Make your virtual internal events more engaging with these pro tips

As more organizations move to a hybrid workplace, it’s likely that the future of internal events will be mainly virtual.

For many communicators, it’s more challenging to plan and organize events virtually than in-person. Especially now that many of us suffer from zoom exhaustion and fatigue.

So how do you encourage employee participation? How to engage with the audience? And what are the best practices?

In this blog post, we’ll share 4 tips that help communicators to create successful internal events.

First and foremost: make sure that everyone can join your event without any hassle. Consider your employees’ preferences including how, when, and where they are going to join the event.

First is the question of how. Are your employees joining the event via mobile, desktop, or in person? Provide employees and speakers with the right technology and tools so that everyone has easy and smooth access to the event.

Secondly, when are they joining it? Live or on-demand? This reflects the flexibility of your workplace. We don’t have to always ask people to join it live. You still can have a very good participation and engagement rate through on-demand events. If the event brings value to the attendees, people will come back to you with questions and thoughts.

Lastly, where are they participating in the event? In-person or remote? Undoubtedly, there are many advantages of remote events, including no travel expense, flexibility for employees, no limit to the number of participants, etc.

Most of us are time-poor. We really don’t have time for whole-day events, especially if they are virtual. People will be incredibly tired if they have to look at their screen for too long. Their attention will thus fade away.

Consider running your events in bite-sized chunks, dividing the content into more sectioned areas to maximize employee participation and engagement.

You also need to work closely with the speakers and coach them on how to make their message concise and how to deliver it in an authentic and engaging way.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of pre- and post-event communication. It helps to build excitement, increase participation and of course maximize engagement.

Involve your employees in the process, ask them what they need or what they want to talk about and design the content based on their needs. This will give your employees a sense of belonging and being heard. They will be more engaged and involved in the event.

Also, remember that the event doesn’t end when it’s done. It’s important to continue the conversation after the event and make sure things are followed up accordingly.

Many communicators are stressed about how to ensure their event runs smoothly. We all want to deliver a top-notch event experience for everyone including employees, speakers, and management. So it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with those expectations.

Modern technology and tools are a great help with this. It’s great if your organization has them. However, in the end, people are more interested in the purposes and the values these events bring.

So, don’t stress about the event production. Instead, spend your time working on the content and on how to make the experience authentic and meaningful.

Learn more about Involv intranet and how it can help to improve your internal communication. Schedule your free demo.

(image: Freepik)