The EventProfs Virtual Attendee Wish List

I’m here in Chicago gearing up for Event Camp. Tomorrow, I’ll be your virtual host for Event Camp and moderating a session called Thinking of Your Virtual Audience: An Open Discussion. With the input of many folks in the #eventprofs community, I put together a wish list of elements that make for a successful virtual/hybrid event. Below is the culmination of that input. I invite you to join us virtually for Event Camp tomorrow and Sunday and contribute to the discussion.  You can register for free at http://bit.ly/ecncvirtual.

1.  The virtual audience wishes to be able to participate and interact in real time with the face-to-face audience and one another, to extend our learning and build camaraderie within our community.  We want to join and leave conversations as on-site attendees do, to be able to have “side conversations” with several virtual and face-to-face attendees outside of the general chat stream.

2.  The virtual audience wishes for a virtual host and tech moderator, someone who is a touch point for the virtual attendees. We wish for a person that is on-site, reaching out to us, encouraging and sustaining our participation with direct interaction, someone to ask questions and give comments to the presenter on our behalf (giving a voice to our tweets).  This person will engage us when there is an on-site activity that we cannot participate in.  They will give us custom content specifically designed for the virtual audience, including interviews and a “behind the scenes” look at the room to show us what we are missing (show us, don’t tell us).

3.  The virtual audience wishes for great content and transparent technology (audio is clear, video is clean, and the presentation visuals can be seen). Don’t give us a reason to check our email.

4.  The virtual (and face-to-face) audience wishes to have speakers that can deliver their content effectively to keep us from falling asleep in our chairs.  Please stop punishing us with painful panel discussions that we can’t engage with (a Q&A at the end doesn’t cut it).

5.  The virtual audience wishes to have a virtual environment or platform that is easy to understand and navigate, where we can find the content we need, listen to the speaker deliver his/her presentation, and interact with other attendees.

6.  The virtual audience wishes to have the availability of a dedicated Twitter stream (hashtag) and a real person moderating it.

7.  The virtual audience wishes to have clear start and break times for our virtual attendance (virtual agenda).  We don’t want to miss out on participating in something that was setup and broadcast just for us.

These are our wishes…   But realize there will be more.

What are your wishes as a virtual attendee of a conference or webinar?

Special thanks to Lara McCulloch (@ready2spark), Mike McCurry (@michaelmccurry), Mike McAllen (@mmcallen), Greg Ruby (@GregRuby), Adrian Segar (@ASegar), Christina Stallings (@MsStallings), Vanessa LaClair, Heidi Thorne (@heidithorne), Tahira Endean (@TahiraCreates), Christina Coster (@MizCity), Joan Eisenstodt (@JoanEisenstodt), Deb Roth (@PinkDeb), Midori Connolly (@GreenA_V), and Jeff Hurt (@JeffHurt) for contributing to this wish list.  You guys ROCK!!!

Known as the “Voice of Meetings & Events”, Glenn Thayer is a host for live and televised events. He specializes in hybrid meetings, conference moderation and strategic content delivery. He can be contacted at glennthayer.com or @glennthayer on Twitter.

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