On the hunt for engaging event ideas to electrify your next virtual meetup? You’ve come to the right place. Virtual events are great for building connections worldwide and fostering genuine bonds even when apart. We all know that engagement is the heart and soul of any event, but let’s be honest: events feel a bit stale if they are not hosted creatively. That’s why we have created a list of 20+ virtual event engagement ideas to keep your attendees engaged throughout. From social media walls to virtual trade shows, we guide you through crafting unforgettable online experiences that captivate and connect your audience at a greater level.
20+ Unique Ideas For Virtual Event Engagement
A successful event takes a lot of preparation behind the scenes, but what happens on D-day is what the audience remembers. Here are 20+ virtual event engagement ideas to ensure your virtual event goes woohoo!
Live Polls and Quizzes
Live polls and quizzes keep your audience engaged and provide instant feedback. One industry survey confirmed that 81.8% of virtual event planners use live polling and interactive quizzes to boost virtual engagement.
You can ask attendees to share their thoughts on several topics related to the event, host fun quizzes, or ask for their valuable feedback. This helps you, as a brand, understand what your audience thinks of your event, which will help you better set up your next event.
Virtual Networking Lounges
Virtual networking lounges are virtual spaces where attendees can meet and discuss topics of interest to them. With virtual networking lounges, event attendees can catch up with other like-minded people at your conference, allowing participants to meet and create connections. Even without physically interacting, attendees can make potential contacts and gain valuable insights from others in their field.
Must Read:- Your Go-to Virtual Networking Event Guide For The Year 2024
Speed Networking
Speed networking is a structured virtual event engagement idea that allows participants to have brief, one-on-one conversations with multiple people quickly. It is a structured way to meet many professionals in a short amount of time. The purpose of speed networking is to encourage participants to make as many connections as possible. Attendees can expand their network, learn about new industries, find jobs, enhance their business opportunities, and gain insights from other professionals.
Gamification
Gamifying your event can turn your routine virtual event attendee engagement into fun and challenging, leaving attendees with an unforgettable experience. You can host fun trivia, quizzes, and memory games. Gamification is not merely a fun addition to events; it is a powerful tool with numerous advantages that can significantly enhance the overall event experience of the attendees. Here are some of the gamification examples:
- Virtual Happy Hour: Virtual happy hours are social events held during virtual events to have fun and build connections with attendees. Some of the virtual happy hour ideas include bingo games, happy hour trivia, and the question game.
- Networking Bingo: Networking bingo is an engaging icebreaker activity in which attendees receive a bingo card with different activities written on it. This virtual engagement idea sparks engagement and enhances the attendees’ virtual networking experience.
- Social Media Wall Challenges: A social media wall challenge is the best virtual event engagement idea because it helps you collect much user-generated content. Various virtual event engagement tools are available that can help you showcase your content on social media walls engagingly. For example, Social Walls by Tagbox comes with various interactive features and themes that can help you showcase your content attractively on social media walls.
Must Read: Social Media Virtual Event : Engage Your Audience Virtually
Virtual Trade Show
The virtual trade show is an online version of an event where goods and services are exhibited and sold virtually. Taking your trade shows online opens up the opportunity for things like virtual product launches and reaching new partners globally.
This effective trade show idea can take place in a wide variety of industries, such as healthcare, technology, and customer trade shows. Each one is based on a different industry, objectives, and other factors. Virtual trade shows are sustainable, save costs, and help collect data and metrics easily.
Live Q&A with Speakers
Q&A sessions are the unicorn of virtual events, allowing attendees to engage directly with speakers or panelists. These sessions provide a dynamic exchange of ideas, enabling attendees to seek clarification and gain deeper insights into the event’s content. They create a sense of involvement and ownership in the learning process and enrich the educational experience, ensuring that participants understand the topic entirely and pay full attention to it.
