Whether you are hosting a virtual exhibition to spread the word about your brand or to get businesses to invest in your company, engagement with your audience is the key to the success of any event. Here are ten things you can do to make your event as engaging as it is informative!
1. Set Up a Virtual Lobby
Even though your audiences are participating through a screen, a virtual event can feel realistic as you get to place them in a three-dimensional simulated environment.
Devise a common space or lobby where they can view other attendees. Open up this lobby well before the start of the event so that those who are early can talk to each other and network before moving around the online exhibition.
2. Give Them a Head Start
Have you ever been to a physical exhibition and felt overwhelmed by the number of booths to explore? The same might be true for virtual attendees! New attendees might get confused about where to start.
Add a recommendation section on your home page or lobby and categorize virtual booths with respect to their genres. This will not only give them a clear picture of where to go, but also ensures that they don’t miss out on any booths that they might be interested in.
Make sure you email your attendees with a brochure prior to the event, too. It will give them something to look forward to.
3. Create Catchy Content
Do not use outdated slide decks that are unappealing. Display catchy titles and graphics to create interest. Try making it interactive by popping-out related information when they click on specific items or move their cursors on it.
Include some real-time illustrations to keep their eyes glued to the screen. Use relatable examples to explain the applications of your product. You can even have hanging posters right above your virtual booth to increase visibility.
Color schemes also play a role in grabbing the attention of your visitors. Bright colors easily catch the eye, but beware, if your booth is a little too flashy, it may be off-putting.
4. Show Them the Real Deal
Give them a taste of using the product or service using simulated objects. Add informative cards about each segment that give insights into what it does or how it helps the user. This makes your virtual booth pleasantly immersive.
Try to introduce them to your staff and work culture too. Let your staff interact with the visitors at your virtual booths and answer questions about your company. You can even include links to your website and links leading to purchasing your products on your booth.
5. Make It Interactive
When you are demonstrating your product or service, find ways to make it engaging for your viewers. Ask your viewers to participate in a poll that gets their anticipation up. The poll could have a short and fun survey regarding a particular problem that most people face, which your service solves.
Gamify the experience by hosting small competitions for your attendees. For example, after demonstrating to a group of people, conduct a pop quiz and give some discount coupons for the winners. Also, you can provide them with stamps for every booth they check out and at the end of the event, give a special voucher for those who have collected all the stamps or badges.
Another creative way to do this is to give your attendees points in all virtual booth activities and consolidate them on a leaderboard. For example, you can fix 10 points for attending a demonstration, 20 points for participating in a live pop quiz, 50 points for winning a game… you get the hang of it, right?
Alternatively, you can even limit access to certain parts of the event until they cross a particular score! This will build curiosity and encourage them to gain points.
6. Let Them Discuss
The aim of going virtual with your exhibition should be to give your visitors the best of both worlds: the convenience of attending from their homes and the fun of browsing through various exhibits with friends and colleagues.
Conversing with other people about your product is more likely to stay in their memory for longer. The best way to do this is to use a virtual events platform that allows attendees to communicate with one another in real-time.
7. Add Entertainment
Even if you are hosting a business event, have a booth or two that is completely meant to be fun. Just because the event is behind a screen, it doesn’t mean you cannot have any entertainment. Try to do some background research and keep these tailored to your audience.
If your virtual exhibition is a long event, you can even have a mini workshop between segments. After all, your attendees are more likely to attend if there are additional takeaways from your event!
8. Event Takeaways
Most people who attend virtual exhibitions are there to learn about your products and services. If they come across something they like and would want to explore it after the event, they should be able to save it for future reference. Keep this in mind when you are creating digital content for your virtual booth.
Allow your visitors to download anything they find interesting, such as a brochure, poster or a datasheet of one of your products. This is sort of a virtual version of handing out flyers and infographics at an offline event.
9. Use Social Media
Set up photo booths with filters and stickers. Add hashtags to your booths and encourage your visitors to post event screenshots using those hashtags.
Snap a shot of your staff posed in front of your booth. Post this across your company social media channels to spur conversation between people who did not attend the event. When you do this, your booths will gain awareness even after the event is over.
10. Feedback
Feedback is something most of us skip when we attend an event, but you can try incentivizing it to encourage your visitors into giving some. Offer them some free templates or discounts in exchange for providing feedback.
Not only does authentic feedback give you pointers on how to improve during your next event, but it also makes your customers feel valued for asking for their opinion.
You’re All Set!
When you incorporate all these ideas into your virtual exhibition, it is without doubt going to be a hit. Interact with your customers, gamify your virtual booths, and offer them incentives to improve the rate of participation. Background research is vital to give the best content suited to your audience.
Start networking sessions early on and keep the conversation going way after the event is over. Try to customize your follow-up emails according to what your visitors showed interest in. Thoughtful outreaches like these will show them that you care about their interests.
To learn more about how you can host virtual exhibitions on our 3D virtual events platform, HoloFair, contact us directly.
Visit our Portfolio, YouTube, Instagram, or LinkedIn to view previous events and learn more.
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