Mastering the art of virtual event management: strategies and best practices

If you’re taking the leap to the exciting new world of virtual events, it’s important to have a strong grounding in the art of virtual event management! In this article we hope to break down a few fundamentals about managing virtual events, the roles needed, and how to set yourself up for success from the planning stages. For the full high-level view, read on!

What is virtual event management?

Virtual event management encompasses event planning, staffing, hosting, and even the technology used in the virtual event. Think of virtual event management as a practice rather than a product or single technique. In fact, there are multiple aspects of virtual event management that organizers should become familiar with.

Different types of virtual event management

Aspects of virtual event management will include event planning and scheduling, ticketing (if applicable), scheduling the event and handling the booking software and virtual event platform enabling your event to happen, live event moderation, and data analysis and follow-ups after the fact.

While there is likely to be one core organizer, it’s usually a good idea to have a small team (or a large team, depending on virtual event size!) to fill roles and delegate out various aspects of virtual event management.

Key components of virtual event management

In other words, these are the bases you’ll need to cover in any virtual event situation.

Video conferencing: Video conferencing, and to a lesser extent, live-streaming software and apps will be the backbone of any virtual event. There are many video conferencing tools available but make sure the one you use is suited to the unique requirements of your event–and it could be highly beneficial to choose an option that’s bundled within a larger virtual event platform for the benefits it can offer.

Event website and/or App: Whether an event is virtual or in person, the main avenue of promotion is your website. Websites are often the first point of contact, and a good one will promote your virtual event as well as provide vital information such as schedule and speakers, FAQ, and instructions for attendees to register. In an age where people are increasingly reliant on their smartphones, consider an app to fill the same functions–except mobile!

Registration: Registration is both a key virtual event management tool and the point of entry for data collection. Online registration tools allow attendees to register, submit personal information, and complete payment (if needed). A quality registration tool registers attendees quickly and easily as well as provides much-needed data to the event back end for planning the event and measuring success.

Email marketing: Email marketing can help drive demand for your event, as well as pass on event information and engage attendees during the event lead-up. When choosing email marketing tools, it’s important that they can deliver personalized and branded emails, has automation features for ease of use, and can report open rates and click-through metrics.

Event feedback:  Event feedback tools allow planners and presenters to gauge reaction when it’s not possible to just look around and “read the room.” Feedback features include post-event surveys that give insight into your audience’s opinion and engagement, prove event success, and drive sales.

Integrations: Integrations between your tools ensure that data is shared between your virtual event platform and any event technology system you use. It also connects data to marketing automation and CRM systems. With integration tools, you keep your data in one place for action and analysis.

Virtual event management roles and responsibilities

Speaking of your virtual event team, here are some key roles you should be looking to fill.

• Organizer: Similar to a team lead or project manager, the organizer oversees the development and implementation of the event.

• Moderator: The most commonly understood role of a moderator is monitoring event chat functions and content, however, moderators might also take on other tasks. These could include coordinating with the event organizer, testing and rehearsing events, starting the broadcast, acting as a host and/or MC for attendees, and facilitating Q&A and panel discussions.

• Presenter: Presenters at a virtual event can be anything from topic experts and speakers to thought leaders in an industry. They prepare engaging and accessible presentation materials and deliver content to the audience.

• Speaker coach: Speakers and presenters can sometimes use some help to be comfortable and relaxed during their time in front of an audience. Sometimes even old pros can benefit!

• Sales/marketing: These teams can help cultivate sponsorships, develop supporting material, and gather and analyze data for qualified leads.

• AV specialists: Your virtual event will look more professional and run more smoothly with a professional crew. This includes technical equipment setup, training, lighting, and audio where applicable.

• Data and reporting specialists: A step beyond even the sales and marketing team, a specialist can gather collected event data to create meaningful post-event reporting and analytics.

• Virtual event planner: If the event is sufficiently large, or you feel out of your depth, virtual event planners are the digital equivalent of live event planners. Their experience can help set up and execute your event without a hitch.

