Creating Successful Nonprofit Virtual Event Experiences
Online events have been trending, especially since the pandemic hit. With 93% of event professionals planning to invest in virtual events in the coming future, the trend is expected to continue. Virtual experiences, however, need to be intentionally planned. This means that there has to be a clear set of goals in mind while planning and executing them. While marketing your cause will help you grow your audience, creating a plan with clear intentions will lead to a successful virtual event.
You can begin by having the following areas sorted:
Target Audience: Who is your virtual event targeting? How tech-savvy is your audience?
Goal: What is the motive behind hosting a virtual event? Increasing visibility? Raising funds? Connecting with your online community?
Timeline: When do you plan to have your event? Will there be an issue with different time zones?
Now that you have your purpose, you can now move on to anchoring the plan and the implementation. Think about the people that you are bringing together. Think beyond the traditional. If possible, pick a conversation theme or a topic for your event that aligns with your goals and mission. Start driving a conversation on social media platforms and other communication channels such as emails and newsletters. Make sure that your audience can connect to the virtual ecosystem that you’re creating. The more well-connected you are with your community, the greater the impact of your virtual event will be. Remember, impact also comes out of authenticity—be real in all your interactions.
Let’s look at five additional tips for creating a successful nonprofit virtual event.
1.Pick the right platform/tool.
There are multiple fundraising platforms that also offer virtual event hosting. If you are a nonprofit that hasn’t signed up with a platform, identify your requirements and do your research now. With many platform providers, you get a whole team dedicated to helping you with your cause and mission—and not just with the implementation of their tools, but assistance on monitoring of results as well. As you consider your options, review all the features that you should look for in an ideal online fundraising platform.
2. Get your staff ready.
Assigning and reviewing detailed roles and responsibilities for each event team member is critical. Train your staff to be ready for any kind of situation that may arise, and ensure everyone knows their role well in advance of your virtual event. For example, one person among your audience might ask a question. In order to address that, assign one or two of your employees to continuously monitor the chat and all the incoming queries.
Having an on-site tech is also a must so they can troubleshoot any system mishap. Brief your staff on the working of the platform and its features at least two weeks before the actual event. It’s a good idea to do a practice run of your event to work out any kinks. You can also brainstorm with your staff and come up with strategies to retain your donors through your event.
3. Fuel your event.
Incorporate a variety of activities into your event to keep it fresh and exciting. Small ancillary break-out sessions or revenue-generating games that complement the main attraction are a great way to expand your event.
For example, at a conference-type event, to get nonprofit leaders to have a knowledge transfer session you can generate thought leadership and allow your audience to ask questions too. The topic you pick for conversation can be centered on your mission and cause. For some fun, create a slot for games and trivia. As long as your questions are related to a cause that both your nonprofit and its audience feel strongly about, there is a higher chance that the latter will donate.
4. Offer engagement.
To perfectly execute your next virtual event, make it easy to interact and engage. Every virtual event should incorporate these three easy-to-use features for attendees:
Offer a direct donate button with options to give via modern giving tools such as online and mobile giving.
Make sure that all your chat and question windows and features are enabled and working.
Have share buttons so that your audience can talk about your event in the moment.
Prior to your event, it is ideal to publish tutorials on how to use the platform that you’ve chosen—this can be in the form of videos or infographics. Help your audience so that they can help you.
5. Prioritize rehearsals.
Have multiple run-throughs of your event. This will help you identify any area where you’ll need to improve the quality of your tool or coordination within your team. A seamless experience will show your audience how much you value them.
Create tutorial videos on how your audience can join your event. Post the same on your website, social media, and emails.
If there are people who would prefer to be taught manually, offer to do so.
Keep your technical team in place even through the event.
Even when your virtual event is done, your work is not. Follow-up engagement is an important part of every virtual event. Make sure that you send a thank-you email to all the attendees, addressing each of them by their first names, and be sure to share information about the success of the event giving the credits to their support. Apart from emails, there are many other creative ways to thank your supporters. All you need to do is explore and get experimental. Also, asking for feedback will give you insight into needed improvements for your next virtual event. Communication is key, so keep them updated with the outcome of your event as well!
About the Author:
Vish Vass, Senior Vice President and Managing Director at GiveCentral, believes in helping to perfect the act of giving. In the process of helping nonprofits fulfill their mission through the power of GiveCentral, Vass has acquired extensive knowledge that he loves to share with fellow professionals. Modernizing nonprofit fundraising with the use of technology is his core focus, as blending with the trends helps in bringing about necessary growth.
Connect with Vish Vass on LinkedIn!
