At RingCentral’s recent Beyond the Venue: Event Strategies for Modern Marketers event, industry experts Jay Schwedelson and Simon MacKenzie shared invaluable insights during their session, “Virtual events aren’t dead, but your approach may be.” Their discussion revealed key strategies to revitalize virtual events and maximize their impact.

Uncovering additional promotional tactics

Great content alone isn’t enough to draw attendees. Simon emphasized the need for multiple touchpoints and engaging promotional strategies. Here’s what you can do:

1. Utilize in-app announcements
2. Leverage employee promotion
3. Provide templated social media posts for speakers and team members

It’s all about meeting your users where they are. Taking advantage of different strategies of promotion to generate excitement can ensure you’re hitting a variety of audiences—current customers, social following, etc.—to both increase your reach and prevent overusing the same audience for your events.

Day-of marketing matters

Jay highlighted a crucial point that attendees often forget they’ve registered for your event. To boost show-up rates:

• Send at least two reminder emails on the event day
• Schedule one email in the morning and another 30 minutes before the event starts
• Consider sending three reminder emails for optimal results

Although it may seem like you’re pestering them, people won’t show up unless you remind them. When doing at least two reminder emails the day of, Jay has seen show up rates go up by 40%. So the takeaway here is, don’t be afraid to send multiple reminder emails on the day of the event to maximize the live turnout.

Finding the right balance between live and on-demand content

While on-demand content has its place, live event content can feel more exclusive and personal to the audience, increasing their engagement and the impact of the message you’re sharing.

Some suggestions for producing live content include:

• Include a live-only Q&A session
• Offer exclusive content or discounts for live attendees
• Consider limiting on-demand access to increase live participation

It’s important to create a factor of FOMO—fear of missing out—with aspects of your event that attendees won’t get unless they attend live. Not everything has to feel like Netflix, where everything is hosted on-demand. By considering having live-only event content, show up rates will go up exponentially since they won’t want to miss out on parts of the event.

Keeping attendees engaged

Virtual events should feel special, not like “just another call.” Simon shared these tips:

• Create a unique physical environment for presenters
• Invest in production quality to make it feel like a broadcast
• Use interactive elements like scavenger hunts and polls with prizes
• Incorporate music between sessions (after securing proper licensing

At the end of the day, it’s all about having and mixing in fun during your events. Overcome the mindset of thinking people will come out and listen just because you planned various event sessions. Consider fun app integrations, like implementing Kahoot with RingCentral Events, adding games and quizzes directly in the event platform for workshops, presentations, expo booths, and more. 

Extending the life of event content

Don’t let your valuable content go to waste after the event. You’ve spent time and energy to produce amazing content, and it should be thoughtfully repurposed to fuel your integrated marketing strategy. Try these tactics:

• Create a menu of curated content to share over time
• Produce short videos addressing common audience questions
• Send personalized responses to attendees with specific inquiries
• Repurpose content for LinkedIn’s vertical video format for increased organic reach

Once the event ends, you’ve got lots of material to work with post-event. For example, a replay can be shared with your network—either current customers or your social following—to spark excitement for the next event or open conversations where you’d like to be seen as a thought leader. Make sure to balance access to post-event content with generating that FOMO factor and driving live attendance. 

Conclusion

By implementing these strategies, you can transform your virtual events from forgettable to unforgettable. Remember, the key is to treat your attendees as honored guests and create an experience that’s both informative and engaging.

Want to hear more about this topic? Connect with our speakers on LinkedIn.

• Jay Schwedelson
• Simon MacKenzie

Watch the full session on demand, starting at 49:50.

Check out the other blog in our RingCentral Events AI Real Talk series here:

• The critical role of events in modern marketing
• Beyond ChatGPT: AI’s strategic impact on events
• How to make your events accessible
• Building your brand and empowering yourself

Originally published Aug 28, 2024, updated Sep 16, 2024