Planning for virtual event management

One major aspect of managing your virtual event means planning ahead to make sure all bases are covered.

As with any event, your content needs to be front and center. Likewise, you should know your audience, their preferences, and content/professional needs. Make sure to define your event as narrowly as possible to keep it focused and choose your technology platform wisely as it’s a foundation that will touch all aspects of the event, including live moderation.

Similar to event planning in general, you’ll want to craft an event strategy, determine how your event goals can be met within a virtual environment, and create a structure where the execution of the event can run smoothly.

Here are some key questions to ask during the planning stage:

• Will the content be live, hybrid in-person, on-demand, or a combination?
• How will you measure the success of your event?
• What kind of network bandwidth and technical support will you require?
• Will the content be available after the event?
• Should attendees have the tools to network with one another?

What’s the best platform for virtual event management?

You’ve likely heard this around our blog before when selecting a virtual event platform, the best virtual event platform or management solution is always relative to the job at hand.

Of course, we’ll always recommend Kaltura products to you as one of the best all-around solutions. More detail about Kaltura’s virtual event platform (and how it can assist you with event management) can be found below!

FAQs:

●     What are the best tools for virtual event management?

Rather than list a breakdown of numerous virtual event management products, which could take up an entire blog post of its own, these are your most important considerations:

• Any and every virtual event will require an internet-connected device, a quality webcam, and a microphone whether you’re a host or an attendee.
• There is an array of tools and products that can improve virtual event management. To get the range of digital tools to improve your event and its planning in a single package, you’ll want to look into a comprehensive virtual event management platform.

●     How do you plan a virtual event?

Glad you asked, as we have covered that topic in this blog as well. In short, plan ahead, have a clear definition of, and performance metrics for, your event, and if budget allows, remember you can hire event planning help.

●     How do you manage a paid virtual event?

This could also warrant a post of its own but a couple of key points:

A major factor of a paid event is that there’ll be ticketing. Something to look for in this case is an event management platform with integrated payment gateway functionality–make sure it’s as easy as possible for your attendees to register and pay.

Secondly, password-protected conferencing software (or event platform) will be key for gatekeeping–or look into a platform that can provide event “waiting rooms” where the host can admit entrants who’ve registered … or kick entrants who aren’t supposed to be there.

Meet Kaltura Virtual Events

To get yourself on the best possible footing for virtual event management, we of course strongly recommend Kaltura Virtual Events, our leading-edge enterprise virtual event platform, as your solution of choice. Kaltura Events ensures any event feels like a fully-planned effort, even when meeting in person is not an option. Our mission is to make sure all of your virtual events can be on-brand and simple to create, execute, and manage. We can provide high-quality video streaming, best-in-class engagement and interaction features, moderation support and other management features, and a reliable platform from which to launch content and live interactions.

Kaltura Virtual Events is a fully featured virtual event technology platform that helps and facilitates planning stages into execution and follow-ups. During the planning and setup stages of your virtual event, take advantage of our agenda-building capabilities as well as fully customizable landing pages and preset event templates. Our templates have robust features for individual modification, ease of event planning and management, and are intended to keep you 100% on-brand. Additionally, they make it possible to scale up, adding tracks and content as growing virtual events demand.

Kaltura Virtual Events also features out-of-the-box integrations as a modular framework for SaaS tools including conferencing clients, marketing automation platforms, and data analytics. Automation features empower your event to create personalized, customized, and automated live marketing that’s on track for follow-up campaigns. For more intimate virtual events, we enable hyper-personalization for all attendees, including personalized agendas, selecting topics of interest during registration for content recommendations, customizable layouts, personal media collections, and other options to significantly individualize their virtual event experience.

In Summary

Virtual event management doesn’t have to be a chore, but if you want the best experience for yourself and your attendees, building a strong foundation is important. Selecting a great virtual event platform that will assist in all stages from planning, moderation, and follow-ups is an excellent starting point.