If you are in the virtual event business for quite some time now, you might have an idea that one of the success-defining factors of virtual events is audience engagement. Several virtual event organizers tend to overlook this factor. However, they don’t know that audience engagement rate is one of the most looked-after Key Performance Indicators (KPI). 

So, if you are one of those who believed that getting a higher number of attendees to the virtual event would be enough, we are afraid to say, but you are wrong. In order to ensure that your event is successful, you need to maintain a consistent audience engagement rate throughout the event. How to do that? Don’t worry; this blog has got you covered. 

In this blog, we will discuss a few ideas that will help you maintain a high audience engagement rate in your event. Have a look. 

Icebreaker Games and Activities: 

One of the simplest and the Best audience engagement tools to keep the audience engaged during the virtual event is hosting icebreaker games and activities. Since it gets a bit challenging to make the attendees feel included in a virtual event, the icebreaker games and activities will do the job for you. You can randomly ask  attendees to introduce themselves, or if it is a small-scale event, you can ask all the participants to introduce themselves. Apart from it, you can also play games like a one-word story, to your right, etc. In addition, you can also use virtual breakout rooms and divide your attendees into small groups. It will make the entire process simpler, and help the attendees to connect with each other. 

Live Social Media Feed: 

Who doesn’t like being in the spotlight? We all do. We are sure your event attendees will love it too. Run a live social media feed that will post all the event updates. Create an event hashtag and ask your attendees to post their event pictures using the hashtag. Redirect those entries to your social media feed. Having a live social media feed will allow you to boost Event audience engagement, and expand the reach of your brand. 

Riddles:

Talking of the next audience Event audience engagement idea for your virtual events, Riddles are an excellent way to keep your audience hooked to the event till the end. Curate a few riddles related to your virtual event and the brand. You can post them during the event; the attendee who answers the fastest gets a prize. Apart from it, you can post the riddles on your social media and ask the attendees to post the answers using a particular hashtag. To announce the winner, you can rely on real-time event analytics. 

Workout Breaks: 

Nothing better than utilizing the breaks to stretch your body, and keep the blood flowing. You can make it more fun by working out in a team. You can either invite a professional instructor or rely on YouTube for the same. Don’t worry; it doesn’t have to be a high-intensity workout; just a 5-10 minute stretching session will do. 

Live Q&A and Live Polls: 

Another way to boost audience engagement during an online event is to use audience engagement tools like Live Polls, Live Q&A sessions, and Live comments. These tools allow the audience to feel involved in a virtual event. With all these features, the attendees can ask their questions, interact with the speakers, and even share their reviews. These tools will allow the attendees to feel involved in a virtual event. Moreover, it will also enable the organizers to get instant feedback from the attendees. 

Gamification: 

Gamification is a highly preferred and one of the best audience engagement tools used by virtual event organizers. There are several virtual event platforms that come with in-built gamification features, equipped with plenty of AR/VR games. The attendees can participate in any of these games. Another feature that comes along with gamification is the Leaderboard. The leaderboard shows the ranking of the participants who played games during the event. To encourage the attendees to participate, you can announce prizes for top performers. 

Giveaways: 

The next method of luring the attendees is to conduct giveaways. You can announce several social media contests during the virtual event. Giveaways have time and again attracted a higher number of attendees to events and brands. However, don’t forget to announce the winners at the end of the event. It will ensure that the attendees stick with you till the end. 

Swagbags: 

Launching your own merchandise and goodies is another tried and tested method of attracting an audience and expanding the brand reach. You can add a virtual booth of your merchandise to your event. Offer discounts and giveaways to the event attendees. These small techniques might affect your brand a lot; your attendees will become your brand ambassadors and promote your brand. 

Filters: 

We live in a social media-dominated world; why not use this fact for your own good? Create your own event filters and encourage people to use them to click photographs. Ask the attendees to upload the pictures using a hashtag and the filter. It will help you expand your brand awareness and keep your audience hooked to the event. However, while designing the filter, ensure it includes the name and theme of your brand. Use a social wall to upload all the pictures; it will keep updating automatically. 

Creative Backgrounds:

Last but not least, use creative backgrounds for the attendees and all the other participants. While incorporating this feature, ensure you encourage all the attendees to turn their cameras on during the event. Design the backgrounds keeping your brand objective, agenda, brand’s demands, and theme in mind. Trying out new backgrounds will keep the audience hooked. 

In comparison to physical events, it is a bit more challenging to keep the audience engaged throughout the event. Since the medium of hosting and joining a virtual event is through the screens, virtual events get a bit boring. However, with the tools and features mentioned above, you can ensure that the attendees not only attend the event till the end but also enjoy it thoroughly.