January 2021 International Confex Webinar Series 09 webinars we were , in all honesty , scratching our heads to work out who would be best placed to deliver these and we reverted to the operations team who are incredible at multi-tasking and getting the job done , two vital skills when onsite . As we transitioned to virtual events featuring multiple webinars at one time , we found a subject matter expert who together with a small team from marketing and data , were able to pull enough strings to get the first two virtual events up and running .”
How did you motivate your teams to jump into the unknown in running an online event for the first time ?
KIMBERLEY BARNES : “ After the postponement of two live shows and planning things that were uncertain , it was a breath of fresh air to start working on a product we knew we were 100 % able to execute . Working towards things that are certain is a big motivator . Giving the
“ WHEN WE FIRST STARTED OUT , IT WAS A CASE OF WORKING THROUGH POTENTIAL SCENARIOS AND SOLUTIONS UNTIL ONE WORKED .”
ABOVE : LAURA SHAPIRO
team clarity and helping them to understand what success looks like and what we needed to put in place to succeed also helped motivate them . I believed in the product and that passion and energy was obvious to the team , inspiring them to deliver on the vision . Providing clarity and communicating often is key to motivating a team .”
What sort of ‘ Plan B ’ do you have in-place for any technical hitches ?
LAURA SHAPIRO : “ A lot of staff ready to jump in to fix it . Now that we ’ ve run 10 + events , we have a play-book for any hitches and know what steps to follow . When we first started out , it was a case of working through potential scenarios and solutions until one worked . One tip would be to start each day with pre -recorded content in order to give yourselves some breathing room . Rehearsals are also key . Use rehearsals to ensure that speaker tech and internet are good enough , their backdrops are suitable and the audio is clear .
What has been your registration conversion to attendee been ?
KIMBERLEY BARNES : “ Our conversion rate was 71 % for attendees and 82 % for sponsors , I think a 70 % conversion rate is a fantastic result for a virtual event . It would be great to get an industry benchmark for conversion rates so we can truly understand what good looks like .
Do later registrations have a higher conversation rate , as is the case with live events ?
LAURA SHAPIRO : “ I have reviewed the registration data and , for us , there is no correlation between later registrations having higher conversion rates . The 29 % of ‘ no shows ’ were evenly split between early bookers ( eight weeks out ) and late bookers ( one to two weeks out ). Some 44 % of no shows booked within two weeks of the event going live .
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