8 ways to get the most value out of a virtual conference.
Are virtual conferences worth attending? 8 ways to get the most value out of a virtual conference.
Whether we want to accept this or not, virtual conferences are a part of our lives for the foreseeable future. We can keep trying to pretend that attending via laptop is all just a temporary bad dream but I believe many conference attendees and organizers have realized there’s some value in having this option. Enter the hybrid conference model, which I’m a big fan of. This year I have been lucky enough to attend the podcasting conference, Podcast Movement in person, and I’m getting ready to attend and speak at She Podcasts Live this week!
However, many of you have decided to only attend virtually, and this is a respectable choice. But there are several people in my circle who are not “fans” of the virtual ticket, citing a “lack of value” from this option. I confess that I’m in that latter camp. Until this week, when I started wondering if there’s a way to actually gain value from attending a virtual/hybrid conference, and if so, how does someone attending get the most out of their experience, and what can organizers do to help?
Let’s begin with the attendee experience. If you’re thinking about attending a hybrid conference from the comfort of your home or office, here’s how you can get the most value out of your virtual ticket.
MAKE THE TIME TO ATTEND. This is the most critical part of a successful virtual conference experience. It’s very easy to use your time at the conference to work on other things and multitask while you “listen” to the sessions in the background. I know all about this temptation, I’ve only ever done it this way. But guess what? This is how you end up wasting your time and money. If you want to get the most value out of a virtual conference, YOU HAVE TO ATTEND THE CONFERENCE. So ask your boss, partner, colleagues and family to respect your conference time. Schedule those out of office replies, block out your schedule and put your phone on vibrate during the sessions. Set the intention to be present at this conference like you would for any other video call. You wouldn’t answer a phone call or take a client meeting during an in-person event, so why would you do it during your virtual conference?
SET A VIEWING AREA. Choose a location to “attend” the conference. This can be your home office, spare bedroom, your own bedroom or even the living room. If you don’t live alone, I highly suggest that your area has a door to it… hello kids interrupting!
GET DRESSED! I’m talking pants without a drawstring, a nice shirt or your favorite power suit. The sky is the limit here! It will make you feel inspired, and more invested in the experience. My favorite thing to do when I need a power boost in my WFH life is put on a pair of Jimmy Choo heels that I rarely wear anymore. Yes, shoes are my thing, don’t judge me. I wear them while I sit on my desk chair and I don’t care that nobody else knows I’m wearing them, because I know ;-).
ATTEND WITH A FRIEND. I’m a part of several online podcasting groups and I know people are often connecting there to work on projects together. This gave me an idea… why not use these groups to also connect with fellow virtual attendees so we could all discuss sessions, and meet up for virtual lunch or coffee during the conference? We’re all usually more accountable when there are other people invested in our projects. Another option is to form a group inside your organization with fellow colleagues attending virtually. As a bonus, your small group of conference buddies could connect with someone who attends in person, and have that individual text the rest of the group updates, and live photos. When I attended Podcast Movement in August, I did a live call for our BIPOC Podcast Creators community on Facebook, and people really appreciated this. It definitely helped them feel more connected to the event.
ORDER YOUR LUNCH. Treat yourself with the money you’re saving on travel and order some takeout to be delivered at the time of your session breaks and use some of your meal times to lunch with your fellow virtual attendees. Refer back to my group idea above.
TAKE BREAKS. In the words of rapper Mase, BREATHE, STRETCH, SHAKE, LET IT GO. Take a mid-day walk, or even a stroll down to another room in your home so you don’t get cabin fever.
GET FANCY AND GO TO A HOTEL OR AIRBNB. Now I have to disclose that this is not my original idea, I heard of a woman who is doing this for She Podcasts Live this year and I started wondering how this would work if it were me doing it. So here’s what I envision… If you can swing this, take the money you saved on the airfare and spend one of the conference days in your favorite hotel. Yes, go ahead and put that comfy robe on, you deserve it because you’re one smart cookie and probably snagged one of those “staycation” deals for locals. Just make sure the hotel has a strong internet connection. To level it up, bring an HDMI cable along to view it all on the bigger screen. I’ve done this, it just requires asking the hotel staff to bring in the special remote to access the other inputs. Now just sit back and enjoy your conference without interruptions, because the only person knocking at your door should be the room service attendant.
NETWORK! NETWORK! NETWORK! But how, if you’re virtual? Repeat step #4. But you should also make note of the sessions you enjoy the most and connect with those speakers IMMEDIATELY after their session. Tweet them, or tag them on IG. Send them a DM on LinkedIN, and lead with what you enjoyed from their session. Show them you are paying attention! Ask them for a virtual coffee after the conference, and actually Venmo them the cost of the coffee! No matter who they are, I promise you, they will remember you for this.
Now let’s talk about what conference organizers can do to help virtual ticket holders have a better experience.
STREAM ALL SESSIONS. I know this is a pain and not always possible, but I truly believe that if we want more people to attend the virtual way, we have to give them a better experience. This includes streaming all the sessions live. Most people forget to go back and watch the recorded sessions, I’m including myself in that category. And like I said before, we find value in watching live because we can connect with the speakers and other people attending faster.
REQUIRE SPEAKERS TO ACCEPT LIVE TWEET QUESTIONS. How hard would it be to ask every speaker to have a designated person take live questions from the virtual audience via twitter? I would love to be a pilot tester of this at She Podcasts Live, but my session is not being streamed live… ahem. However, I’ll try to convince some of my fellow speakers to attempt this and I’ll report back on social media if this happens.
OFFER EXCLUSIVE EXPERIENCES TO VIRTUAL ATTENDEES. Workshops, hot seats, open Q&A, coffee with a keynote, I have so many ideas and so little time. Call me if you run a conference and want me on your planning team!
DO A SPECIAL GIVEAWAY FOR EXTRA MOTIVATION. Encourage people to make connections by attending certain events where people can ask questions live via twitter, the person who participates in more twitter live Q&A’s wins a special microphone pack or something fancy like that. I admit this one requires more hashing out, but I think I’m onto something. Again…call me! :-)
I hope this list encourages anyone who’s been on the fence about attending a virtual or hybrid conference, to show up (well virtually) and get the most out of their experience. Let me know if you try any of these ideas, and connect with me if you’re attending She Podcasts Live, in-person or virtually.
Don’t miss my session Who You Talkin’ To? How To Develop A Meaningful Storytelling Framework, on October 16th at 10:10 A.M. PT.
This is what you'll walk away from this session feeling confident about and ready to build upon:
Nailing down your message strategy, so your listener knows exactly what to expect from you
Selecting topics that tie to your show's purpose, so you can truly serve your listener
Three ways to improve your interviewing skills, so you can get the good stuff
See you there! Or on the internet. :-)