Stop Hosting Boring Online Events: 3 Ways to Improve Your Virtual Town Halls, All-Hands Meetings and Training Events

Stop Hosting Boring Online Events

2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Chapter 1: Do Away With the Static Slideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2: Enable Everyone to Contribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 3: Choose the Right Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 4: A New Kind of Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Overview

EVERY BUSINESS HOSTS company

and department meetings, global

training sessions and other large

events as a way for business leaders

to provide updates to the masses .

Employees want to be informed about

important company news, so they feel

part of something–the problem is they

aren’t engaged . Today’s online webcasting

platforms lack the ability to deliver a

dynamic experience that’s interactive and

interesting for everyone involved .

Studies show that the following components

can help to make an online event far more

successful:

1. Lots of visuals

2. Interesting and relevant content

3. A high degree of interaction

4. A passionate, energetic speaker

This ebook takes a look at how to break the

mold and host interactive online events that

engage your audience, keep their attention

and maximize impact .

ATTENTION IS FLEETING

According to the National Center

for Biotechnology Information, U.S.

National Library of Medicine, the

average attention span has decreased

to eight seconds (from 12 seconds

in 2000), which is shorter than the

9-second attention span of the

average goldfish.1

Stop Hosting Boring Online Events

3

Chapter 1: Do Away With the Static Slideshow

INNATELY, WE KNOW FACE-TO-FACE

conversations create a higher level of

understanding, but most times we revert

to what we know – the online slide

presentation . In a small team meeting, the

negative effects are minimized because

everyone on the call knows each other

well . When it’s a much larger-scale

presentation with designated speakers

and many viewers, adding a video

conferencing component goes a long

way toward creating a more personal

experience .

All of us have listened to dry company town

hall events or department meetings from

our desks—meetings characterized by static

PowerPoint® slides and disembodied voices .

As a viewer, are you really engaged? And if

you’re a speaker, don’t you want to create

a dynamc presentation that your audience

feels compelled to watch? Despite the

evidence for its effectiveness, fewer than

15% of online events use video .2 Much of the

reason is simply that businesses haven’t had

the right tools . The good news is, today, you

can easily organize and execute a video-

based event without giving up the content

sharing capabilities you’re used to .

When thinking about moving to an interac-

tive video format for large events and meet-

ings, here are some things to consider:

■ Choose someone interesting to deliver

the presentation – even better, have

a few speakers to keep the voice and

content fresh

■ Make sure the person presenting is in

a professional environment that’s quiet

and has a good internet connection –

everyone can see them after all, so they

might as well look and sound good .

■ Don’t forget about the content–even

with face-to-face communication, it

helps to have supporting content to

guide the discussion, whether that be

slides, video clips or something else .

WHY BE NORMAL

Fewer than 15% of webcasts use

video.2 Video-based events are a great

way to keep attendees interested and

set yourself apart.

Stop Hosting Boring Online Events

4

Chapter 2: Enable Everyone to Contribute

EVER BEEN WATCHING A COMPANY

meeting online and wished you could be

in the room to ask the perfect question or

make a suggestion? On the other side of

the spectrum, have you ever presented

to an online audience and wished you

could interact with them and hear what

they have to say? Everyone has a voice,

and a constant dialogue between business

leaders and employees is the only

way to communicate effectively within

an organization .

Today, there are platforms that allow at-

dees to be elevated from view-only mode

to a two-way video participant and con-

tribute information that makes the meeting

so much more interesting and engaging .

The presentation is no longer a one-way

lecture; it’s an interactive, multi-way discus-

sion . More can be shared and learned in

this type of open environment . Other ways

of helping your audience feel and stay en-

gaged with your meeting content include

providing forums and social media chan-

nels for further discussion .

Here are some ideas for encouraging your

audience to engage and contribute:

■ Choose a platform that enables

attendees to become part of the

discussion . When everyone can

participate on video by “raising a hand,”

the event becomes much more personal

and three-dimensional—like a town

hall meeting in which a microphone is

passed around for questions and input .

■ Offer additional interactivity via chat and

other features, to drive attendee interest

and maximize attendee time at your

event .

REACH A BROADER AUDIENCE

Using video conferencing software to

engage remote attendees is a great

way to maximize your investment in

events and reach a broader audience

at a fraction of the cost.

