Rehearsals for Virtual Events

Rehearsals will always be essential to the success of every event, whether your event is for 50 or 1000+ attendees. Anything you do must be meticulously choreographed.

The better your activities are perceived, the more polished your execution is and the higher the return on investment for your attendees and stakeholders.

So invest those 18-20 minutes in a rehearsal with your presenters and AV team, it will have a huge impact on the way your feel and the professionalism at your event.

Failure to prioritise rehearsals adequately may have irreversible repercussions for an event and the experience of attendees. Nonetheless, with proper preparation and implementation, it can be easily avoided.

What is a Virtual Event?

A virtual event is an online event / conference that you are able to attend from any location using any media tool of your choice.

They have become popular over the last year as a cost effective solution to meet face to face with virtual colleagues, prospects and clients.

Made Possible with Web Conferencing Tools

It is made possible with the help of audio, video conferencing and web conferencing tools such as GoTo Meeting, Zoom, WebEx etc. Face-to-face interaction is still a key aspect of virtual conferences and webinars, so it’s necessary for hosts and participants to have high speed Internet connection.

Also, the multimedia tools used during a virtual event are powerful means to engage all participants in active discussions.

Top Reasons for rehearsing

• Put your presenters at ease

• Reduce assumptions and guess work

• Reduce mistakes

• You’ll sleep better

Put your Presenters at Ease

One of the most common and overlooked challenges of conducting an online training event is how to manage presenter nerves.

The performance anxiety always seems worse for new presenters, but even seasoned speakers can feel this way about presenting online in a virtual environment.

Striking the right balance in preparing both your presenters and virtual participants is important to creating an effective training event. No matter how well you know the speaker and trust their abilities you should still, always, prepare to put your presenters at ease. It will be very be very helpful if you can put them at ease before the event happens.

Reduce assumptions and guess work

One of the reasons that I recommend people to rehearse for their event is that it takes out any assumptions. By focusing on different types of content, you structure your thinking and writing in the area that will help you to be better prepared for the virtual event.

By anticipating what will be asked of you, and learning how to effectively respond, you are more confident with your answers.

Reduce mistakes

Preparation is a key to success. That's why we prepare for test, driving exam, presentation at school or college. If you train your employees on aspects of the virtual event ahead of time, mistakes will be minimized and the entire team will be better prepared for their roles during the live event.

You will also avoid the kind of damage to your reputation and credibility that can result from giving incorrect or incomplete information in your event.

Rehearsals Vs Run-Throughs

Let’s also be clear that we are talking about rehearsals and not “run-throughs”, these are very different things!

When we are speaking to our team members, speakers and chairs about what they will be doing or how the timeline is going to work this is a “run-through”.

You are not for example going to invite your AV team in for a “rehearsal” if you are only doing a run-through with your speakers, chairs or your team. Be clear about what you are talking about and who is involved in which.

On the other hand, the rehearsal is where all your crew perform the event as though conducting the real one.

This will give you an opportunity to check and correct any mistakes or issues before the event actually takes place. It is also a great way of gauging how long your live presentations or seminars will last.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Run-Through

Everyone wants to know what they need to do to plan to get ready for the rehearsal, which is the next step, at the end of a run-through. You should inspire people to ask questions.

Alternatively, you should ask the presenters and tech crew questions to see if they are clear about what they will be doing.

Would the presenter, for example, be asking for slides and requiring the assistance of a cue operator, or will the presenter be screen sharing? This is the kind of thing that a run-through takes care of.

Preparing for the Rehearsal

The rehearsal is your chance to smooth out any kinks and fine-tune the final show. And there'll always be something that might be better.

A rehearsal is where you pretend to be ‘on air' to ensure that everything goes as well as possible on the big day. It entails going through all of the lines, as well as the speaker transitions and video content playback. It is not the place to discuss how things will be handled.

You Team need to speak as though it is Live

The speakers, presenters, and chair would all need to be speaking as though they were live. While this may seem self-evident, some speakers speak softly during rehearsals, and the planner is concerned that they may not be understood properly.

However, when the speaker is ‘on-air,' it may unexpectedly become extremely noisy. Rather than dealing with the tension of the situation, you should have the speaker talk as they can on-air.

Your Speaker need to Rehearse as Well

In addition to having the correct voice projection, the rehearsal can mimic being on-air. As a result, if your speaker is going to be standing in a studio, you'll need them to be there for the rehearsal as well, rather than sitting at their computer at home.

You'll get better results if you make sure everything is as close to the on-air live experience as possible.

Define roles: Virtual Hosts, Moderators, and Facilitators

Another area that necessitates meticulous attention to detail for a good production is determining who will perform certain roles. The positions of moderator, host, and facilitator are often misunderstood.

These words can have different meanings depending on who you're referring to. Although the roles have distinct functions, you can find that one person is expected to perform all of them.

Define Roles to Avoid Confusion

What do you want the moderator to do, for example? Is it to track the incoming talk and questions from delegates? Is it true that they take on this position and ask the questions? Or do you anticipate the moderator being busy with anything else?

Although the language can be interpreted in a variety of ways, make sure you clearly identify these positions with specific instructions about what you want the individual to do.

The last thing you want is for people to make conclusions that are incorrect. The simplest and most effective way to ensure a perfect performance is to spell out exactly what you need from each role.

Preparing the Virtual Tech Team

Having the tech team ready is, of course, equally critical. It's not just about what the guests, speakers, and moderators would do.

Your technical and AV teams must be prepared. They must ensure that they understand what is going on, who is in charge, and what is expected of them during training.

Ensure Testing of Various Tools is completed

Before you begin a rehearsal, make sure your tech team has completed testing. This is particularly critical when many things are going on at the same time. When it comes to virtual awards, for example, it's critical to get the winner announcement just right.

This ensures that the winner's name must be read out in a smooth manner, followed by a visual of them and a music sting to be played at the same time. You can't do it live because it would be clear to all that you weren't ready.

Polls, Questions and Attendee Engagement

When it comes to virtual events, one of the greatest obstacles for organisers is participation, so it's important to understand how the mechanics work so you can get the most out of your engagement tools.

Prepare your Engagement Tools

For instance, suppose you want to conduct a survey. It seems to be straightforward. All that's left to determine is who will add the poll material to the app or platform. Is it you, or are you supplying content to the tech team in order for them to complete the task? Who requests that the survey be displayed?

It may be either the host or the presenter. Is it okay if they put the poll up on the screen or do they need to warn the tech team?

Delegates will reply to the poll once it has been posted. Now you must determine how long the survey will remain online before being removed.

Test them

Now that you've decided how you'll run your poll, it's time to put it to the test. And, once again, knowing what works and what doesn't will allow you to make changes before going live in front of your attendees and other stakeholders.

Be sure to test all of your other communication methods, such as games, quizzes, and Q&As.

Conclusion – Meet Increasing Virtual Event Expectations

When it comes to virtual activities, there is no denying that everyone's standards have risen. After all, they've been the only game in town, and audiences have seen a wide range of virtual activities, from the grotesque to the sublime. Many who recognise the importance of rehearsals would have seen better outcomes.

If an organisation hasn't had a rehearsal or really thought about what they're going to do, it's clear. It's obvious. There is no hiding place in a live production. All you do, both good and bad, is broadcast live for everyone to see. Many who recognise the importance of rehearsals, on the other hand, would have a higher return on investment simply because of the effort and refinements they would have put in during the session.

Consider yourself a professional athlete or a theatre production company. Rehearsals are in their DNA, and they should be in yours as well if you want to keep fulfilling your stakeholders' standards.