Planning & Promotion

20 Unique Virtual Event Ideas That Will Inspire Your Next Event

Eventually Learning Team

13 July 2021

Read time 7 min

Introduction

As the event industry has shifted its focus to digital initiatives, virtual events (here's how to host one) and hybrid events are becoming more and more common. If you plan to organize one or more virtual events in the future too, you need to keep your focus on one thing- event engagement.

One of the tried and tested methods of boosting virtual events engagement is thinking of out-of-the-box ideas to make the virtual event more entertaining and help retain the attendees' attention. Here we have mentioned 20 unique virtual event ideas that will allow you to engage attendees and keep them focused on your event without getting distracted or side-tracked.

Create a Buzz Before the Event

The first thing you need to do is to create a buzz before the event. You can do that by scheduling a webinar, hosting chat sessions, or hosting live streams on LinkedIn. No matter what the medium is, it would help if you made sure people talked about your event. If your target audience has never used a virtual platform before, you can even organize a small session and teach them how to use software like Zoom or Google Meet.

Start a Countdown

A crucial thing you can do to increase the hype for your virtual event is to start a countdown. It will help in building anticipation for the event, and people will be more curious about it. Starting a countdown might also help people be reminded of when the event is, to be present on time.

Take them to Never Seen Places

One easy thing you can do to keep the virtual guests engaged is to transport them to another place via a virtual tour. For instance, you can offer a 360-degree visit to a farm, gallery, or a unique restaurant. You can even hold the event from that location so that people who couldn't travel due to COVID-19 can enjoy exploring a new place from the comforts of their homes.

Plan a Beauty Tutorial

If your target audience is Gen Z or younger millennials, you can partner with a local beauty influencer and ensure that you organize a beauty tutorial. It will help your audience learn new beauty hacks and ensure that they connect better with their favorite influencer. Keep these sessions quick and straightforward to ensure everyone stays focused.

Consider a Virtual Photo Booth

Another useful one among virtual event entertainment ideas is to create a photo or video booth virtually. Add your branding and backdrops so that when people take a selfie or make a video of themselves, your brand gets an additional promotion. Moreover, when users are allowed to capture and share videos, GIFs, and photos from home, they would be more willing to attend a virtual event.

Go for Karaoke

One of the coolest virtual event ideas that will help make the event more engaging is to go for karaoke. Yes, you can send a wireless handheld microphone to all the attendees and get the party started by hosting a virtual karaoke session. Encourage the guests to sing along, make song requests and share the sessions on social media platforms.

Add Some Comic Relief

In these troubled times and the negative ambiance, all of us really need some comic relief. You can provide that by adding virtual comedy sessions to the events that you organize. In addition to keeping the virtual guests engaged, it will also offer them some stress-free moments. You can hire a celebrity comedian or add the performance of a stand-up comedian. Or keep the comic relief sessions live by adding some pre-recorded content to the event.

Boost their Wellness

As people have been sitting idle during the lockdowns and have forgotten about their health and wellness to an extent, you should consider adding a wellness session to the next event you organize. Helping to boost fitness levels at virtual events is a unique approach that will likely trend shortly. Keep the workout sessions light and share some useful diet tips. Hire a professional to offer genuine advice.

Include Family (Even Pets!)

The COVID-19 restrictions have helped ensure that people become closer to their families (even their pets). You can cash in on this opportunity by creating sessions where family members or pets can also join in the fun. For example, you can organize a movie-watching session with the audience and their families, or you can start a unique contest like a ‘My Dog is an Expression King/Queen’ contest. Add in a reward and boost the participation further.

Give a Demo

If your company has one or more useful products, offer a demo of how to use the product in different ways to boost engagement levels at virtual events. It can help boost the sales of your products as people prefer to buy multi-functional and easy to use products these days.

Begin Live Polling

Using live polls has been a key part of events for years. It is also a vital tool in the social media world. So, it's obvious it should be an essential element for event organizers who want to keep the audience engaged. When you count live polls among the virtual event resources, you will gauge attendees' answers in real-time and find out how engaged they are.

