Top Tips for Hosting a Successful Business Conferences 2022

Deciding to host a business conference 2022 on an online medium. Often seems like a natural decision for expertise-based companies. That already host face-to-face business conferences. Or are looking for new approaches to education and online events.

If you or your organization already offer face-to-face business conferencing. Hosting a virtual business conference can be a natural way to attract even more participants. If you don’t currently offer any kind of business conference. Launching a virtual business conference can prove to be an excellent means of –

• expanding your portfolio of offerings,
• attracting new customers, and
• generating new revenue.

There is, however, a catch. You can’t simply string together a series of virtual events. And expect to have a successful virtual business conference on your hands. If you truly wish to attract attendees. Keep them coming back time and time again. And make your online business conference a valuable asset to your business. You need to have the right technology in place. And take a few basic steps to get the most out of the medium. Luckily for you. This blog goes through the process of –

• launching,
• hosting, and
• developing a successful, world-class business conference for the virtual medium.

In this article are highlighted crucial tips for hosting a successful online business conference.

Working Towards Incorporating A Solid Context To The Theme, Content, & Theme Of The Conference

• It’s relatively easy to get a bunch of different presenters together.
• Schedule them for webinars over a few days.
• And call it a virtual business conference.
• The problem with this approach is that sessions are usually only loosely linked.
• Participants tend to pick icing on the cake.
• And in the end, very little real learning occurs.
• If you truly wish to deliver real value and impact when you host a virtual business conference.
• And, therefore, keep your attendees coming back for your next offerings.
• You need to strive to “curate” the experience in a way that helps bring out the value of the content.
• In the same way that a well-organized exhibition in a museum greatly enhances the value of the exhibits.
• This could mean having an overarching theme or “big idea” that drives the entire event.
• In order to introduce and support this theme and to highlight the links between the sessions and the theme.
• You could consider organizing an opening “priming” session and a closing “wrap-up” session each day of the online conference.

Primer Sessions

Primer sessions typically last 30 minutes and can be used to –

• • • highlight one of the main themes or ideas of your conference,
    • kick off the day’s sessions, and
    • comment on some of the ways in which the sessions are linked with each other, and
    • with the main theme or idea that you’re presenting.

Wrap-Up Sessions

• • These sessions also last 30 minutes each, and you can use them to challenge participants to –
    • review the entire day,
    • reflect on everything they’ve been taught, and
    • share some ways they would take action.

• Devising A Marketing Strategy That Makes Your Event Easily Marketable By Others
  • The best promoters for a virtual business conference are the people who have a stake in it.
  • This can include –
    • presenters,
    • sponsors,
    • exhibitors and
    • attendees,

to list out some of the most obvious options.

• For your conference, you should look to focus on presenters and vendors who have sponsored one of your other key initiatives.
• You can provide them with specific language and images.
• That they could use in emails and on prominent social media channels such as LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Also, you needn’t focus on encouraging attendees to market the event.
• Numerous business conference organizers have found this approach to work very well for their virtual events.
• You can get your attendees to share the news about your upcoming event on social media and via email.
• Through a number of platforms and even incentivize them for “referral” registrations.

Having A Prominent Presence On Popular Social Media Platforms

• One of the typical criticisms of virtual business conferences is that you fail to get the same sort of networking and interaction that you do with live events.
• While it is true that in-person interactions have qualities that don’t quite translate directly to the virtual setting.
• The level and quality of interaction you can create online is still really, really high.
• Provided you put thought and effort behind organizing these experiences for your attendees.
• You could consider using Zoom as a webinar platform to deliver live sessions.
• One of the many reasons organizers prefer Zoom is that, unlike other platforms.
• It allows them to enable the chat functionality in addition to a Q&A feature during webinars (while most other platforms currently only support chats during webinars).
• People are more and more comfortable with the chat as a tool.
• And you can ensure that participants have very good exchanges during the sessions of your events.
• To help spark these conversations.
• You need to make sure you’re ready to ask relevant and provocative questions during the sessions.
• And also continually encourage participants to contribute.
• Chat during live sessions is great.
• But if you want to take it a step further and provide a place where the discussion could continue between and beyond sessions.
• There are several approaches that allow you do this.
• Organizers have used private Facebook and LinkedIn groups, for example.
• You could also choose to make use of a third-party platform that helps you integrate discussion board.
• And social networking aspects along with the exceptional capabilities that WordPress provides as a content management system.
• Bear in mind that social doesn’t happen by accident, at least not at first.
• You will have to remind people to participate in chat and discussion.
• As mentioned before, you need to continually invite people to chat during live sessions.
• For the discussion component.
• You can even send out a weekly email in which you highlight some of the most “happening” discussions on the forum and link them directly.
• The effort definitely pays off – you can even expect to receive hundred of posts on dozens of topics.

