Covid crisis has turned laptop screens and living spaces into live stages for artists. However, the economic benefit of such online events is yet to be seen. In the present situation, the musicians, dancers, and actors across the world and in India have quickly turned to online avenues —,Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Cloud-based websites, Zoom, and other live platforms— to showcase their skills and stay in touch with fans. 

Seeing your artist performing live is a special feeling but online channels are also trying hard to make the experience memorable and engaging on screens as well. 

Now the question arises on how to keep the audience glued during the virtual event. Here are some effective points to follow. 

 Virtual audiences demands:

·  Content — they want to be informed

·  Engagement — they want to be included

·  Event— the audience wants to be entertained

Make sure that people stay engaged along with organizers of virtual and hybrid events need to keep these demands at utmost priority during the planning and decision-making process.

Human Connection

A moderator should be assigned to ask questions from the audience, and both gather them for the speaker to answer and also respond directly to any incoming questions. The moderator can also encourage audience participation through these channels. 

Thoughtful Design and Approach

Virtual event presentations and designs go beyond content. Organizers and moderators should emphasize and encourage their virtual audiences to get involved throughout the course of the event, like pre-event and post-event. Create the buzz with polls and ask questions to audience to know more what they want and how they want.  PSL also suggests creatively adding dedicated multimedia content and engaging activities to help the virtual audience feel like they are absolutely a part of the virtual event.

Keep the Technical Team Ready

The organizers need to accommodate the audience with a feeling of comfort within a virtual event that can’t be stressed enough. Work with your platform organizer to make sure you communicate key technical and logistics information in advance and have a support team ready to assist the audience. If someone can’t log on or is having buffering issues that prevent them from watching or engaging with your content, you will lose them. If they are submitting questions and nobody is responding, they will feel ineffectual.

Be informed about Audience and Demographics

 Be informed about the audience demographics and equip them with tools they feel comfortable using to interact with you. Moreover, assign dedicated hosts or moderators for every tool that you are using to welcome the virtual audience, encourage them to utilize the tools, and make them feel comfortable doing so.

Last Words

The technology and the online platforms are just tools, Tools are not engaging. People are engaging. So any person involved in the virtual event must continually interact with the virtual audience.