Does the idea of virtual events make you feel bored? You are not alone. Surveys have shown that most people dread online meetings.

There are good reasons behind the bad reputation of online events. The very nature of online events makes them boring. People struggle to communicate in real-time, and half of the exciting parts are lost in lags and delays.

However, office events need not be boring. Whether you are a participant or the organiser, you can play an important role in transforming office online events to provide an altogether different experience. Let’s find out how.

Why are online events mostly boring?

Before we get into how to make online office events interesting, we need to understand why they are boring.

To begin with, there is a gap in communication in virtual events. When people are interacting in real-time, there are a lot of non-verbal cues involved. Be it body language, facial expressions, or subtle gestures, communication is not just about words. 

More than 90% of emotional communication happens through body language. In virtual events, we do not get the chance to communicate through non-verbal signals. As a result, verbal communication becomes more stressful. It is one of the many components that lead to Zoom fatigue.

Another factor contributing to the boredom of online events is the visual arrangement. Every participant is visible in a small box, which takes away from the experience of seeing an actual picture. On top of that, seeing your face every time you speak takes a toll on your mind. It is absolutely different from how we communicate in real-life.

Aside from these, several other factors make virtual events less enticing. Now, let’s delve into different ways that make these boring events lively.

Audience engagement

In formal office events, communication is often one-sided. In virtual events, the flow of information becomes even more unidirectional. When the audience is not a part of the conversation, there’s no way you can make the event interesting.

Audience engagement is the foundation of a fruitful and interactive online event.Let’s explore different ways on how to engage more with the audience.”

Conduct votes and polls

Votes and polls are divisive in nature since people are bound to have different opinions on a subject. However, they are a great means to engage the audience. When the audience is split on an issue, our human nature is to argue it out and establish our point. For the host, this is a great opportunity to get the listeners and viewers interested. Once the audience has a stake in proving their point, they will automatically be more interested in the event. It is a simple and subtle way of intriguing the audience and engaging with them.

Introduce casual events

Corporate online events are often all about work. There’s no palace for a casual conversation or a fun event. While this approach might work in offline events for a short duration, they are very difficult to pull off on virtual conference platforms.

To counter this problem, try increasing small segments of fun in any online event. It can be a short 5-minute quiz or an online game where participants compete against each other. Once you move beyond Zoom and Google Meet, there are online event platforms with a digital lounge where participants can network with each other. These are minor alterations in an event schedule that have a huge positive impact.

Go asynchronous

While synchronous online events have become the norm, they are also notorious for the so-called Zoom fatigue. Asynchronous events are slowly gaining traction and are not yet popular. However, when you compare asynchronous events with synchronous events, the former often comes out on top. In select cases, going asynchronous might not be an option. However, they work fine, if not better, in many use cases.

If you want to go beyond Zoom and traditional online events platforms, check out Event Anywhere. It comes with an asynchronous events platform, 360° communication suite, and a lot more.