Creating Community at Virtual Events
At ELE, we believe that the purpose of events is to create meaningful moments and lasting connections through building and maintaining strong communities. At in-person events, genuine community is easy to build and nurture in a way that feels authentic and organic. At in person events, connections are made as a result of things as simple and spontaneous as hallway run-ins, seating arrangements, or a night-cap at the hotel bar. It’s an automatic connection: you’re in the same space, listening to the same people at the same time, eating the same food, and reading the same materials, something as simple as eye contact provides a shared experience.
And then there’s virtual events. Because of their remote nature, virtual events are inherently isolating and individualistic. All the participants may be attending the same event, but the event is not the same for all participants. Strong communities and connections ensure a memorable event that participants will carry with them and (with any luck) will want to attend again. Instead of cramming a lot of content and networking into a short period of time, going virtual gives you the time and space to deliver information over weeks or months. As a planner, your main focus should be providing the space and resources for connections; if you have done it right, the community that you’ve built will take it from there.
THE ELE CREATING VIRTUAL COMMUNITY TOOLKIT
Social Media
Social media platforms are one of the most effective tools for creating and engaging virtual communities! They are intuitive, easy ways to create a personal and professional network and its users are already actively seeking to make connections. So not only is your audience ready to engage, but it also provides a variety of tools to do so!
Create a private group for your event on Facebook
Make event announcements, recommend movies, articles, or books, and to provide space for people to share their opinions and personal experiences with other participants.
Event Instagram Page
Use to promote speakers, networking opportunities, visuals, and share the event experience
Create a “Countdown” in Instagram Stories that people can use to put reminders on their phones!
Hashtags are key. Here’s some ways you can use them:
Create a hashtag specifically for your event that participants can use
Tag your own posts with hashtags to get it out to wider audiences
Keep the conversation going and keep people’s attention on the event.
Giveaways and Contests
Let’s be honest: we all love free stuff! Sending a physical memento to your participants is a fun and highly effective way to create a sense of community. Delivering a physical component to a virtual space makes the virtual experience more real and brings the event into their real world. It can also be a great way to get out merchandise with your logo on it! Take the opportunity to send them something that promotes your brand, not only will they love their gift but they will be rocking your free publicity all over town!
Outside Resources and Shareable Content
Use your social media presence to direct attendees to outside resources! Sharing outside resources and content is a great way to start building a sense of community before your event. Know of a relevant documentary? Organize a watch party! Read an interesting article on the subject? Share it for recommended readings! We all learn differently, so it is crucial to remember that and introduce more ways to receive content. It is also important to remember, people are more likely to be inspired when they have information from multiple sources, so if you want people to leave your event with a true call to action, then you must stoke their interests.
Optimize Platform Capabilities
Attention spans are short, especially for virtual events, so prompt your audience using the tools provided by the platform of your choice. Engage them early and using a variety of methods, continue that engagement throughout the event. The platform you use will change the ways in which you can engage, but here are some of the features that increase engagement and community building:
Chat Box - Don’t forget to remind participants to drop in their questions and make any necessary announcements throughout the event!
Polls - For real-time data during a presentation!
Applause Functionality - Show appreciation for speakers!
Breakouts and Small Groups - For networking, small group discussions and break times.
Games, Networking and Visual Effects - For the “Fun Factor” of your event!
Here’s the bottom line. Creating lasting connections through meaningful moments at a virtual event is tough, but it can be done if you take a page from the ELE playbook and do these three things:
Keep the participants front and center, before, during and after the event.
Use all the tools at your disposal to encourage maximum engagement.
Continue the conversation and community-building after the event.