Flagship events and those that are celebratory in nature are perfect vehicles to get together in person. But what happens after that event is over? How do you maintain momentum and foster those relationships? How do you develop a communications and meeting strategy that effectively enables your organization’s broader goals?
Provide continuity in bringing your community together with virtual meetings and events.
Combining both virtual and in-person meetings in your strategy helps your organization think longer term. By augmenting your flagship in-person events with virtual, you can keep your community alive and nourished.
Virtual meetings boost efficiency and frequency.
By removing the roadblocks of availability, costs, and personal desire to be on the road, your community can get together more often. Do you need to amplify important messages in a timely manner? Travel costs and logistics may prevent your community from gathering quickly. You also have the flexibility for shorter meetings without inconvenience.
Virtual meetings can be sub-groups of larger in-person events.
Think of it like multiple tracks of a conference. Your conference may gather individuals who are part of a specific industry or company, but within that, there are specialties and particular interests. Your participants are now hyper-focused and ready to learn and engage. You are allowing more space to have people actively participate in a 20-person virtual meeting versus a 600-person ballroom.
Virtual meetings create lasting brand equity.
With the ability to create a digital space for complementary content, you have greater control in telling your company story. Virtual meetings can be recorded and archived to provide continuity and showcase themes. You also have more opportunity to develop and reinforce the identity of your community. For example, with greater meeting efficiencies, you can be known as having the “best speakers” or the “most impressive roster” in the industry. Participants will want to become part of your community.
Further enhance the community experience in your virtual events.
The ability to enhance community with virtual meeting technology is possible today, but largely untapped. How do you create space for people to interact? Consider the following:
- Microsites. Community members can visit your microsite to view updates, historical presentations and materials in addition to your calendar of future events with registration options. By creating a digital resource destination, you are providing an anchor point for your community.
- Interactivity and Engagement. Create continual engagement in your community with a call for topics or speakers for future events. Pre-event, invite members to submit questions ahead of time. Think about also offering live polling along with a Q&A session for an even more engaging and personal environment. Informal interviews or fireside chats allow attendees to learn about the speaker or company in a more intimate setting. For larger virtual events, expert use of breakout room enables quickly formed smaller group conversations.
- Professionally Managed Meetings. Virtual meetings are a great opportunity to develop your brand. A professionally managed virtual meeting partner will understand these objectives and can help amplify your messages with an easy-to-use platform supported by managed services. If the experience is seamless, participants will be able to spend more time chatting, and less time worrying about technology, further reinforcing your brand.
With the right partner, adding virtual meetings as part of your strategy supports your community augmentation efforts. Your flagship in-person event combined with a thoughtful virtual strategy to develop and nurture the community you are building has a synergistic effect and will add value in a cost effective and impactful way. Interested in exploring more? Contact OpenExchange to delve into the right meeting strategy for your organization.