The biggest lesson I’ve learned about platforms after 600+ virtual events? Stop hiding from the I.T. crowd.
As Head of Technology, I routinely investigate every major virtual platform. Things are changing so fast right now that even after 12 years, I’m learning something new every hour of every day. But here’s some advice that I think will stay relevant no matter what happens next:
Stop hiding from I.T. It’s all too tempting to keep your virtual platform choice under the radar from the nay-sayers in I.T. But trust me, you will get caught out. And probably at the last minute. By the time you do, it’ll cost you tens of thousands to fix the problem you’ve created. So, do yourself a favour and start romancing your IT partners right from the outset.
Stay honest about what you know and what you don’t know about event platforms. Especially while the world of virtual is changing so fast, really examine the skills you have in your team. Here’s my checklist of key experience you need:
- Technical: Security, compliance, scalability, business integration
- User experience: Audience research, user stories, journey mapping
- Project management: End-to-end project management, logistics, budgeting
People have two screens, don’t try to fight it. Realistically, you have zero control over whether they pick up their phones, so why not make them an extension of your event platform? For your attendees, it feels more fun than just sitting at the desktop they’ve been sitting at for months. Here’s some great examples of getting it right:
- Blippar and OnePlus combined to create the world’s first product launch entirely in AR. It’s set a new AR benchmark and it’s brilliant.
- QR codes can be fun... I love the fun use of to trigger exploration in VW’s new Smallest Dealership campaign.
- Poll Everywhere is one of the leaders in mobile polling. They’ve a great example of using polling to judge audience mood and identify content gaps.
Own the details. With huge user growth, development and recruitment happening at break-neck speed, relying on your platform provider to know everything about their platform and perfectly manage delivery is risky. You and your event agency need to be all over the details. Here’s some common risk areas I see:
- Logistics: It may be a virtual event, but there’s still a boat-load of detail to be sorted: Agendas, times zones, content strategy, content targeting, user groups, user permissions, presenter training, rehearsals...the list goes on!
- Content: A fancy platform is great, but if it isn’t full of compelling content, your audience won’t stick around.
- Networking: The ability to network face to face has rudely been taken away from us. What’s your strategy to ensure attendees get those ‘walking the hallway’ moments?
If you’re considering developing your own platform, think very, very carefully. There’s an amazing selection out there already, and since March some have raised funding in the hundreds of millions. It’s tough to measure up to dedicated platforms with large teams of full-time specialist developers. You can white label most of them, so do you really need to create your own?