Event Experience Design: Best tips to create a winning experience on a virtual conference software

The rise of online events has given ample opportunities to both event organizers and virtual conference software providers to learn what works the best for digital networking.

Although it has been months since virtual conferences are being planned and implemented; this is still a stressful time for virtual conference software providers as they have to constantly keep updating their product to provide the best user experience to the attendees.

Creating an engaging user experience brings the aspect of event experience design into picture which is the most crucial part determining the success of the event.

Unlike the physical event, organizers can host a virtual event on virtual event management software and make the best use of their creativity to incorporate digital content on the platform.

They can take great advantage from the digital content by structuring the overall design-line and implementing it throughout the event to create a better user experience and engage attendees.

Here is all that organizers need to know about event experience design

What is Event Experience Design?

Event experience design is a concept which essentially means designing an event keeping the needs and motivation of attendees in mind and following the same structure throughout the event. This includes structuring the concept as well as all the design elements.

Virtual Event Experience Design – Best Practices for Organizers

Having executed numerous events on our virtual conference software, we would like to share some learning and first hand experiences on the best practices to follow to create an event experience design.

Create an event website with simple UI

The process of attracting audiences begins way before the actual event. Your event website is looked upon as the teaser to the big picture that your virtual conference will be.

Overloading your event website with a bunch of information and widgets may complicate the process of ticketing and registration

 “An online event starts with a landing page, an invitation, and a registration page which then progresses to the payment page. So this entire process has to be simplified and it has to have a good user flow.

Even for the pre-event UX experience should be simple so much so that it encourages the attendees to click on the payment button and spend money to attend your event” – Pauline Kwasniak, Digital marketing strategist for MICE Industry

#EventTalks Podcast Episode 6 with Pauline Kwasniak

 Create a theme that streamlines your objective

Host a virtual conference where a theme is added to the event narrative. The right virtual event management software provides you with great opportunities to reflect your brand across the platform.

• Decide a coherent theme your event
• Focus on images and designs that convey the story of your event
• Design your event banners that reflect both your brand and optimizes your objective
• The theme designed for your image if used as a backdrop for on-going sessions and webinars – will add a recall value of your brand in attendees’ minds
• Here is a glimpse of how you can add value to event by adding a recurring theme to everything on a virtual event management software
• Thailand in View 2020 organized by Avia on our virtual conference software

Narrate a story

Adding a human centric approach to your events is never a bad idea. Not too many people/ attendees would be interested in long and back to back sessions.

• Think of  your event like an interesting movie with a beginning middle and end
• Set a brief opening ceremony which smoothly transits to live sessions
• The live sessions set on your event platform agenda should be set in a way that the upcoming session looks like an extension to the previous session
• If abiding by the previous point is a challenge for your event, then you can be prepared with slides, PowerPoint presentations and videos to add a smooth transition from one session to the other
• You can also encourage attendees to participate in various contests and gamification activities during these breaks

“If you are an event planner passionate about experience design, I would recommend learning about a concept called Design Thinking or otherwise known as human-centered design. Another famous concept is service delivery. Many product companies in current times are starting to make this shift into thinking about their company as a service” – Elizabeth Glau, Virtual Conference and Speaker Manager, ChickTech

#EventTalks Podcast Episode 5 with Elizabeth Glau

Dynamic live webinars

• The major reason why people prefer hosting virtual events rather than just setting up a webinar is the dynamic nature of virtual conference software.
• Many webinars can be hosted along-side on virtual conference software which allows attendees to interact with the speakers the way they would during a physical event.
• With the right technical support, you can enhance your event by adding background scores, thematic backgrounds and motion pictures within the webinar
• You can aid your speakers with display slides running along the screen with their presentations
• Adding a green screen(chroma screen) to the backdrop of the speakers at the webinars will also allow you to reflect your branding in the backdrop of the speakers

All of the above elements combined set up a delightful design experience.

Experience design for sure is the heart of successfully hosting a virtual conference and engaging attendees. Seemingly trivial on the surface level, they can determine the success of your virtual conference.

With the right virtual conference software you can bring your desired design experience to life along with branding your product/services effectively.

Try it for yourself. Request a demo!