Digital Event

Strategist
MODULE 3 WORKBOOK
 MODULE 3
MODULE AGENDA

Know your Audience 3

Design your Agenda 8

Facilitating a Great Session 13

Working with your Speakers 17

Visual Elements in Slides 22

Running a Successful Hybrid Event 26

www.pcma.org Page 2
 Module 3 Takeaways:
Learn how to design content for your digital event audiences
Design your event agenda and sessions to engage your audience
Best practices for managing event speakers for virtual and hybrid events

Lesson 1 Main Points:

Your relationship with your audience has become more dependent on your content than any
other aspect of your event.

Over the past few years, the role of content and event planning has changed dramatically. In the past,
digital event managers delegated content strategy to colleagues or management. It is now a critical
element in the design of your live, archived and on-demand digital event.

Content Strategy:
It affects every aspect of your experience, not just your agenda today.
The best content is not just created from the nearest or most familiar source within your
organization.
It's recruited and curated from experts around the world to provide unique and original
perspectives that drive engagement and increase your audience’s retention.
Utilizing best practices for content strategy creation and delivery will allow you to significantly
influence your audience and extend the ROI of your digital events.
Quality content can be repurposed to drive results well after an event.

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Know your Audience:

As an event organizer, you must answer the question of “Who is your audience?”, as well as
determine ”What actions you want them to take during or after the digital event?”.

Ensure that these actions tie back to the metrics on the backend.
Must be able to measure these results (Referenced in Measurement Module
E.g. If event registration revenues are a key part of your success metrics, you can argue that you
succeeded as soon as registration fees are paid).
You will likely want to attract the same audience back for a similar event in the future.
Knowing what they watched, liked or disliked about your event is a key metric for determining
your long term registration revenue goals.

Keep in mind, it’s not your goals that will define great event content. It’s theirs.

Carefully consider your audience’s reasons for attending your digital event.
Prioritize the top three reasons driving them to take action (from their perspective, not yours).

Segmenting Audiences:

Consider the example: You work for an association or a digital magazine focused on digital
photography, and you’ve decided to plan a half-day digital event.
The actions your audience wants to take, and their motivations, are likely to be driven by the latest
innovations in shooting, editing, and sharing digital photos.
Your audience is likely made up of professionals, consumers and prosumers.
It may even include people who have jobs related to digital photography, or consider it a very
serious hobby.
Each of these groups, or audience segments, has slightly different levels of interest in different
topics.

You need to decide who your primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences are, and balance each of
their top three priorities.

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Defining your primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences:

Consider if:
Your primary audience are professionals at agencies, media companies, and brands.
Your secondary audience are small business owners.
Your tertiary audience are prosumers.
Collectively these three segments represent the highest likelihood of buying digital photography
products, or subscribing to your content.

Primary Audience (Professionals)

First desired action:

Decide whether or not they should buy new gear or tools.
Their motivation for this action is simple. They want to stay professionally ahead.
Need to understand what new tools will deliver better results.

Second desired action:

Shoot better, more creative photographs.

Third desired action:

Edit photographs better and faster.

Secondary Audience (Small Business Owners)

First desired action:

Want to learn how to reach more customers through social media.

Second desired action:

Optimize and leverage more features from existing hardware and software.

Third desired action:

Decide whether or not they should buy new hardware or software.

Tertiary Audience: (Prosumers, likely your largest online audience)

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First desired action:
Shoot better, more creative photographs.

Second desired action:

Edit better.

Third desired action:

Must decide whether or not they should buy new hardware or software.

Audience Summary:

Focus on collection of most in demand content for your digital event. All audiences want information
on new digital photography, hardware, and software. Most of them want to know how to shoot better
or more creatively. All our audiences want to know how to edit photos better.

You might want to feature famous, or up and coming photographers, for this reason.
Now we have a framework for our event's content that satisfies different audience segments and
can decide whether or not we need tracks in our agenda for our digital event.

