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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
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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
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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
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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
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