As you start putting the pieces in place for your next digital event, it’s crucial to brainstorm corporate event ideas that can help you mimic the success of your in-person events.
This includes everything from the engagement of the attendees to the interaction with the sponsors. You're always striving to invite the right customer base to ensure that a high percentage attend and benefit from the event.
During the event, you're always working hard to ensure that the right people connect and sponsors engage with the attendees that are seeking their products or services. These fast-paced events always rely on your ability in creative thinking and split-moment decisions, something difficult to accomplish in the digital space.
With digital events continuing to hold some prominence for the foreseeable future, a live facilitator might be able to make your life easier while providing the results you need.
"Great facilitators help groups identify priorities, share ideas, and frame conclusions. They keep a team excited about the topic and eager to contribute."
A live facilitator is becoming essential for any corporate event to help it run more smoothly and allow everyone to benefit from it. This person ensures that everyone understands the agenda and stays on topic, progressing from one task to the next without delay or confusion.
Live Facilitators Before the Digital Age
In the past, live facilitators have acted similarly to party hosts. They confirm that every guest has a good time, help the right people connect, and make sure that everyone moves from task to task seamlessly.
When you change party guests to customer base and sponsors, you begin to see the similarity. A live facilitator is essential to ensure that an in-person event benefits all the attendees and sponsors and helps to connect the right people together.
For a smoothly run event, a live facilitator was the heart of a conference. They understood the best ways to keep attendees and sponsors engaged, and the participants who would benefit the most by working together.
Before the digital age, live facilitators performed many essential and specialized tasks. These included:
- Creating networking opportunities for attendees and sponsors.
- Helping to connect the thought leaders with each other for maximum engagement.
- Encouraging attendees to engage with the sponsors best suited to their needs.
- Meeting the needs and expectations of attendees and sponsors.
- Facilitating a smooth transfer from one activity to the next.
With the trend of digital events, the challenge becomes how to incorporate these tasks into the new format. You still need these tasks accomplished with a group that isn't in the same room together. This need creates many challenges for a facilitator working within a digital event.
The Problem Facing Digital Engagement
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, companies were already trending towards remote working and digital events, but the pandemic spurred the need for a new digital realm, including online conferences and business events. According to Forbes:
"In the event industry specifically, which was already moving into the digital sphere, the last year accelerated a move into virtual spaces from years to mere months."
While many companies have successfully translated their in-person conferences to digital events, there are a few areas of in-person events that haven't performed as well in the digital world. These are:
- Sponsor engagement with your customer base.
- Networking among the attendees and the sponsors.
It's telling that the two essential elements of a successful event were usually enhanced and performed by a live facilitator. Without a live facilitator, the attendees and sponsors failed to connect in a meaningful way. This leaves both of them wondering about the value of your event.
It's a challenge for live facilitators to replicate the face-to-face networking that made in-person events so successful. Finding a way to encourage people to meet and interact in a digital format is a primary goal for live facilitators moving forward.
Another major challenge facing a live facilitator in a digital format is matching the sponsors with the attendees that need and want their products and services. As this challenge continues, it makes it more difficult for you to find companies willing to sponsor a digital event. There isn't a measurable benefit for them, so they hesitate to participate.
Live Facilitators in the Digital Realm
Your company still needs the benefits that came from having a live facilitator at an in-person event. By redefining their role and finding new ways to connect with attendees and sponsors, a live facilitator can thrive in the digital realm and make your digital events a success.
While you do plan to return to some in-person events, the digital format is here to stay. Even with its challenges, there are still many benefits to digital conferences. You need a game plan to ensure that you're able to entice sponsors by making them more prevalent during a digital event and help the attendees network together.
So the question becomes, do you need a live facilitator to manage your digital events? In short, yes. There are a variety of ways a live facilitator can adapt to the digital realm. Here are a few things to consider:
- A live facilitator can manage a Q&A session to ensure all the attendees interact with each other, find the answers they need, and remain engaged during the event.
- They can play a role in the trial-and-error process of creating and installing new ways for attendees to network with each other.
- Live facilitators can weave sponsor messaging and interaction at the right time during digital events to make the most impact and continue enticing sponsors with this benefit.
With a few tweaks and creative ideas, a live facilitator can provide as much value in the digital realm as they did in the in-person events.
Rethink Your Corporate Event Strategy
A live facilitator can help you meet your goals with a digital event. Although the format might change, these professionals can redefine their methods to be successful in this changing world. At Impact Point Group, we can help make this transition easier for your company. Contact us today to learn more.