64 / MASTERING REMOTE COMMUNICATION
Making a plan
With more people working remotely,
online events are increasingly common,
from small public lectures to larger
conferences. With so much technology
available, hosting one is now much more
accessible to all types of professionals.
Identify the purpose of your event—is it
social or will attendees be working?
Calculate your running time; if it’s more
than a couple of hours, factor in breaks,
activities, or other ways to keep people
engaged. Break the event into sections,
such as introduction, presentation and
live poll, first guest speaker. Get all the
details down in a plan, assemble helpers,
and start delegating tasks, such as
compiling the guest list or agenda.
Promoting your event
For an event that’s open to external
attendees, you need to provide more
than just the date, time, and duration.
Consider using a designer to create
branded e-invitations. You may need
to send these out more than once to get
all the responses, and you should send
reminders to make sure people attend.
Choosing your technology
Research a suitable platform that works
for your specific event. Work out what you
need: appearances by speakers, polls to
gather live feedback, a virtual whiteboard,
“breakout rooms” for group activities, and
so on (see pp.36–37). When you’ve chosen
your appropriate technology, test it with a
colleague by running through the agenda
in sequence.
Hosting virtual events
Virtual events require as much planning as their real-world equivalents.
As well as organizing speakers and invitations, you need to pick the right
platform and stick to a tight schedule. But whether it’s a conference or
virtual away-day, the key is not to treat it like a larger work meeting.
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