Use the chat actively and ask your participants if they have any questions during your event. In practice, it turns out that once people start chatting, other participants automatically join in. Do you want to encourage this? Then ask a number of participants in advance to ask a question in the chat. This way you can influence an active start yourself. People feel more involved in your event if they can participate. As a moderator, make sure you always have a number of Q & As in advance. If the audience is not active in asking questions, you still have example questions.
Setting up a poll arouses curiosity among your participants. They get an answer to the question of how other participants think about a certain topic and you make them think about their opinion. Don’t just use a poll at the start of your event, but especially in between. Also instruct your speakers in advance to include various polls in the presentation. Here too, people feel more involved if they can participate.
Plug-ins are short workshops that you can give to your participants in between. Consider, for example, a workshop on vlogging, drawing, blogging, storytelling or radio making. Participants can share the end product equally via an email message or whatsapp. In this way, other participants also see the result and you can actively share tips & tricks.
Make sure you have a good flow. Work in short blocks and bring energy to your event. For example, by working with sufficient breaks or different presenters. Variety is very important. All those little things together ensure that the energy starts to flow and that a meeting is right.
Before you start your broadcast, it is wise to work with a digital walk-in. During the walk-in you show a video and open the chat. This allows everyone who logs in to chat and get acquainted with the platform. The moderator can also participate in the chat and you give participants the opportunity to ask any technical questions.
The presenter has a lot of influence on the interaction with the participants. When the presenter addresses the participant directly, asks questions, and frequently refers to the chat, participants are encouraged to respond. Have your presenter regularly mention the chat and answer questions from the chat during the event. This way the participant really gets the idea that he is part of the event.
Share the event with your participants in advance. Share videos, presentations or articles and involve them in your event in this way. Or have them fill out a survey beforehand. You share the outcome of this during your event. Use a trigger in the email that you think is a must to log in.
Send a drink box, lunch box or snack box to your participants prior to your event. This way, the participants can enjoy something tasty during the webinar and you immediately bring a positive atmosphere to your event.
Most platforms offer the option of raising a digital hand.
Whoever raises his digital hand asks to be broadcast live. The moderator must give permission for this. You can use this function to ask a question and have a participant answer on the screen.
Divide your participants into smaller groups (usually max. 16) and deal with a particular topic. Keep the breakouts short and provide a clear assignment. A good break-out is led by a moderator who collects information and later shares it in the plenary part of the event. This way, participants stay active and you create a nice cohesive program.
The experience at an online event is important. By sharing personal content about yourself or the participants, you stimulate it. For example, give a look behind the scenes at your organization. The use of photos or music also keeps your participants involved in your event. With the participant matrix you can visualize viewers live, so involve them very directly in the broadcast.
Many people think that you cannot network at an online event. Live networking is still the best of course, but fortunately there are plenty of options online. For example, use a chat carousel. This is a module where participants are randomly linked and can video chat with each other for a certain amount of time.
Another module for networking is the network table. Participants with 4, 8 or 16 people are placed in a digital room and can actively get to know each other. All participants see and hear each other. Make sure that you give your participants proper instructions in advance on how to use the microphone and webcam.
Do you want your participants to keep a close eye on the entire event? Then use storytelling. Tell something at the start of your event that you will come back to later during your event. The more exciting you make it, the more curious people become and continue to participate. You can repeat this during your event. We also call this: save the best for last.
It is of course very easy to turn the screen to black during the break and hope that everyone is back after the break. It is much more fun to use the break for relaxation. For example, let your participants choose what music they want to hear during the break. Do this in advance by means of a poll. This creates involvement and gives the organization time to prepare the right track.
Each participant has his or her phone at hand and can easily send a photo via WhatsApp, for example. Make use of this. Ask if they would like to send a photo of his or her workplace or, for example, something they have taken. These images can be shown again in the event.
Of course you can add a bingo as part of your program, but it is also possible to run it throughout the broadcast. You make a bingo card with words or phrases that you use during your event. The winner will receive a nice prize.
Let participants give an opinion on a particular topic in a word. The online platform will then automatically generate a wordcloud with the outcome.
Do you want to transfer information or test the knowledge of your participants? Then work with a Quiz. Most platforms offer these options. Nice for team building and also for mutual competition. Share the results in your broadcast and link it to an award ceremony.
Set up a giveaway for the most original workplace or post on social media, for example. During your event, this is easy to moderate and share with the other participants. To make it even easier, you can work with a special hashtag.
Send your program to all participants before you start. This way they know exactly what to expect and are more willing to participate actively.
Take the time to answer as many questions as possible. Also announce this regularly. Participants will continue to watch or see if his or her question is answered.
We still find too often that a moderator is only briefed on the day of the event itself and actually has no idea what to do. A missed opportunity because the moderator is the link between the participants and the presenter. So make sure that he or she is well informed about the program and also has substantive knowledge. When the moderator actively communicates in the chat and to the presenter, the participants will follow this example.
When a participant asks a question and it is addressed, please mention the questioner by name. If you do not fully understand the question, ask the participant a follow-up question that he or she can answer right away in the chat. The participant will appreciate the individual attention.
When you start your online event, immediately ask the participants what they expect from it and what topics they would like to cover. You can also send all participants a small survey in advance. This way you know before your event which topic your participants find interesting.
Nothing is more annoying than a bad connection, sound or image. Make sure you have everything organized and that your participants can participate in your online event in a very easy way. Work with professional equipment and choose a user-friendly platform that already contains all the interaction tools you need. Multiple cameras offer more variety and therefore a more exciting image to look at.
Are you giving a presentation or do you have more information that you want to share with your participants? Then make sure they can download it at the end of your event. Tell them that too. This way you give them extra motivation to be present until the end of the event.
The tension arc for online events is a lot shorter. So it is important to keep the attention. You can do this by having your participants do something else now and then. Let them stand for a while, give them the opportunity to get a cup of coffee or let them grab something that is part of your event. Organize an online energizer (a physical exercise from your workplace), a nice variation in the program but it also nice to see your colleagues pass by in the stream at that moment (by dialing in).
At live events we work a lot with music. In one way or another, we sometimes forget this during an online event. Book a DJ and have them play certain music on request and create a special Spotify list prior to your event for people to vote on.
With an online event, we really have to make sure that everyone is also going to watch. The barrier to not participate is low. So send an SMS or email message shortly before your event announcing that we are about to start.
