When you’re developing your brand or establishing yourself as an expert in your field hosting your own virtual event can be hugely beneficial. If you do it right, it can build your fanbase, increase sales, and at the very least it looks good on your resume.
Without having to take an entire course, let’s review the basics that you will need to quickly assemble and deploy a successful virtual event or summit.
Equipment
You will need some basic equipment, like a high-quality webcam and a microphone. These are not required because it is possible to use these preinstalled tools on your laptop which is already equipped with these devices, though they are likely not as good as a separate webcam and microphone. Encourage your guests to do likewise. On the other hand, higher-end cell phones are quite adept at providing some of the best cameras and microphones.
Virtual Event Basics
Structuring your event requires establishing these basics:
1 The Event Title and Subtitle
The event title should be compelling and be quickly identifiable as something that your target audience needs, wants, desires, or would be interested in, and if you are going to include guests, call it a summit and put the word “summit” into the title, as summits have grown in popularity thanks to the pandemic. Add an attention-garnering subtitle to further pique the interest of potential attendees.
2 Descriptions
Create a brief description as well as an expanded description of your event.
3 Guests
Select a set of guests who will be presenting at your virtual event or summit. Guest selection should be pre-thought-out enough not to include guests who might be competing against each other. And they should not be competing against you, either. See: How to be a Guest Speaker
4 Format
You as the host will do the introduction and closing of the event and will be speaking for 35 minutes to an hour. You must decide whether you will conduct your presentation all at one time, or give smaller talks before, in between, and after your guests.
Thanks to the pandemic, virtual events have found their place in the professional arenas and for your purposes will be highly effectual in your promotional efforts, as well as support your expertise.
5 Technical
You will need a USB microphone and webcam. Most decent cameras will shoot at 1080p which is the minimum threshold for shooting a high-quality video of your presentation.
You must have a method of recording your presentation and editing the presentations of your guests. Zoom is probably the best entry point for video conferencing and provides many features that will come in handy when interacting with your audience. Recording and editing software need not be complicated, flashy, sophisticated, or expensive. Something as simple as iMovie or Windows MovieMaker are easy to use and good enough to create a professional presentation.
Don’t forget that the latest generation of cell phones are very powerful and can also provide professional results. You might be surprised if you knew how phone-conducted virtual events are going on every day. If you are phone-savvy and comfortable doing so, use your phone.
6 Presentation Graphics
You will need good presentation graphics for your event and slide deck(s) for your presentation(s). A lot of our people have been pleasantly satisfied with the simple and easy templates offered by Canva for the do-it-yourselfer. Canva has a free and subscription-based service and may charge a little as you go for upgrades along the way, which you can always back your presentation down to a free version at any time.
This will help to give your event a professional-looking overall appearance.
It looks like you’re getting ready to launch your first virtual event.