If you want different groups within your audience to take different actions:
You will need to segment your audience and the content you are providing to them.
You can do this by creating separate tracks within your agenda.
Certain key sessions will remain common.

Quick method to determine if your agenda truly needs to be separated into tracks.
Prioritize the top three motivations for each segment of your audience.
Consider: "What are the three things they really want to do with the knowledge you are providing
to them?"
If any segments share the same priorities in the same order (First, second, and third). then they
should be grouped together and not separated into tracks.

They ultimately share common motivations and would likely benefit from the same or very similar
content.

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Questions:

1. Prioritize reasons for taking action from their not yours?

2. How many audiences should be identified?

3. What is a quick method to determine if your agenda needs to be separated into tracks?

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Lesson 2 Main Points:

Session Design: Keynotes

Is there a sequence for your content or can your audience engage with it in any order?
Here are some best practices for designing your digital event agenda:

Opening Session:
Helps the audience make sense of their current environment, and how they got to where they
are now.
Essentially creates a base, so the audience is ready to learn more and go further.
Can provide a specific vision of their future, and may include elements like the “art of the
possible” or the “unlikely hero”, backed by real-world examples to motivate your audience.

Deciding on your opening session:

Speaker selection can be one of the most difficult exercises in content planning, as this person
is your headliner.
Want someone who you know, can draw your target audience to your event live and on
demand.

Challenges:
If your CEO or organizational leader have historically opened your events.
Some CEOs are legendary speakers, but not all CEOs or leaders are natural orators.
It's important that you judge the presentation quality of your opening speaker.
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 If your organization's leader is not a strong speaker, you should consider having them simply
provide an introduction.
Select a speaker as someone who can really excite and inspire the audience for your event.
Can seem intimidating and you may think suggesting your CEO not be the keynote speaker is a
career limiting move. (However, senior executives are generally very aware of how they're
perceived by their customers and how well they can excite a live audience, especially on a big
stage.)
If you can tell your CEO is not going to knock the keynote out of the park, your attendees will
probably figure this out as well. (You do not want this)
Raise concern on behalf of your attendees.
Find the right speaker to drive home, a winning keynote and a strong start to your event.

Keynote is the visual aspect of the presentation:

At the start of the event, your audience's expectations are high.
If your event will go on for a few hours or even days, they know they may be in sessions that are
not great.
They expect the opening and closing sessions to be strong.
Similar to movies: Strong opening, a little drag in the middle, beautiful close.
Ensuring the keynote has stunning visuals is a good investment.
If the audience has something refreshing, intriguing, or unexpected to see they will stay engaged
and be thankful.
Visual components of your keynote are also important for your on-demand audience.
Keynote is often the most watched session on demand.
Invest in the visuals for your keynote to enhance the storytelling, the excitement, the inspiration,
and reward your attendees early. (This ensures they will be engaged throughout the rest of your
agenda.)

Generally speaking, keynotes and lock notes are closing sessions.

Don't have Q and A.
Keynote should be designed to answer the most pressing questions for your audience, and to
leave the audience with a broad base upon which you can build the rest of the day's agenda.
If the audience does have questions lingering after the keynote, they should be answered in the
following sessions before your event ends.

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Session Design: Breakouts

Breakout Sessions:
Should be designed to tackle problems and present solutions.
Normally help your audience get started down a certain path.
A subsequent session may help the audience who's already begun to go a little further with
their knowledge.
Should be designed to be as specific as possible so they can be impactful.
Provide information that is immediately useful to your audience.
Avoid topics or speakers who are too broad, too ambiguous, or too vague.
Audience wants to learn as much as they can during breakout sessions

If an audience experiences a number of meaningful breakout sessions, they'll likely conclude

the overall experience was worth their time and be far more satisfied.

Design Proposal:
Start with a clear specific proposal that your speaker wants your audience to accept or believe
by the end of the session.
.
Evidence:
Organize everything you need to provide to convince the audience your proposal is sound and
worth accepting.