Interactive Workshops
You can offer hands-on workshops or interactive sessions during your virtual events to engage actively with your audience. Offer workshops that teach valuable skills to your attendees and give them practical takeaways that guide them. You can even host collaborative projects during your virtual workshop so your attendees can work together on common projects and challenges online. This approach can help users learn from each other and create a sense of online community.
Leaderboards
Leaderboards showcase your live results and moments on the virtual screen, which builds excitement during your virtual event. For example, when you host a competition or a challenge, you can showcase live results through interactive leaderboards. This helps boost engagement and interaction, thus keeping attendees engaged throughout the event.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt
A virtual scavenger hunt is an interactive virtual event attendee engagement idea in which participants complete tasks based on a list or by solving clues. It is one of the best team-building activities for enhancing the experience of your virtual attendees. Virtual scavenger hunts are good for team building because attendees will create exciting memories together.
Must Read:- Event Gamification: 18 Best Event Gamification Ideas (With Benefits & Examples) for 2024
Live Streaming Behind-the-Scenes
Live streaming has revolutionized the way events are experienced. With growing technology, it has become very popular to live stream behind the scenes of virtual events. This creates a sense of authenticity and trusteeship that engages your virtual audience. For example, you can showcase preparations, tech setups, or candid moments with guest speakers to offer a glimpse of behind the scenes of your virtual event.
Virtual Show & Tell
People love sharing their experiences, so host a virtual show-and-tell during a virtual event to improve attendee communication. You can create such an event by asking for a specific type of picture and giving attendees time to share their stories related to the picture. Another example is asking attendees to share their best holiday moments, favorite vacations, etc.
Interactive Event App
A mobile event app or conference app is a mobile application designed specifically for virtual events, conferences, or meetings. Interactive event apps for virtual events have become indispensable tools for creating immersive and engaging experiences for attendees. These interactive apps provide great engagement features, convenience, and networking opportunities. Event apps also provide insightful analytics to optimize your next virtual event.
Themed Virtual Backgrounds
Themed virtual backgrounds are digital screens that can be used in virtual events to create an immersive experience for your audience. These backgrounds keep things interesting and showcase your event in a visually appealing and professional way. Themed virtual backgrounds can be a small but powerful part of creating professional and engaging interactions.
Breakout Sessions
A breakout session is a short meeting where participants of a larger virtual meeting have more detailed discussions in a smaller group. The group hears what the participants have to say, and the conference coordinators may collect their comments to use them in broader discussions. These sessions can occur in person or virtually to allow meaningful discussions in a small group. Breakout sessions are beneficial as attendees may feel more comfortable participating in a smaller group rather than a larger group.
Digital Swag Bags
Digital swag bags are virtual gift bags companies send to customers or event attendees. They may consist of virtual items, such as video content,e-gift cards, etc. Virtual swag bags offer a variety of benefits, which makes them appealing to both event attendees and brands.
Live Polling for Event Decisions
Live polling is an interactive virtual event engagement idea that allows attendees to participate in event decisions through real-time surveys or polls. It not only boosts event engagement but is also great for gathering feedback about your event. Social Walls by Tagbox allows attendees to share their opinions and feedback through its interactive polls and quizzes. Its studio feature helps you utilize other interactive features such as leaderboards, QRs, etc.
Must Read:- How to Host a Virtual Event – A Step-by-Step Guide
Celebrity or Influencer Appearances
Celebrity or influencer appearances in your virtual event build excitement and keep your attendees excited throughout the event. Brands often use this approach to enhance their event interaction and engagement. They also promote their products or services during the event with the help of celebrity or influencer endorsement. They can help you differentiate your brand from your competitors on the edge of a highly competitive market.
Conclusion
Now that you have many ideas for boosting virtual event engagement, it’s time to take action. Virtual event engagement plays an important role in enhancing business awareness and elevating networking opportunities. Implementing these virtual event engagement ideas can effectively boost results and improve your upcoming events. Whether you choose to implement one of these event engagement ideas or all of them, working with them will surely help you create an unforgettable experience for your attendees.
