As scary as a Saturday night Zoom meeting sounds, there are some tricks to holding a lively and successful virtual event.

Team Judy Wine Night

As a familiar fundraiser celebrated its 10th anniversary, it would also be the first year of the event without its namesake, Judy Erdahl. An advocate and fundraiser for Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Research at the UMN Masonic Cancer, Judy passed away last August after living with MBC for eight years. She brought friendship, joy and gratitude to every interaction, and Team Judy wanted to honor her legacy and make Team Judy Wine Night something special. Interactivity and engagement were key, so, how’d they do that?

• To give the event a personal touch and keep some traditions going, the event-host greeted everyone live from her front door (via Zoom and Facebook LIve) just as she had always done. Even though people couldn’t gather in her beautiful backyard, they had the opportunity to experience her hospitality virtually.
• To keep people engaged, the event was a balanced combination of pre-produced videos of remembrance and live conversations and reflections on Judy’s impact and progress in Metastatic Breast Cancer research, including a live conversation with Dr. Douglas Yee, the Center’s Director. We partnered with our friends at Captivate Media to pull this off.
• To spark interactivity, we recommended 5 minutes of small group breakout rooms for all participants to meet new people or reminisce with friends about how much Judy meant to each of us. The breakouts were a high-point of the event, creating a space for authentic engagement and conversations.
• Increasing accessibility and reach, the team broadcasted the whole event to Facebook Live (a more familiar platform for many who didn’t feel comfortable with Zoom). The Facebook Live video is a forever memory on the group’s Facebook page to be revisited whenever friends seek Judy’s inspiration or gratitude.

Saint Louis Art Fair

The Saint Louis Art Fair, one of the top art fairs in the country, discovered just how creative they could be this year. With over 120 juried artists virtually participating in this year’s fair, the Art Fair had one goal, to support artists and the local community.

• To bring beloved fair festivities forward with a new twist of virtual flare, the Saint Louis Art Fair team kicked-off its promotions by sending VIP boxes to media and VIP guests and engaging artists and the community in conversation and FAQs.
• Generating talk and excitement are essential for creating a successful virtual event. We recommended that on opening night, the team host an Artist After-Party, bringing together virtual fair-goers and artists for a night of lively conversation and drinks.
• To drive participation, virtual fair attendants could visit a variety of live performances and pre-recorded events, right from their living rooms or offices all weekend.
  • Activities ranged from virtual musical performances, to live Q&As with juried artists, to browsing a virtual Art Gallery and buying juried art, to enjoying specials and fair deals from local businesses, to art activities and performances for the entire family to enjoy.

Park Nicollet Spotlight Gala

This year marks the 40th Annual Park Nicollet Spotlight Gala. As one of the largest providers of pediatric health care in the region, Park Nicollet’s commitment is to help families and children thrive and reach their full potential. So, to engage attendees, the Spotlight Gala has combined tradition with innovation.

• To promote such an important cause, the team has reimagined marketing efforts and is working to blend successful past, promotional strategies with a new wave of creativity.
  • Printed out invitations and sent them to traditional audiences, as they’d done in the past for the live, in-person events. Re-created content to be even more captivating, enchanting audiences to join this year’s Spotlight Gala and celebrate its 40th anniversary in serving the community.
  • Used electronic billboards and advertised on various media channels to reach wider audiences.
• To keep the event’s vibrancy and prestige, they are using Zoom to their advantage. The event is no longer limited in capacity, allowing them to invite traditional audiences as well as new participants from across the region. Go to parknicolletfoundationgala.com and join the October 3rd festivities including premier and silent online auction and inspiring stories of hope from children, parents and professionals.

Engagement and interactivity are at the center of a successful event. Zoom fatigue is real but is avoidable. Identify what makes your event special and use that as the foundation for your plans moving forward. Give those special event traditions a spotlight, utilize breakout rooms for increased engagement and reimagine strategies to bring beloved traditions forward in a virtual world.

10 Pro Tips for a Successful Zoom Event

1. Before starting Zoom, change your account name to the event name and upload a brand logo or event logo as a profile picture.

