How to Host the Best Online Conference Possible
July 16, 2020While everyone can decide to host an online conference, only a few people can succeed in hosting the best online conference. This is usually because of the various challenges that come with hosting an excellent online conference. Well, don’t get worked up over your desire for a great conference. Continue reading this article to learn how you can host the best online conference possible.
Have a concrete plan
Before you start telling people about your online conference, you need to have an all-encompassing plan for what you need to do on the day.
Your plan should consider:
- The theme of the conference – it must be something your target audience will love to hear about
- The guest speakers at the conference
- The benefit of the conference to the attendees
- Duration of the conference
Find the right tools
As expected, you cannot host any online conference without the help of some state-of-the-art tools. So, get started by looking for the tools that will make your conference successful.
A few of the tools you should look for are:
- Webinar software such as Zoom, Zoho Meeting, Livestream, EasyWebinar, and Google Meet
- An email service provider
- Online conferencing plugins
Select the right time
Irrespective of the benefits, size, or promotion of your event, people will only join if they have the opportunity to do so. Therefore, if your online conference is scheduled to hold on a popular holiday, festival, or event, people may not attend. Also, hosting an online conference during the busy period of the day may have a negative impact on attendance.
To avoid this problem, do your research or look at the analytics of events during different periods. Alternatively, use public polls to decide the best time. Whatever you do, ensure you are choosing the right time that encourages attendance.
Promote your conference
Having chosen the right time, you should start looking for ways to reach out to your target audience. Look for the key selling points of the conference and use them to market it to the potential attendees. The selling points could be the benefits of the event, the popularity or experience of the speaker, the available networking opportunities, and lots more.
Regardless of the platforms that you want to use, don’t forget social media marketing. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn can come in handy to help you get in touch with your target audience.
Be fully prepared for tech problems
Tech problems can happen anytime in any event, and online conferences are no exception. Therefore, you should prepare for any possible tech troubles.
In view of this, you should have backups of presentation files, visuals, and other resources. Don’t shy away from advising your speakers to do the same thing. If you are not tech-savvy, have a tech-savvy person around you.
Make your conference engaging
The last way to host the best online conference possible is to make your conference engaging. You have to actively create opportunities for your audience to take part in the event. This will not only make them have fun, but it will also keep them interested in the conference. A few of the ways you can use include letting your audience submit their questions and giving shout-outs to people that attend the event. Also, let them provide feedback at the end of the conference.
With the strategies above, you can host the best online conference possible without much hassle.