Audit your evidence:

Select the best evidence and organize in a meaningful narrative.(Real examples, stories, and
verified statistics will likely help you in this regard.

How should your audience respond?

Make it clear to your audience what they should do, or do differently, if they have accepted
your proposal at the end of the breakout session.
How can they move forward?
How can they use what they have learned?

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Session Design: Closing Keynotes

Closing Sessions:

Closing sessions should help your audience make sense of why they do what they do.

This reinforcement is important to help them identify as a community at the end of your digital
event, borrowing from your opening session.
Include motivational or inspirational stories, such as how the audience "can make a difference" or
"What responsibility we all collectively share to move things forward as a community?"
If promoted correctly, your closing session can get a lot of attention live and on demand.

Keep in mind! This is the last session!

Likely the one your audience will remember the most.
What three things do you want the audience to feel by the end of your event?
Work that into your closing session and keep that in mind.

Selecting your closing speaker:

Should be a good representation of what your organization stands for and provide your audience
with a summary of what matters most from everything they've heard at your event.
This will leave your audience feeling validated for spending their time with you and your
speakers.

The end is just the beginning:

Even the closing session should have some clear actions that you want your audience to take
when they leave the event.
Tie the beginning and end of your agenda together.
If your event spans more than one day, tie the start and end of each day within your event.

Use your events overall theme and your company's brand as a guide for your opening and closing
sessions and to help with speaker selection.

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Questions:

1. What is typically the most difficult decision regarding your opening session?

2. What are some challenges with a CEO or organizational leader opening events?

3. List two factors that should be considered when designing your closing session.

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Lesson 3 Main Points:

First thing to decide about each session: How it’s going to end.

Audiences remember the last thing they saw or heard. You want to be absolutely clear on what action
you want them to take after each session...

What should they do immediately to use the new information they've just received?
Where can they go to learn more?
What are the three things the audience should walk away with after this session?
What three questions does the audience have that will be answered by this session?
How will those three things help them?
What should they do next?

Most good speakers are able to deliver a great presentation at a variety of lengths and in a variety
of formats:
You need to decide how long you think your audience will spend on a certain topic and then ask
your speakers to design their content accordingly.
Keep yourself open to recommendations from your strongest speakers, as they probably have
experience with what works well for your audience.
How can you get your audience to engage with your content during your digital event?

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Options and best practices for interactivity and storytelling:
A good start to your session is critical for keeping your audience engaged.
Most people decide whether they will or won't watch a session within the first minute.
They'll give it a couple more minutes before they either click away or mentally check out by
multitasking.

E.g. When viewing sessions on demand, audiences often decide whether they will continue
watching after the first 15 seconds:
Try to avoid spending your first three minutes on housekeeping and introductions.
Jump right into your first story and sprinkle details about who you are and what you do
throughout your session.

To boost engagement try skipping the speaker introduction entirely at the beginning of your
session:
Instead have your speakers introduce themselves before the Q and A.
Provides a warm end to the presentation and transition to the Q and A.
Makes the beginning of your session move a lot faster.

Break your 30 minute session into a series of three to five minute segments, alternating between
informative segments, and inspirational entertaining anecdotes, or examples:
Balance of storytelling with learning and almost seamless fashion.
Over time, you'll start to develop and deliver stories that are in themselves educational.
Keep in mind the stories your audience will enjoy the most are the ones where the main character
is like them, not necessarily like you, the event organizer.

Live chat:
Most audiences like watching the chat and seeing what others are asking, responding or
commenting during a live session.
Gives the audience a second channel of engagement.
Keeps engagement going for longer events.
Builds energy throughout the day when content is lagging.
Great way to take real time questions.
Provides a voice for most of your attendees.