Make Full Use Of Video

• Real human beings in real-time on the screen really work when it comes to virtual business conferences.
• Not just slides and audio.
• Not just recorded presentations.
• Thanks to video conferencing platforms.
• Streaming video in a live web event has become much easier and less risky over the past couple of years.
• And even a small amount of video can make an online event much more personal and intimate.
• This helps stimulate participant engagement.
• You can use video for a few minutes at the start of all your sessions.
• Jjust to introduce the speakers.
• And then turn it off once the speaker moves on to the actual presentation.
• You could also consider using video for all of the primer and wrap-up sessions mentioned previously.
• The purpose in both cases is simply to make it clear.
• That while the learning environment may be “virtual”, it is filled with real people.
• People who were there for real teaching, discussion, and learning.

Comprehensive & Unwavering Customer Support Is Paramount

• Providing clear and knowledgeable support to attendees is one of the key ways.
• To differentiate your business conference as a professional endeavor.
• And, if you wish to position it as a premium offering, you definitely have to provide good support.
• People are far more accustomed to using the technologies these days that make a virtual event possible.
• Such as webinars and chat rooms.
• But that doesn’t mean you won’t run into technical headaches when hosting a virtual conference.
• And, on the tech aside, you need to make sure everyone understands all the logistics of the event.
• Including what sessions will take place, when, where they’re going to access them when they can expect the recordings are available.
• You need to ensure the posting of navigational links to key information in prominent areas of the event website.
• But also send out several emails to all attendees to ensure they are aware of the session schedule.
• As well as how to access the sessions.
• To help anyone who really needs help, you can have –
  • a support email address and phone number in place at the footer of the website,
  • a contact page with support information that can be linked as part of the main navigation and
  • inform participants of their email support options.

Ensuring That All Your Speakers, Presenters, and Panelists Are Prepared For The Virtual Medium

• • You can line up great leaders for each of your sessions.
  • But you need to be wary that even the best presenters get great support and opportunities for feedback and practice.
  • So you need to make sure from the start, via email and phone calls, that they have a good overall understanding of the event.
  • And also that they understand your expectations for their session.
  • You can also schedule calls (as many as required) with presenters in the weeks leading up to the event.

Content Calls

• • One of these calls can be what is called a “content call”.
  • In it, you can discuss what the presenter (or, in some cases, presenters) should plan to cover during the session.
  • And discuss ways in which you could help make each session as successful as possible.
  • So, for instance, you can help the presenters by identifying attendees.
  • Those who are willing to volunteer for marketing course materials as part of a live session.
  • In another instance, you can actually collaborate with two presenters to deliver a part of a session.
  • In general, the content call is a way to ensure that presenters have started to actively think about their material.
  • And that you have enough time to help fill in any gaps or follow up on any good ideas that come up.

Dry Runs

• • You could also have a scheduled time for a “dry run” for each session.
  • You can do this a week or two before the scheduled time for the session.
  • And it offers session leaders the opportunity to go through as much of their session as they want.
  • Both to get your feedback.
  • And to ensure they were fully comfortable with the Zoom environment and encounter no issues.

Turning Into & Treating Attendees As The Collaborators You Need Them To Be

• Attendees can be invaluable collaborators in marketing your event.
• Through the effective use of social tools like chat and discussion.
• They can and should also be valuable contributors to the learning experience.
• But you can go even further by featuring attendees in the session content.
• This can be accomplished through a variety of methods.
• One way is to approach participants to volunteer as case studies for some of the sessions.
• In one of the marketing sessions, a participant can provide a sales page from their organization’s website for analysis.
• For sessions focused on instructional design, one participant can send in a screenshot of one of their organization’s webinars.
• Another can send in multiple screens of a self-paced course that they want guidance on.
• In addition to leveraging participant submissions, you can also offer “collaborative coaching” sessions.
• The general idea is that one participant poses a challenge or opportunity that they face in their learning enterprise.
• And other participants – most of whom ideally face similar challenges – provide guidance.
• You need some structure and process to make it work well.
• But the collaborative approach can result in some really great learning interactions.
• Finally, you can hold weekly follow-up sessions to answer questions and discuss any content covered at your event.
• You can even invite participants to become panelists in these discussions, that is, to join you by video.
• This can help bring new faces and perspectives to the discussion.

Taking Full Advantage Of Sponsors As Partners

• Depending on the sort of organizing firm you run, working with vendors as sponsors may not be part of your business model.
• A virtual business conference offers an incredible opportunity to grow in this area.
• By “vendors”, the meaning intended is companies that sell products or services that could be of value to your target audience.
• Ideally, whatever the seller sells should complement your conferencing culture.
• You shouldn’t worry if you don’t have a large audience.
• What most vendors want is a well-qualified audience.
• That is an amalgam of people who distinctly possess the characteristics of the vendor’s target demographic.
• If you can offer them the opportunity to appear in front of such a group.
• Then you can significantly increase the efficiency of the supplier’s sales process.
• And that can prove to be invaluable to them.
• There are many ways to monetize this value.
• From recognizing sponsors (for example, by displaying their logos) on a page on your event site.
• To adding a link to their websites in your marketing emails.
• To giving them the opportunity to lead a session or otherwise speak to your audience during the event.
• These different approaches must, of course, come with different price tags.
• A speaking opportunity, for example, is far more valuable than a logo on a webpage.

