planning your events, build out a “cocktail menu” of formats, some that are more casual and accessible, and some with more of a structure and education format. This way you appeal to all the individuals in your community who may be drawn to different styles of gatherings.
Agenda - The best run events, in-person and virtual, have an agenda. For example: introductions (5 min), ice breaker activity (10 min), speaker (20 min), Q&A (10 min), wrap up (5 min). If it’s an hour long event, create a 50-55 minute agenda to give yourself a buffer if anything runs long. And if you end early, that is totally ok and will be appreciated by many that they get a few minutes back to their day.
Speakers - If you’re organizing a workshop or panel with speakers, look outside of your existing network to diversify the speakers. Badassery’s Speaker Marketplace allows bookers to browse speakers from the likes of The New York Times and Peloton, filter by their needs and book speakers directly based on their availability. They cut out the back and forth coordination with speakers, give transparency in pricing (and get their speakers paid!) and provide an opportunity to find truly diverse experts who can share their wisdom and knowledge with audiences in a captivating way. Book with Badassery here.
The Event
Set the tone and welcome your community with a stretch, uplifting song, or other fun moment. Remember that everyone is hopping from one screen to the next screen meeting, make yours the one they remember are look forward to coming to.
Stay on schedule, but be flexible as needed. If the Q&A is really engaged, maybe you don’t do one of your activities, or if the speaker ends their presentation early, moderate and ask them some questions. Event planning is like improv, you make a plan but you also need to be able to go with the flow.
If you’re hosting your event on Virtual Venue, add links on your website so they won’t get lost in the chat. It’s the worst when someone arrives late and they can’t find a link you’re referencing, but since you’re on your website you can design out the page and link to a worksheet, discount code, Spotify playlist, etc. and the link remains there for all attendees to easily access.
If applicable, record the event. For specific events, with speakers or workshops, recording is crucial as community members may want to re-watch or ones who couldn’t attend can access later. But not all types of events should be recorded. Community builder and co-founder of CMX David Spinks recently tweeted, “The strongest relationships come from conversations where nothing is being recorded.” Don’t be afraid to host more casual gatherings, feedback sharing, co-working or happy hours where you do not record and instead create a space for your community to dig deep and get real with each other.
Have fun and be kind to yourself! Just like in-person events, there is always the possibility something could go wrong (internet goes out, no one attends, you skip over a section of your presentation, etc.). You’re putting yourself out there and creating experiences for others to connect, do your best to be present and enjoy it. It will be over in a flash!
Post Event
Message Guests
Thank them for coming, perhaps share a survey and/or a recording of the event. Let them know the next event they can attend.
Promote Takeaways
If the event was a workshop or speaker event with quotable moments, create graphics to share on social media or clip segments of the video using Milk Video. Repurpose content from within the event to promote your community and future events. FOMO is a powerful tool when it comes to event marketing.
Start Planning the next event
One down, on to the next one! If you sent a survey, look over the feedback or ask specific members what they thought. Each event is a learning experience of what resonates with your community and what you can do to grow and improve future events.
Mixily is the all in one tool you’ve been looking for to host events for your community.