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Storytelling for Events:

Design your breakout sessions with one-third of the session time dedicated to questions and
answers:
If your session is live and the audience can ask questions, ensure your speakers allocate enough
time for the audience to ask a meaningful number of questions.
If your session has been designed and presented well, the audience will likely have a lot of
questions about how to apply their learnings to their situation. (Demonstrates how well the
audience has accepted your speaker’s proposed idea)

Whenever possible, start your Q and A with questions sourced from your audience beforehand:
Prompt your audience for questions when they're registering for your digital event.
Let the best of these preplanned questions to kick off your Q and A.
This will warm your audience up for a lively Q and A session.
If you don't receive questions from your audience in advance, draft three seated questions for
your speakers to kick off the Q and A, and then switch to live questions as soon as they start
coming in from your audience.
Whenever possible, avoid the long awkward pause of waiting for the first question from the live
audience to start your Q and A.

By design, you should always leave a little content out of your presentation for Q and A:
In case your audience has no immediate questions for the Q and A, you can simply start your Q
and A with this content positioned as a question.
Always leave your audience wanting a little more, so they're leaning forward at the end of your
session. (Best way to get folks to take a call to action)
Remember, they're not watching a movie where you want them to feel emotionally satisfied and
to find closure and the story's ending.
They're learning and trying to remember what you are presenting.
Leave at least one piece of learning or one good story for the Q and A, as it could be the perfect
first question for an almost seamless transition from presentation to Q and A.

Questions:

1. What is the first thing to decide about each session?

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2. How much time should you designate for Q and A?

3. How can you retain questions for Q and A from participants, prior to the event start time?

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Lesson 4 Main Points:

Working with Speakers:

Find your best speakers by consulting with key stakeholders, industry experts and your internal team
on their favorite speakers, authors and experts for the topics most relevant to your audience.

Crowdsource your audience’s opinion on their favorite speakers from possible options.
Keep in mind that brands, awards and industry wide achievements are recognized more broadly
than individual names or titles.
Consider each speaker’s ability to engage an online audience.
Ask speakers for videos.

Tips for collaborating with selected speaker to create content for your digital event that will work
well live and on demand:
Be sure to check out your potential speakers, social media presence, when you're evaluating
them.
Share your content strategy, your goals, and your audience’s goals, so they are clear on what your
audience expects from their session.
Once you are in agreement on each session’s goals, try not to stifle your content creator’s
creativity or originality.
Your ability to collaborate with your speakers will increase the value of your content.

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 Ask your speakers to include real examples, brief stories, and the element of surprise to boost,
retention and engagement from the audience.
Ensure your speakers will not read their slides, and will instead follow a script the have practiced
before.

Onsite Speaker Preparation:

Keep in mind for all of your speakers:

Consider all factors of their voice carefully like accent, projection, inflection, and clarity.
If they are presenting remotely, make every effort to ensure they are in an environment where
they can hear, and be heard clearly, with good connectivity.
Don't ask your speakers to repeat a session at your digital event that they've delivered
somewhere else.
Your event needs to feature original content, especially if you have well known speakers who
your audience may have read, seen or heard before.
As stated before, the mic is everything, a sound clear in a quiet environment is very important.

Speakers:
At a hybrid event, or one where you're recording them for on demand, focus on content
distribution.
If the session has only one speaker on stage, they should be standing not sitting unless they are
unable to stand comfortably.
When you are standing, your voice is more alive than when you sit. You naturally project more.
You are more alert and can move to add emphasis or emotion to your presentation.

If you have multiple speakers for a session, but they are speaking one at a time, have them stand
as well:
Give them as much room as possible on the stage in case they need to move.
Ensure speakers aren’t pacing around frantically.
Even more frequently, people don’t move at all and appear nervous.
Remind speakers to sit upright to appear alert and engaged.

Provide your speakers on stage with a feedback monitor that can show them their slides at a
quick glance:
Prevents them from having to turn and face the screen behind them.

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Speakers should all have scripts that they have practiced:
It's always a good idea for them to bring a printed copy in case you are using a podium, where
they can quickly glance at their script to stay on, on track.
Speakers must maintain eye contact with the audience who sees them through their webcam.
Be clear about how you'd like the content to be developed and shared with you and other
stakeholders.