 

• Bear in mind, however, that revenue is only part of the value of sponsors.
• Ideally, you want the sponsors to promote the event to their audience.
• And you want to entice them into making that purchase.
• By offering a number of free tickets as part of the sponsorship package.
• Sponsors can also be helpful in identifying attendees among their customer base with pertinent stories and case studies to share.
• And, sponsors might just be willing to offer giveaways to some or all of your attendees.
• And an approach that gains visibility for the sponsor and helps attract participants.
• Lastly, a sponsor’s brand can be invaluable in helping to build your own brand and the credibility of the event, which, again, helps attract attendees.

 

• Of course, if you’ve never worked with sponsors before, getting started can feel a bit daunting.
• Listed below are some crucial tips to take note of –
  • Figure out what benefits you would be able to offer a potential sponsor.
  • And write them down clearly so they can be sent over to the prospect.
  • Research other similar events in the business, economics, and finance niches to see who sponsored those events.
  • While doing this, also research any information you can find on typical referral rates.
  • Recognize one or more people at the target company who can make decisions about referrals.
  • Usually, this is someone from marketing.
  • And you can find these people by searching the company’s website and/or searching LinkedIn.
  • Typically, identify someone in your personal network with contacts in the target company.
  • And use that person as a way to connect with the person you’ve identified as a potential decision-maker.
  • If you can’t find a connection through your personal network.
  • Find a contact via the web, LinkedIn, or any other source, go ahead and contact directly.
  • When you do, just make it apparent that you have a solid understanding of the contact’s business.
  • And are offering highly relevant benefits.

Completing Leveraging The Potential Of Modern Media

• In many ways, a virtual business conference can and should mirror what happens in a face-to-face conference.
• By having things like keynote presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities.
• You’ll align with learner expectations and increase the chances of them trying their luck at a virtual event.
• That said, you shouldn’t overlook the opportunities that using a digital medium can provide when hosting a virtual business conference.
• For example, you could have scheduled a virtual event to run for a full month, with shorter one-hour sessions scheduled on Tuesdays.
• Longer workshops, and the mentioned kick-off and wrap-up sessions spanning more than four hours on Thursdays.
• And follow-up sessions on Fridays, running them for one hour each on Friday from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.
• While this approach may be a bit of a harder sell for some potential attendees, it also has some strong benefits, including –
  • By spreading the learning over a longer period of time, your participants are much more likely to have the opportunity to digest, review, reflect and apply what they learn.

Especially if you take the necessary steps to help facilitate these actions.

The final result is that the event will have a much bigger impact, greatly increasing the chances that you will have happy customers who come back for more.

• This gives you more time to actively engage with your learners in a meaningful way, helping you build deeper, long-term relationships.
• This gives you some leeway in planning, allows you to learn and adapt over the course of the conference.

And relieves some of the pressure to get everything perfect in a single one to three-day period.

• This can greatly increase the chances of participants using discussion forums.

First, they simply have more time.

Second, they are almost certain to have more content-related questions, and comments due to the spacing effect suggested in the first point above.

• Each of these benefits is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve with traditional face-to-face conferencing.

(And most of them align directly with adult learning principles.)

• Another key area where virtual conferencing offers an advantage over face-to-face meetings is the ability to pre-record sessions.
• There are other virtual conferences that make much greater use of pre-recorded sessions.

Where they play sessions at a scheduled time with real-time chat as well as questions and answers to go with.

• This approach is very often as effective as a live stream by the presenter.

And it can offer you a lot of control over the length and quality of the session.

Putting In Place Mechanisms To Measure The KPIs For Your Event

• Virtual business conferences in USA 2022 are proving to be effective means for networking and communicating with niche groups and individuals. They are contributing to both lead generation and business growth, just like any other physical conference.
• What’s different is that you can now get accurate results, set measurable KPIs.
• And justify your return on investment that was previously unlikely at an in-person business conference.
• Highlighted below is a set of key virtual business conference metrics that can help you determine the success of your online event –

Total Number Of Registrations

Although participation is crucial, registrations can be just as significant. You can make use of the contact information that registrants submit to build a database to market your future events.

Attendee Count

Once you’ve got the total number of registrants, you might like to find out how many of them actually attended your event. The conversion rate will help you decide the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

Document Download Count

At a conference, people are on the lookout for information. The number of resources they are consuming will help you understand if what you have offered them meets their needs and, therefore, the value they are getting from your virtual event. This information, unlike an in-person conference, helps measure your audience’s engagement.

• Video Viewership Metrics

Streamable videos have a lot of audience appeal. Estimating the total video views per booth helps in determining the exact impact of the visuals.

• Chat Usage Metrics

What makes any conference a great success, particularly virtual business conferences, is the engagement rate. With booths equipped with audio, video, and text chat capabilities, interactions help to understand just how addicted the audience is.