Reinventing Virtual Events

CHAPTER 10How to Pull Off a Stellar Virtual Event

The whole purpose is to enable people to learn. Your mission is not to transmit information but to transform learners.

—Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps

Perhaps you think you need a couple of quarters to pull off an event as we did, but we assure you it can be done with about 30–45 days of planning if you follow this guidebook. Parkinson's Law states that “work expands to fill the time allotted”; therefore, Horstmann's Corollary is more relevant than ever, “Work contracts to fit the time we give it.”

If you're an event marketing team, you may strictly plan your marketing and event calendar so just make sure you create more mini syncs and think “agile.” We've found that many speakers have books or active PR campaigns on the podcast‐webinar circuit right now with an urgency of “yesterday,” and they're bookable 10 business days out. You'd be surprised.

You probably have some form of an active mailing list. The paradox is that if you promote it 90 days out or even three to six months out, executives are a bit fuzzy about what's on their calendar that far on the horizon. By sending out a simple LinkedIn event invite, sharing a Google Calendar, and building out an email campaign of a few touches, you can typically pack an online event faster at the two‐ to three‐week mark.

The best advice for an event is simple: build something you want to watch. Do you admire the work of the coaches, speakers, and panelists? Take the time ...