Virtual Speaker Preparation:

When your speakers are remote, they will all likely be seated.
Whenever possible, you want them to use their webcams to provide video.
Advise them to have their webcam at eye level.
May need to place a large book or two under their laptops to reach the right eye level for their
webcams, so they are not looking down at the audience and the audience is not looking up their
nose.
They may need to place a book under their laptops to reach the right level for their webcams.
Have all speakers maintain the same distance from their webcams.
Two feet from the webcam is generally a good distance to frame speaker comfortably.
If your remote speakers are all zoomed or framed differently, it can be jarring to your audience as
the video moves from speaker to speaker, especially during Q and A.

Let's review best practices for speakers presenting with webcams.

Remote speakers should have their script printed out in front of them, not for them to read staring
down from their desks.
Keywords or topics are always a great reminder for speakers to have available, to make sure they
are not omitting any key portion of their presentation.
Their lighting should be in front of them, and your best-case scenario is that they’re facing a large
window.
That window should have blinds or curtains so they can diffuse the sunlight in case it’s too strong
or changes dramatically during their presentation.
"If they can’t sit in front of a window, can they sit beside one?"
If so, ask them to find another light that can balance out the light from the window.
You never want a window with sunlight behind your speaker, because it overpowers most

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 webcams and puts your speaker in a shadow.
Your speaker’s voice is extremely important to the success of your digital event.
So making sure they have a good mic, and they sound clear in a quiet environment is very
important.
If they are using a headset, make sure the mic isn't too close or too far from their mouth, and it's
not brushing against their clothing while they speak.
If they have a hardwire connection to the internet that’s what you want them to use.
If not, make sure they know how to switch from their home or office wifi to the hotspot on their
smartphone in case their wifi fails during your live session.
Also, be absolutely clear about what you want them to do if they get disconnected during the live
stream.One option to keep in mind is the ability for them to call in using their cell phone in case
their computer or wifi fails.
If they can dial in to your digital event platform, make sure they have those details ready and
know how to connect during your rehearsal.
When things go sideways during a live broadcast, a moderator or host can manage a speaker’s
slides, and an audience will bear not being able to see the speaker via video.
Having a clear backup plan as to how the speaker can reconnect with just their phone is
important to completing a session where their laptop, wifi or even the power at their house has
completely failed.

As a Digital Event Strategist, you need to take responsibility for your digital events, content,
development and preparation, even if others are helping you with these tasks. This includes:

Managing internal and external resources and timelines.

Proactively scheduling speaker introductions, check-ins and rehearsal calls to ensure content
readiness.
Send reminders and inform all content developers of upcoming deadlines before they miss them.
Be clear on how you'd like the content to be developed and shared with you and any other
stakeholders involved.
Clearly identify all presentation materials for each session.
This can include Powerpoints, videos, audio files, PDFs or any other format your speaker wants to
make available to your audience.
If you feel it is necessary and you provide a presentation template, most speakers will follow your
guidelines and will use your template, at least for their first and last slides.
Consider carefully if you really want to force your speakers into a very specific presentation
 format for every single slide, as they need to make the presentation their own to present it
effectively.
Always make sure you have a signed release from every speaker that allows you to use all
aspects of the content they are presenting at your event.
Also make sure your speakers know they're expected to interact with your online audience.
After all, if you didn't need them to do this, you could have pre-recorded their session entirely.
Encourage them to include polls and to answer as many questions as swiftly as possible.
Provide access to your online event platform for your speakers, so they can use it during
rehearsals.
You don't want them being surprised.
Remind your speakers that their content will be available on demand and thus whenever possible
they should limit references to other sessions during the event because the audience may be
watching their session separate from the rest of the agenda.
Remember, you should never assume someone else is responsible for the content in your digital
event, not your sponsors or even your speakers.
Content is now a critical component of your digital event.
You need to ensure you can guarantee high quality content for your audience to the best of your
ability.

