Award Ceremony Ideas For Your Virtual, Hybrid & Live Audience

Going virtual has become a new trend among event organizers. That is because having an event on a virtual stage exposes it to a new audience on the global level. 

Having a virtual award ceremony can be a massive ROI for you. You do not need large halls or spaces with lesser to no physical marketing involved, and most importantly, no lengthy guest accommodation. 

You can get your favourite guests to attend the virtual event as they will find participating from the comfort of their homes better. But the only issue is keeping the audience engaged, as sitting in front of the screen can be a little overwhelming for them.

Keeping all this in mind, how can you make sure that your virtual award ceremony becomes a success? 

Here are some best practices and ideas for you to consider:

Best Practices For A Successful Award Ceremony

1. Choose The Right Virtual Platform

Choosing the right platform for your virtual award ceremony can be a little tricky as there are many platforms out there, and compatibility is crucial. Minor details are also important to consider since even a small glitch can forge the audience experience and make them drift away.

Choose a device-friendly platform because when we talk about bringing our virtual awards ceremony, many people will watch it. Not all of them will have access to a PC or a laptop. Choose the best virtual event platform that works with mobile devices and can function in low internet connectivity.

Another thing to consider is what built-in features do these platforms offer. Features like chatbox, quizzes, surveys, Q&A modules, gamification, social walls, interactive virtual assets, etc., are must-haves in every virtual platform.

2. Incorporate The Social Wall

A social wall or social media wall displays content collected from different social media platforms. The content can be user-generated, branded content, influencer content, or other social media content; collected with your branded hashtag, handle, mention, tags, etc.

A social media wall has proven to be a great success and engagement booster for many virtual events. When you display user-generated content on your social media wall, your attendees get encouraged to post about you using your branded hashtag. It increases your social presence and creates awareness for your virtual awards gala. 

Taggbox Display provides you with a unique and engaging social media wall. They make the moderation and customization process easy for you to display the best quality content from different social media platforms (15+) all on one single wall. Along with the social media content, Taggbox Display also provides the STUDIO feature that allows you to incorporate infotainment apps to keep the audience informed and engaged. 

3. A Space For Sponsors

Have you ever heard about an award ceremony without its sponsors? So why miss them out for your Virtual awards function? While traditionally, the MOC announces the names of some of your most promising sponsors, you can also display their logos on various digital screens.

We talked about the engaging social media wall that you use to keep the audience hooked throughout the event. You can also give your sponsors a space on the social wall by displaying their content along with yours. That way, you will be introducing your sponsors to your audience.

With the promising results social walls give, your sponsors will gain the benefits and will always be ready to sponsor you for your future events.

4. Live Stream On Social Media

You must be thinking that you are already having a virtual award ceremony accessible for everyone, then what is the need for streaming it on social media? Well, then you have completely underestimated the power of social media. 

You can have a virtual award ceremony and share its link with potential attendees. But the number is limited. We don’t even know if all the people we have shared the link with will attend the virtual awards gala. With social media, you don’t have to worry about all that.

Live streaming the virtual gala ceremony will create a social presence for you with maximum audience presence. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram provide free live streaming options so, it can be the perfect ROI opportunity for you. 

5. Have An Engaging Opening Sequence

Virtual Award Ceremony is similar to watching an award show on TV. It is necessary to have a first good impression on the viewers. It can become a deciding factor for them as to whether they stay longer or not.  

Have something like an opening or title sequence for the viewers that intrigues the attendees and generates curiosity, keeping them hooked throughout the virtual award function. 

Choose eye-catching graphics and background music that would appeal to the audience. Unleash the themes and colors of your virtual award gala. You can take the ideas from the famous Oscar and Grammy awards.

6. A Professional Master Of Ceremonies

The award ceremony moderator is known as the master of ceremonies as they are the wheel of the entire virtual award show that helps the ceremony move smoothly.

Choose a MOC wisely. You can also have auditions before the actual event to make sure you choose an entertaining person who can keep the audience alive and entertained throughout the virtual year-end party.

A professional moderator can go a long way from moving the program along and moving from one award to the next with all the fillers that will keep your audience engaged, even if they are sitting at their homes.

7. Keep The Show Short & Tightly Scripted

When you plan for a Virtual Annual ceremony and want to keep the audience’s perspective in mind, think of an award show broadcasting on TV. 

We all have found ourselves getting distracted while watching a lengthy TV award show. And when it is an immensely loved award show like the Grammy, we have also found ourselves frozen in front of the TV.

Give your virtual award show attendees a reason to stay longer. You want to capture their attention, and it can only happen through engagement and an award ceremony script that is fast-flowing. It will ensure that they don’t drift off during the hybrid & virtual award ceremony.

8. Pre-film Ceremony Content

A virtual awards gala is live, and glitches are more likely to happen when everyone has to be spontaneous. And as the virtual award show is accessible to the global audience, it becomes necessary to look for solutions to avoid awkward situations.

Consider pre-filming the acceptance speeches, similar to when you’re watching the Oscars or Grammys. You don’t want your winners to go on and on while giving the acceptance speech. 

Film some content in advance and edit it so that it is short enough to keep the audience engaged because that is the ultimate goal. You can also film some of the performances or fillers in advance to avoid any mistakes.

9. Include Graphics & Transitions 

One way to keep your attendees intrigued is through the visuals. When you include graphics and transitions between slides, these work as visual cues that help keep the audience engaged throughout the virtual award function.

You can also consider using games and trivia between the virtual award ceremony. There are a few apps that you or your moderator can use so that the attendees can be more attentive.

Run trivia in between the ceremony, with the MOC reminding the attendees to participate as the winners will be announced by the end, and they will win some goodies or hampers. It will improve the audience engagement like never before.

Now that you know about some of the best practices for a successful hybrid & virtual award ceremony, here are some pros and cons you must consider.

The Pros & Cons List Of Organizing A Virtual Awards Ceremony

Pros

• A 100% attendance as the virtual award ceremony comes to your home you don’t have to go anywhere;

• No need to worry about guest accommodations;

• No extra travel, venue, or food expenses;

• Many opportunities to keep the audience engaged;

• Give your virtual awards ceremony global exposure;

• Can be recorded smoothly without placing cameras at different locations and angles, giving you content for future marketing campaigns;

Cons

• Lesser face-to-face communications;
• Attendees can get distracted;
• Doesn’t have the charm and glamour of a physical awards gala;

Everything has its pros and cons. But, if you acquire the best practices we mentioned above, you can turn your cons into your pros and have a perfect virtual awards ceremony. 

Over To You

A Virtual award function is not just about distributing awards; it is more than that. It is what happens between the award distributions that keep the audience engaged. 

We come to the end of this blog with the hope that these ideas and best practices for a successful virtual award show turn out to be helpful for you, making your Hybrid & virtual award ceremony a hit. 

So! Why are we waiting? Ask your attendees to take out their best gowns and coats with their shiny shoes, and be ready to have a virtual award gala better than any other physical one.