I recently read an article published in the February 2021 issue of Convene magazine.
The article, written by Don Neal, discussed several reasons why attendee participation is sometimes lacking for virtual events. One pearl I took from the article is to “give your audience a job to do and an opportunity to evaluate how well they are doing it throughout your event.”  This idea is not a new one. In fact, we published a Tip for DPMs, along with a downloadable checklist back in our June 2020 newsletter stating several of these general principles.  Click here to review it again.
Don suggested sending three questions to attendees prior to the event, then follow up via email, text, or push notifications throughout the event to ask attendees how they are doing. The questions he suggested were related to networking, such as, Which three people would you like to connect with? What is one thing you would like to share with others during this event?
I’d like to take this a step further and ask them, “What’s one new product or service you would like to learn about during this event?” Then, when you check in, you could ask, “Can I help by connecting you to a few vendors?”  You could also ask, “What’s one challenge you experience in your practice you hope will be addressed during this conference?”
The ideas here are limitless, but the objective is to get your attendees focused on tasks and goals to accomplish during the event, and keep them on pace by checking in with them.
Read the article in its entirety here: https://www.pcma.org/virtual-events-interest-declining-tips/
Pro Tip: sign up to receive Convene magazine for yourself, here: https://pcma.omeda.com/conv/main.do
-ANN