Stop Hosting Boring Online Events

5

Chapter 3: Choose the Right Platform

MANY VIDEO CONFERENCING AND EVENT

platforms are out there, but choosing the

right one depends on what capabilities

you want—and that goes back to audience

engagement . We’ve already talked about

ways to keep your audience interested

and engaged; now you need a platform

that delivers on those capabilities . You

should also choose a service provider with

experience hosting events and who can

provide the best possible technical support

to ensure your events run smoothly .

Some key considerations for choosing a

platform include:

■ Does the platform support enough

participants to meet your needs? Some

online services support only one or

two hundred while others support

thousands . Make sure you leave

yourself room to grow!

■ Is it easy to connect speakers from

anywhere in the world together on

video? Most events have a few speakers

and they often aren’t in the same place .

It should be easy for everyone to

connect into the video broadcast and

present together .

■ Can the platform support a highly

interactive experience? Some platforms

enable text chat and Q&A functionality,

but consider the value face-to-face

interactions between presenters and

viewers add to your event .

■ Can participants join the event from a

full range of video endpoints? Enabling

access from conference room systems,

computers and mobile devices removes

barriers to joining remotely .

■ Does the platform have robust controls?

Event moderators should be able to

maintain a controlled environment

using master controls . They should be

able to easily record the session, mute

participants, pin presenters, promote

attendees and pause/resume the event .

■ Does the solution provider offer meeting

assistance services and technical

support, to help you run your meeting

without a hitch?

PICK A PLATFORM THAT OFFERS

üü Large capacity support

üü Easy-to-use video capabilities

üü Audience participation

üü Seamless, anywhere access

üü Self-hosted and managed options

üü Robust moderator controls

üü Meeting assistance and support

bluejeans.com

Stop Hosting Boring Online Events

6

Chapter 4: A New Kind of Event

IT’S TIME TO START THINKING

differently about online events . Gone are

the days of talking slide decks and one-

way audio lectures blasted out to faceless

listeners . Start creating events that

support face-to-face interactions, during

which business and thought leaders can

engage directly with their audience—

whether employees, customers, followers

or fans .

Here are some things to remember:

■ Invite the right people: This is key . You

don’t want a bored, unengaged audi-

ence . There’s nothing worse than speak-

ing to people who don’t care . Make sure

you have the right group of attendees—

folks that will benefit from or can contrib-

ute to the event content and agenda .

■ Keep it interesting: How? With video,

interaction, visuals and variety . No death

by PowerPoint!

■ Re-use the content: Record your event

and make it available on-demand for

those who missed it . Promote the

recording to let your audience know it’s

available .

■ Have a clear agenda and purpose:

Careful planning and forethought will

help keep your speakers on track and

off of tangents .

■ Ask yourself: “If I had to watch this, what

would keep me engaged?” Then make

those things happen .

“ I believe in anything that will

engage the audience and make

the story more effective.”

J.J. Abrams, Television Producer and Filmmaker

© Blue Jeans Network, Inc.

516 Clyde Ave, Mountain View, CA 94043bluejeans.com

Start Engaging Your Audience with

Interactive Video Events Today

BLUE JEANS PRIMETIME merges the best of video

collaboration and streaming capabilities into a single, easy-to-

use platform . For more information, or to schedule a demo, visit

bluejeans.com/primetime or give us a call at (800) 403-9256 .

PRIMETIME OFFERS:

■ A dynamic video experience that engages viewers .

■ The ability for multiple presenters to connect and broadcast

from anywhere, including high-end conference room

cameras

■ Ease of use and setup .

■ Content and video sharing capabilities .

■ Face-to-face interactions with viewers who can transition to

become video participants .

■ The ability to give the Moderator complete control .

“ With over 3,000 yearly events, we have TEDx

organizers in every corner of the globe. Online video

is the perfect way for us to connect, and [Blue Jeans

Primetime] is making it possible for us to do this in

large groups like never before.”

Alex Rudloff —Chief Digital Strategist

1 . http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/content-marketing/thanks-social-media-average-attention-span-now-shorter-goldfish2 . Analysis of the Global Web Event Services Market: A Fragmented Market Poised for Growth,” Frost & Sullivan, April, 2014