Offer Cooking Lessons

When seeking virtual event tactics that boost engagement and motivate more people to sign up the next time, you should consider offering cooking lessons to the audience. You can teach an easy recipe yourself or hire a chef to prepare a dish on-screen during the event. Make sure that you pick a dish that is simple to prepare, healthy and tasty. It will allow the audience to learn something interesting and time-saving.

Think About a Dance Party

Fun should be one of the key aspects of a virtual event. You can make an event fun by hiring a DJ who can play some groovy numbers to which the audience can dance. Ensure that the songs you pick are fun and create a playlist in advance to avoid any mishaps later on. You also need to ensure that there is no competition as most people dance freely only when they know that you won't judge them.

Provide Sessions in Different Time Zones/Languages

It is also a smart idea to make sure that the virtual event is organized in different time zones and the content is available in different languages. It will help ensure that people from different countries/ regions can also join the event. You can hire a translator to ensure that the content is available in different languages.

Organize a Trivia

One of the coolest virtual event ideas that help boost engagement is to organize trivia. Ask questions about random stuff and let people show off their knowledge. Divide the participants into teams to ensure they can connect well. You can organize those trivia sessions yourself or hire professional service providers that excel at hosting games and boosting event engagement.

Everyone Loves a Mystery

If you plan to organize a team-building event, you can make it more interesting by adding an element of mystery to it. Ask your attendees to dress as different characters and tell them to work together as a team to find a murderer among their ranks. It is among the coolest virtual event ideas for people who love a mystery and like it to unravel quickly.

Support a Cause

A noble one among the virtual event ideas that increase the attendees' interest is to motivate them to support a cause. No, we are not talking about asking for donations. Instead, you can ask the attendees to join in a dare like go to the road in their knickers or run for five miles every day. Once they complete the dare, the event organizers/sponsors would donate for the cause. Sounds interesting? Doesn't it?

Try Audio-Only Discussions

People who are camera shy or are tired of sitting in meetings virtually, will thank you if you hold your virtual event without videos. Yes, it might be one of the craziest virtual event ideas, but it works. Organize the next event as audio-only, and you will likely see the number of attendees or their interest peak.

Send Communication Kits

Another unique and refreshing one among virtual event ideas is to send communication kits to all the attendees to increase their interest and make them feel relaxed during the sessions. You can send snacks, laptop headphones, or even aromatherapy balls to invoke specific feelings. Make your audience feel good, and they will be more attentive throughout the event.

Finish it Flawlessly

The last creative idea is to ensure that the audience stays engaged by not letting them get bored. Help avoid screen fatigue by keeping the sessions short. As humans have a short attention span, make sure that you don't ask them to focus on one topic for more than 60 minutes. Also, finish it right by sending a post-event thank you gift to all attendees. It will not only impress the attendees but will also help make the event a longer-lasting memory.

Final Words

It's a fact that virtual events are here to stay. So, it would help if you sifted through unique virtual event ideas to make the events more entertaining, engaging, and unforgettable. How engaging a virtual idea is should be measured to discard the ideas that don't bring in results and promote/repeat those that bring in the right results.

If you need help planning or organizing a live, hybrid, or virtual event to boost audience engagement, you can partner with us here. You can also know what people are talking about your event by checking out our new and unique platform, Eventually. Here you can find genuine event reviews and learn what people like about virtual events so that you can add the trending virtual event ideas the next time.

Good Luck!

FAQs

How do you make a virtual event interesting?

You can make a virtual event interesting by picking entertaining and useful virtual event ideas that increase the audience's interest. It can be anything from holding a gaming session to organizing a trivia.

What are the types of virtual events?

A few key types of virtual events are online meetups, webinars, podcasts, virtual keynotes, fireside chats, ask me anything sessions, online training, online workshops, virtual conferences, virtual summits, and virtual fairs, among others.

How do you organize a virtual event?

Organizing an event includes many steps like setting up a time, hiring speakers, finding the right platform, knowing the target audience, promoting the event, creating a content strategy, and preparing for post-event feedback. Many other stages can be added or removed based on the type of event you are planning.