The Coronavirus pandemic has transformed the way events are being conducted. Ever since the restrictions have been imposed, the events too started taking place virtually but for any event irrespective of regular or virtual, proper networking is much required!
Without networking between audiences, there would be an awkwardness in them therefore breaking the ice is mandatory. Moreover, the key reason for people to attend virtual events is mainly for networking purposes.
Since it is comparatively easier for attendees and hosts to connect in a regular event, even though virtual networking can be equally beneficial but it has its own limitations, the main drawback is the distance.
In this blog, we have mentioned a few creative virtual networking ideas that you can implement for your next virtual event to make networking easier and super fun.
Best Networking Ideas For Your Next Virtual Event
Connect Before The Event
One of the effective yet creative ways to break the ice between attendees would be to make them interact with each other before the event.
You can host a pre-session and invite all the attendees to give them a brief introduction to the upcoming event. Use a video conferencing platform like FaceTime, Zoom, or Google hangouts and start some discussion and tell your audience to pitch in their thoughts and ideas.
This way, even you will get comfortable with the audience and the audiences will be familiar with one another too.
Conduct Virtual Games
Playing games will ultimately bind the audience and increase interaction between them. You can get as creative as you can and conduct fun games like two truths and a lie where the attendees one by one narrate three sentences around their personality or life and the other participants have to guess the wrong one.
Other options can be Hollywood trivia, pop quizzes, or a virtual hunt where you can divide the attendees into teams and tell them to fetch a couple of things from their house. It can be as creative as a pink pair of shoes, hair wigs, or a Santa Claus cap! Since this game will be played in teams, it will create more excitement in the participants and increase interaction between them.
Break The Ice With Social Wall
Social Wall is a communication tool majorly used to mainly increase interaction amongst people. As you all must be aware, social media is the best platform for networking and socializing.
As a part of pre-promotion and for networking purposes, you can create a page or a group on a social media platform with all the attendees and motivate them to post using specific hashtags or by mentioning the event.
You can conduct quizzes on social media and using a social media aggregator tool, collect all the content and integrate it into a social wall to create excitement in your attendees as they would be delighted to see themselves get featured and this strategy will increase interaction between the audience.
Wine & Dine Talk
One of the most creative ways to increase audience engagement and networking in a creative way can be by arranging a Wine & Dine talk session. In this session, you can send a kit by mail to your attendees at their respective addresses.
In the kit, the box can have a bottle of wine, some chocolates, and some tinned food like kidney beans, instant popcorn sachets, canned fruits, or anything. You can curate the kit according to your budget. Along with the kit, you can add a letter telling the person to join you over a session.
Make sure you pack the box well and beautifully since it would leave a more positive impact.
All this can be done as a surprise without giving any prior information to the attendees. They will be amazed to see the efforts you have put into it and will surely join you and when the atmosphere becomes comfortable and casual, they will start interacting with each other and with you on their own.
Host A Competition
We cannot miss out on fun competitions when we talk about creativity and interaction. Before the day of your event, you can host a few unique yet fun competitions like the Most creative storyteller in which you can tell your attendees to narrate their favorite story using a board or props and express themselves. Give them tips to modulate their voices while expressing the characters or they can use drawings to make the story more interesting.
Additionally, you can host the best photo competition where the participants would send their photo entries and the most innovative picture will win.
Another unique and fun idea would host a kite-making contest. You can send the material in the box mentioned in the above point and tell the participants to make a beautiful and colorful kite from the material and the one who makes the most vibrant and unique kite would be the winner.
Additionally, to encourage participation, you can give gifts, coupons, or special discounts on an eCommerce platform to the winner. After all, who doesn’t like discounts?
Must Read: Your Go-to Virtual Networking Event Guide Of The Year 2021
Closing Note
Virtual events and networking can be as fun as regular events, you just need to switch on the creative side of yourself and think differently.
Just because the pandemic has struck us doesn’t mean that the virtual events must be boring and monotonous. Due to the ongoing crisis, people are already feeling miserable and depressed while sitting at their homes. Such events and networking opportunities would be like a breath of fresh air for them and they would feel much relaxed and happier.
Try out these virtual event engagement ideas in your next virtual event and you will surely be successful in getting the audience closer in a creative way!
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