2. Soundcheck presenters, unmute mics; instruct and practice having presenters control their own mics.

3. Turn off video & sound for Zoom operator.

4. Make one or more presenters co-host with full access controls (a back-up for any one system in the event of internet capacity or disruption).

5. Before the presenter shares their screen; instruct all to turn off all emails and other alerts on the presenter’s computer; silence cell phones.

6. Zoom operators may choose to pin a speaker to full screen if they are speaking without visuals for a long time. Especially during a Q & A. This avoids capturing any disengaged participants.

7. When using visuals, use full presentation mode for the best effect.

8. Mute all other participants.

9. Provide Warning when Zoom operator Shares to Facebook Live

10. Prewrite your FB Live description to quickly drop it into the Facebook Live interface. Pause for about 10 seconds on the opening screen before the speaker starts speaking to give the audience a chance to get settled.

There are many similarities between basketball strategy and your company’s marketing/PR strategy. Tips and tactics to consider for your company plan:

• The strategy is only good if it’s implemented – and in a timely manner. Positive results are born of listening to your intuition while implementing the plan.
• Repetition and consistency pay off.
• Incorporating an unexpected move within a strategy keeps it fresh and increases results.
• Focus. Focus. Focus.
• The coach who believes in his team, sees their talents beyond the obvious, and communicates in ways his players will listen are those in the top 10.
• Bringing talent to the court is step No. 1. Have you drafted the right people to make up your team (key players that shine in strategy, copywriting, graphic design, media relations, social media, technology and analyst)?
• The score does matter. Setting goals with measurable scores make a difference.
• Was the price you paid worth the investment?
• Team chemistry can make or break the team’s results.

Win big. Learn from losses.

Take Ray Rice for example. It used to be that the authorities and the news media would have been the only people with access to the video documenting Rice’s behavior in the elevator. Now, it was posted, tweeted, retweeted, and shared on YouTube for the whole world to see, multiple times.

Now more than ever, it’s critical for you to take necessary precautions to protect your business reputation in the marketplace, online and off.

1. Set Internal Standards

Set the tone for public relations within your company by clearly communicating your standards of excellence and what is expected from leadership and staff.

2. Accentuate the positive

Proactive distribution of your positive company attributes across all communication platforms and within the media will enhance your reputation, so if something negative occurs, it will help ease the blow. For example, Applebee’s weathered the storm in the aftermath of the news of their recent E-Coli case tied to the dressing on their oriental chicken salad. Their “see you tomorrow,” neighborhood bar and grill perception begged forgiveness and fast. They changed up the dressing and continued to push out positive PR and pull in business. Google the word “Applebee’s” and nothing pops up about E-Coli.

3. Prepare to react

Implement a Crisis Media Policy, so if for some reason, a skeleton pops out of your closet or an employee gets into trouble and it leaks to the media, you’re prepared! Make sure you’ve reviewed the policy with your staff, so they know what to do if the media calls.

Hollywood agents have been known to say that “any pub is good pub,” but that doesn’t hold true for business. Bad public relations actually has the power to put you out of business, so take the necessary steps towards positive press now.

1. Assess what has and hasn’t worked in the past and why and why not. 

There’s no need to re-invent the wheel, if the wheel is working, so do more of your winning tactics and less of the bombs.

2. Get input from your management team and if appropriate, your entire staff.

People in the trenches of your business are on the pulse of what works and what doesn’t AND, people who are part of the process will be more likely to take ownership of implementation and driving success.

3. Build campaigns for multiple uses.

When you create a good marketing and public relations campaign, it can be implemented throughout your marketing efforts from print materials to advertising, web, social media and email signatures.

4. Consider cross promotions.

When you partner with another business or charitable organization, you gain access to a larger pool of prospects through their database and other connections. And, co-op advertising dollars are sometimes available to off-set your costs.

5. Follow your heart with cause marketing.

Charitable involvement can be good marketing, but it works best when you follow your heart. Select a cause with which you or a staff member are personally connected to because a sincere commitment will enhance the benefit and enhance your internal PR.

6.Include contacts, emails and phone numbers within the plan.

When writing your strategy, make implementation easier by including contact information for the people you will need to call to make it happen. You’ll save time by having everything you need in one place.

Follow these tips and build a strategy that will drive your business and revenue!