Networking during an online event, how does that work on your event?

In today’s world, it is impossible to imagine the world without online events. Watching a webinar, conference or knowledge session at the kitchen table or on the couch has become almost ‘normal’. However, the biggest question for organizers of online events remains: how do I ensure that my participants connect with each other? Because that specific characteristic of an event sometimes seems hard to match online. We would like to give you a few basic tips.

Chat rooms and/or round tables.

If you are organizing an online event or conference, activate the live messaging or chat function: practically all event platforms have this functionality (if not, it’s not a good platform). In a chat room or at a round table, participants can talk to each other one-to-one or in plenary. Then it works as a kind of discussion forum. You can also use discussion leaders or moderators to drive the conversations in the chat rooms.

Plan meetings

One of the reasons to attend a conference or event is, of course, to gain knowledge, but networking and making interesting connections is often just as important for participants. Therefore, it is useful to make these meetings possible by means of a clear agenda or programme in which participants can plan their meetings.

Virtual lobby

In a virtual lobby, you can facilitate participants to get in touch with each other between sessions. You can also give them the opportunity to see the details and references of the speakers before they enter the live session. In any case, make it as easy as possible to make contact. In the virtual lobby, show your social media contacts, so participants can easily follow you and share their experience with your online event.

Gamification

By using interactive polls, games, quizzes or other playful elements, you not only increase the involvement of your participants, but you also give them something to talk about. And if you create a leaderboard, you also provide a bit of competition. You bet that this will be a topic of conversation in the virtual lobby or chat rooms!

Matchmaking

Make the list of participants public on the platform during the event and provide handy filters so people can easily find each other, for example on shared interests or fields of expertise. You can request this data during registration for access or send out a questionnaire prior to the event.

Would you like to Amplify your event as well? We would love to help you!