Every organizer of online and hybrid events should know that participant engagement during events is extremely important. Why should we strive to engage participants as strongly as possible?

1. An engaged participant is a satisfied participant

Imagine that you go to an art gallery exhibition and you are absolutely captivated by everything you see there. You memorize the name of the gallery and will most likely return there in a month for another opening. It is exactly the same with the events! The satisfaction of our event participants contributes to building positive connotations with our brand. It also significantly increases the chance that the participant will return for the next edition of the event or another event we organize.

2. An engaged participant is more likely to recommend the event to others

No marketing works better than word-of-mouth and a personal recommendation from someone we know and trust. Direct recommendations are especially valuable when we do not yet have a strong brand established and our success largely depends on how many people we reach, how many registrations we gain and how many tickets we sell.

3. An engaged participant is more likely to respond to additional offers

If you manage to engage an attendee during an event, you then have a greater chance that they will respond to your additional offers. These can be sales offers such as your product, service or upselling on available subscription packages. It could also be an invitation for a 1:1 conversation, an appointment for a product demo or a newsletter sign-up.

Alright, so we already know that participant engagement is important. As organizers of online and hybrid events, do we have any influence at all on how engaged our participants will be? As much as possible!

We have an impact on how the event is prepared

So let's keep in mind that it is more difficult to engage participants online than stationary, and take care of them accordingly. If there will be a chat room on the event platform, let's make sure it is moderated and comments directed to the speakers are passed on to them by the appropriate people. Let's also prepare a Q&A session and give online participants the opportunity to ask questions in the chat room or by connecting to a camera and microphone.

We have a say in how the event is executed

...and therefore on all technical issues and solutions used. Let's ensure that we have the right technical facilities and a good production team to ensure that the speakers flow smoothly and that the appropriate presentations and graphic materials are displayed.

We have influence on the program and speakers

Let's choose speech topics and speakers who will be able to focus attention and engage participants. Let's make sure we have the right number of breaks and their length, and if possible, let's have parallel sessions with different topics so that participants can have alternatives. Let's remember to ensure the quality of the speakers' speeches. We can arrange for them to train with professional speech coaches or offer to help them "prove" an interesting speech. We should also pay attention to the way the event is conducted. Engage an appropriate announcer or moderator.

We have a say in choosing an event platform

...that will allow you to engage participants more, thanks to various functionalities. The Gridaly platform includes such functionalities as polls, Speed Networking, reactions, live reactions to video, social wall, gamification, tasks and prizes, integration with Kahoot and Mentimeter.