Questions:

1. Share two tips for collaborating with your selected speaker to create content for your digital
event.

2. What should you keep in mind with all of your speakers?

3. What should you be responsible for as a Digital Event Strategist?

Lesson 5 Main Points:

Visual Elements in Slides:

Ask your speakers to limit each slide to one clear idea or topic:
This creates many more slides, that are much clearer and easy to review, live or on demand.
More frequent slide changes help the online audience stay engaged.

Each slide should present one idea. (e.g. explaining a process, concept, or system of some kind
and has three levels or three layers):
We have all seen speakers put all information on one slide, as they explain each portion of each
layer.
This should not be one slide that stays on the screen forever.

Not even three or four slides. This idea should be presented with 14 slides:

Slide 1: Show the whole system - Only include quick introduction or overview.
Slide 2: Show first layer - Provide a quick intro. You can choose to make the details semi-
transparent to indicate that they haven’t been covered yet. You can also choose whether to show
the first layer in the whole system, or just zoom in.
Slide 3: Show portion A in detail.
Slides 4, 5, & 6: Show portions B, C, and D.
Slide 7: Show second layer - Provide a quick intro.
Slides 8, 9, & 10: Show portions E, F, and G.

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 Slide 11: Show third layer- Provide a quick intro.
Slides 12 & 13: Show portions H and I.
Slide 14: Show the whole system again. Provide a quick summary, or key takeaways.

Creating slides in this manner allows details to be very visible, even on mobile devices:
Instead of forcing people to squint at tiny details on an overly busy slide that never seems to end.
Remember, if you keep your audience on a single slide too long, they're likely to get visually
bored and then are tempted to start multitasking.
Once you lose them, there's a good chance you won't get them back.

Encourage speakers to use a variety of visual elements in their slides like pictures, graphs or
quotes:
Remind them to be clear on copyright and licensing restrictions for any materials they're
referencing from other sources.

Ask your speakers to include all materials within their PowerPoint presentation, or to host
everything in the same folder as their PowerPoint file:
When possible pre-record all elements that do not need to be presented live, like
demonstrations.
If your speakers do plan to do a live demo, ask them for backup slides in case the demo fails
completely during the live event. At least they have the slides to talk the audience through to the
key points of the demo.

Consider the remote attendees experience for each session:

Is there something changing visually every minute or so?
If not, can you blame your virtual attendees for switching from watching your event to simply
listening to it?
If the slides don't change and all you see is an expert speaking, who really needs to watch this for
more than a minute?

So people don't. They keep listening while they're checking their email, checking their social
networks or just working. In essence, your video has become radio. That's the bad news.

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The good news is that this can be avoided by ensuring your speakers follow a few simple rules.

1. Provide a new visual every 30 to 60 seconds:

Keeps your remote audience visually engaged and tuned in.
Forces your speakers to break your slides down into smaller segments, which are easier to read.

2. Change the type of visuals you are providing throughout the presentation:
Even if you have amazing photographs for each slide, after a few of these your audience begins to
expect amazing photographs and it becomes more difficult for them to remember each
photograph over the course of an entire session.
Easy tip: Don't repeat more than three of the same type of visual in a row. Change it up.

3. Your visuals are not alone:

The entire time your session is playing, your audience is listening to your speaker. Don't put any
text in your slide or demo that you're going to say!
If the audience is listening, why are you making them read?
This is why it's most important for your speakers to develop their script before their slides, so the
slides are visual and complementary, not redundant.

