5 Ways to Engage Virtually After Cancelled Events

In-person events are a key lead source for many B2B companies. COVID-19 has sent many marketers scrambling as events are being cancelled and cities are entering quarantine. More important than the budget loss is the loss of opportunities to generate leads, drive brand recognition, and create alignments. Don’t worry, you can continue to drive engagement with your customers and prospects when your physical events are cancelled!

Here are five tips to drive virtual engagement now and in the future.

Tip #1: Go Live

Sounds obvious, but not many event organizers are live streaming their events. Replace your in-person event with multiple live streams utilizing video conferencing platforms. This allows you to keep momentum of the event, so the participants stay engaged. Tip: Don’t just rely on presentation/slides or static document sharing during the call. Using video for these meetings makes a big difference and keeps the content interactive.

Tip #2: Schedule Virtual Event Panels & Discussions

Peer-to-peer interaction is a key benefit of in-person events. The opportunity to discuss business challenges and successes with others in your industry or in similar roles is extremely valuable. Schedule video round table discussions with your registrants, prepare questions (but no slides) and facilitate a video discussion. You can also incorporate polls, quizzes, team exercises, live Q&A sessions, or even online game sessions to increase engagement during the discussion.

Tip #3: Publish the Event Content Independently

Create a resource library to locate your content in one place and tailor it to your audience needs and preferences. For example, publish individual sessions as recorded content; share slideshow presentations on Slideshare; or use a content experience tool such as Uberflip to build content streams to share your content as a collection.

Tip #4: Leverage Online Chat

There are more than 2,000 Slack chat groups and communities. Slack is efficient, fast, more casual than email, and conducive to group discussions. Many enterprise companies are already using Slack today; creating a community for your event registrants provides a different event experience in a familiar platform. The key benefit to online chat is the engagement and connections can extend far beyond an in-person event.

Tip #5: Use Pre-recorded Videos

If live streaming isn’t an option, you can still create a captivating content experience through previously recorded videos. Give registrants on-demand access to your videos on your website to help to fill the void of the cancelled event.

In closing…

Missed events don’t have to mean missed revenue; innovation is key! If you are an Oracle Eloqua customer check out a few ways you can manage your events (virtual or in-person) in Eloqua.

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About the Author

Manar Asaya a Sr. Marketing Manager at Tegrita. With over a decade of global marketing experience, Manar specializes in setting marketing strategies and initiatives across various industries. She received her MBA from Heriot Watt University - Edinburgh Business School in the UK. Her experience has spanned between traditional to modern marketing and she believes in the power of effective content marketing.

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