Cracking the Zoom Fatigue Code

We gathered virtual event insights by working with nonprofit and impact driven clients throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and developed a formula for engaging audiences in ways that spark joy, creativity, and impact (while avoiding boredom and dread):

Image Description: A pug wrapped in a blanked looking tired and bored. Meme caption reads: “Coworker, are you doing ok?; Me on the Zoom Call” followed by image of pug with caption stating “Yeah I’m good, why?”

Whether you are introverted, extroverted, or somewhere in between, odds are you have some love and some hate for virtual gatherings. There are the obvious things, like improved access and convenience to events as more people enjoy yoga from their living room than ever before. And then there are the myriad of cookie cutter virtual events that lack creativity, fun, and spark, leaving you feeling like you wasted your money, time, or energy.

By working with 15+ non profit and social impact brands in the last year, our team has benefited from diverse exposure to different online event landscapes; fundraisers, live converts, conferences, pitch competitions, birthday parties, and even a funeral. We see what keeps people’s attention, and we see what misses the mark.

By way of our insightful experiences working with clients big and small, we’ve synthesized our learnings for you below:

1. Show, don’t tell. TELLING will put your audience to sleep, make them regret Zooming with you in the first place, and ensure they don’t return to your future events.
2. Optimize your virtual fundraiser with both online and offline immersive experiences — at the same time. Blend both worlds to ensure your audience is activated across all cylinders. I.e. food delivery WITH live entertainment (when budgets allow).
3. Select a charming and familiar face to emcee your event (live!) — virtual events require an extra charismatic leader to keep energy high and boredom low. Your emcee should be live to the extent that they need/don’t need to engage 1:1 with attendees. Consider this is case by case.
4. Pre-record as much of your program as possible. This includes testimonials, entertainment, and other key event segments ahead of time. Limit the potential for WiFi problems and human error, while MAXIMIZING potential for 1:1 engagement between emcee and audience and/or audience members with each other live during your event.
5. Allow for a longer promotional runway than you think. Tease out surprise elements via email to your audience, garnering excitement the closer you get to event day. This also ensures they mark their calendars, blocking off time to join you.
6. Test your ideas on yourself and your peers. At RippleFX Events we always start by asking ourselves if we’d be interested in attending our own event. If not, why not? What needs to change to make this program more interesting? Then boldly do the more creative thing and even if it’s not perfect, your audience will thank you.

This list could go on, but we hope this inspires you to begin thinking about the many ways you can create a more exciting, less boring online event program.

To get in touch with our team, simply email hello@ripplefx.events. Hope to hear from you soon!

RippleFX Events is a virtual and hybrid event company working with nonprofit and social impact brands to deepen human connection both on and off screen.