Rule Exceptions:

If you're quoting someone, you should generally show the whole quote visually and name the
author in writing.
If you're discussing a proprietary product or solution name, you need to show this visually, as the
audience may not catch it the first time or second time.
Finally, you can always use text to emphasize something you're saying, but this should be a word
or phrase, not a sentence or paragraph, and not endless bullet points.
Editing your session's on-demand video is a wise investment, as there are likely more than a few
minutes of content you can cut out at the beginning of the session, like housekeeping, any delays,
or any breaks that happen during your session.
Edit out anything you were unable to capture.
Example; In a hybrid event, if your speaker played a video for the in-person audience and you
don't have the video or are unable to offer it on demand.
Edit out the portion of the presentation where you have nothing to show except the speaker or

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 the in-person audience watching video.
The same principle applies to instructions at the beginning of your session for Q & A, at the end
of your session, for instructions about the next session, or even lunch.
All of us disengage from webinars where the Q & A is taking 2 or 3 minutes, especially when we
are watching on demand and the instructions do not even apply to us.
This shows our audience that we are simply archiving the live session, and that we haven't
considered how it would be optimized for the best use of their time when they are watching it
on demand.

Questions:

1. How many ideas should be presented per slide?

2. How often should you change visuals?

3. What are a few simple rules for speakers to keep an audience engaged?

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Lesson 6 Main Points:

Audience Engagement for Hybrid Events:

Here are some special considerations for managing content for hybrid events:

It may seem like in-person events will not be back for a while, but be prepared. We may be doing
in-person events, differently, sooner than you would expect.
You want to determine beforehand if the in-person event can accommodate live Q and A from
your remote audience.
If you will have live Q and A with your virtual attendees, designate the host or moderator for the
in-person session to help facilitate these questions.
Also, have your speakers acknowledge your remote attendees at the start of their session. It's so
easy for everyone in the room to forget that there are many people watching and listening from
many different regions.
Reserve the first and last Q and A question for your remote audience.
This is a good way of counter balancing the in-room only Q and A, which can happen easily when
questions start flowing back and forth quickly between the in-person audience and the speaker.

If a mic isn't available for your in-person audience, be sure your speakers or moderators repeat
every question in their own words before answering them, otherwise you've lost those questions
forever.

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 Whenever possible, determine what audio and video equipment is available in your session
room and piggy back on anything that is already installed at the venue.
Keep in mind: Sound is extremely important.
Visuals can always be improved later, but poor audio cannot be remedied and could result in
the permanent loss of a great session from your event.
Never plan a gap for your hybrid audience, as you will likely lose them entirely if you ask them
to step away, even for just a few minutes:
When people are present at your in-person event, there's generally little else for them to do, so
you're not as concerned about them "wandering off."
It's the exact opposite for your online audience. Their inbox, their cell phone, and their social
networks are all competing for their attention, along with your digital event.
So be sure you have a plan in place to fill all gaps that might exist in your in-person event
agenda for your virtual attendees.

E.g. for your on-site lunch, consider an onsite reporter who can host short interviews for your
virtual attendees.

Here is an example where you can see the onsite reporter from a PCMA event.
This technique provides an on-site attendee's perspective for your remote audience making the
in-person event even more attractive to them.
You can also pre-record short segments that can be broadcast to just your remote audience.
In fact, consider asking your sponsors for these or even your attendees, to give them a voice
during your live event.
If you host a live event every month or quarter, you should consider recording opinions
recommendations and feedback from your attendees.
These could be great for promoting your next event and promoting content on demand.
Now, let's cover a question we get asked a lot: "How do decide which sessions are right for your
remote attendees?"
For starters, remember sessions may be captured for on demand promotion, even if you can't
broadcast them live.
In fact, this strategy can result in a few weeks of promotion for content from a single event.
The reverse is also true. If you don't plan on promoting your content on-demand, don't invest in
capturing it from your live event.
All too often I see hours and hours of content recorded from live events that doesn't get

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 published online. That's a total waste of time and money to record in the first place.
When it comes to selecting sessions from your in-person agenda that will resonate with your
online audience, keep in mind your virtual attendees include people from many different
countries and regions.
You probably don't want sessions that are very specialized, restricted or cater to only certain
sections of your audience.

Questions:

1. List two special considerations for managing content for hybrid events.

2. Why should you not plan a gap in your hybrid event?

3. How do you decide which sessions are right for your remote attendees?

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