72: How to Delight a Virtual Audience

We are holding this conference virtually because it's better, because it's more accessible for people, because you can do it in the comfort of your own home. And so we're really pouring a ton into the virtual experience and making it so immersive for everyone who's attending. And, you know, you don't have to buy a flight and book a hotel and worry about the travel logistics. And of course you get replays as a virtual attendee as well. But

I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Every year since 2018, I have hosted a conference in the fall after the Immersion course. And it has evolved over the years. At the very beginning, it was only only for alumni of my course, Surface Design Immersion. And it was also really small. We met in person. There were, I think about 30 of us. We met in Round Top, Texas that year. The next year we met in Asheville and there was closer to 50 of us. That was 2019. And for 2020 I had booked us a conference location that would hold around 350 people. And as you 2020 and every live event got canceled. And so we transitioned the event that year to a virtual event. And so what I want to talk to you about today is how to delight a virtual audience and really where we've come with the conference ever since 2020. So this will be our third year hosting this conference as a virtual event and we've learned a lot along the way and speaking specifically around really how beautiful a virtual event can be and how much more accessible it can be as well. Now, while I'm talking to you about this, we actually released tickets to the public today. You can find out more about the conference. It's called Immersion Live the Art of Business. And you can find out more about it@bonniechristine.com 2023Immersion Live we're really excited about the speaker lineup this year. We have some incredible speakers like Glow atonmo, Amy Porterfield, Nicholas Wilton, and Morgan Harper Nichols, along with a whole incredible lineup as well. And we also have a very limited amount, so less than 50 in person VIP tickets for the first time. We're really trying this out for the first time ever. But at its core, this event is a virtual conference. And so that's what I want to talk about with you today. Now, of course, oh, I should say one more thing is that we are in early bird pricing. So early bird pricing for this conference goes through August 15th and then we'll move up to regular pricing. So early bird pricing is still in effect. And the really cool thing is that if you get early bird pricing, so if you join us, get a ticket for the conference and anytime before August 15th, you are also going to get what we call our ultimate swag box. The cutoff for receiving the swag, which trust me is really incredible, is August 15th. Now the conference is in October. So October 19th through the 21st is the are the dates for the conference. And if you get an early bird ticket, that's August 15th cutoff, you'll be able to attend virtually. We'll send out the replays and you'll also get the swag. So again, head over to bonniecristine.com 2023interersion live for all the details. So of course in 2020 we held the conference virtually because of COVID And we actually did the same thing in 2021. We held it virtually because of COVID again, and we couldn't decide what we wanted to do in 2022. And we had to make the decision almost a year in advance and things were a little bit still up in the air. And so we decided to hold it virtually again. We have up leveled our virtual experience every year we do it in a studio that is incredibly equipped for virtual audiences. And that's what we're going to talk about today. It is so much more than like a zoom meeting. But I wanted to tell you something that happened at our last conference. Lisa Jacobs, my integrator, who you've met here on the podcast as well, was one of our speakers and she was coming to she was flying in and coming to speak in person. Even though the conference is virtual, we often have the speakers come and present in the studio live. And so that was her plan. And she had something come up last minute and couldn't make the flight. And so she said, it's okay, I'll still, I'll still present. I'll just have to present virtually, of course, we rolled with it. Everything went off with with no problem at all. But here's the interesting thing. Lisa, for the first time ever, got to attend the virtual conference as a virtual attendee. And her takeaways were immense. She loved it. She said, you know, she had, she, she viewed it as entertainment, like put it on the big screen, was in her entertaining chair, got takeout, put her family on notice and she soaked up the beauty of this event because this event is truly like equally inspiring as it is really strategic and business minded. And so it's a really, really fun thing to attend. And so she attended it and she's on my team. So it's been really, really fun to hear her takeaways. And what we decided, at least for the next few years, I believe, is that we're not holding this conference virtually because we're concerned about health or any other reason. We are holding this conference virtually because it's better, because it's more accessible for people, because you can do it in the comfort of your own home. And so we're really pouring a ton into the virtual experience and making it so immersive for everyone who's attending. And you know, you don't have to buy a flight flight and book a hotel and worry about the travel logistics. And of course you get replays as a virtual attendee as well. So we are doing something a little bit different this year and opening up some VIP tickets like I mentioned, for a very small in person crowd. But beyond that, it's entirely virtual. So for this episode, I want to talk about how we do that in a virtual setting. Our goal is to absolutely bring this conference to life for you from wherever you're joining. So today I'm going to share 10 ways that we use our how we bring this virtual conference experience to an invigorating and rewarding experience for everyone. Let's get into it. Way number one is virtual immersion. We really utilize engaging online platforms and tools to replicate that immersive experience of a physical conference. So for instance, instance, we have a stage. We're also doing it not in the comfort of our own home or studio. Instead we have rented out and we're working with one of the leading studios for online conferences in the nation. Actually say it is the leading studio for online conferences and they have their own online hosting platform that makes the experience feel incredibly immersive. Like you are in the Room with us. I can see everyone's faces on the screen in front of me, so, so I can see and interact with you. Way different from an average Zoom setup. The next way is through interactive sessions. Sessions are designed to be dynamic, participatory and filled with actionable takeaways. And we love having the audience participate, so we encourage that. And we make each session filled with unique ways that make it interactive. So sometimes we'll allow audience members to share their biggest takeaways or ask questions, or maybe speak to each other. The next way is through networking opportunities. I think it's really, you know, one of the things that we love about an in person event is the connections made between the other humans that we meet. And so we've put a lot of effort into how can we make this still true for an online virtual conference. So we're really working to facilitate connections between everyone who's so like minded. So we have dedicated discussion places, we've got optional breakout sessions to encourage interaction and collaboration. And we have seen truly lasting professional relationships and real friendships come out of the virtual conference. Now way number four is through what I mentioned, the ultimate swag box. I have a thing for getting something beautiful in the mail, which means that I also have a thing for sending something beautiful in the mail. We love sending our attendees a curated box of just delightful, beautiful resources. Things that they can use during the conference, things that they can use after the conference, like workbooks and notebooks. And we often have artists sponsor the box. And so we really pull together a curated list of resources and try to just bring that tangible element to the virtual experience and it makes the whole thing so memorable. Now, these boxes are highly sought after and in years past, we've always capped it at a number. So let's say the first 800 people who register for the event get the swag box. Well, typically they sell out really quickly. And so this year, instead of capping it at a number, we've capped it at a date. So that's why August 15th is so important. Everyone who joins and buys a ticket to the online conference by August 15th is guaranteed an ultimate swag box. Now, if you're listening to this, after that you won't be getting a swag box, but you will be getting like a virtual goodie bag with all of the most important takeaways and printable versions of everything that we can accommodate with. Now way number five is access to replays. We record every session in like hd, beautifully recorded, and we give them to all of the attendees for Their convenience. Now, I've seen a lot of people do a lot of different things with replays. Like maybe you have to be there live and there are no replays or you have to pay for the replays. We absolutely give everyone access to the replays of the entire event. And, you know, one reason is that I know so many people are joining from so many different time zones. It's hard to be there live. But I also want you to have access to the replays, you know, moving forward so that you can come back and revisit the material. Number six is just through some really fun interaction things. We design custom backgrounds that you can use in your own zoom, you know, screen if you want. We of course have custom swag. We also have something called reaction cards, which are like laughing emojis and heart emojis. Emojis and so that you can hold them up to your camera and really interact. You know, typically everyone will be on mute unless we're calling people to unmute and speak to us. So typically everyone is on mute. And so reaction cards are such a fun way for everyone to see how everyone is reacting with the content. This is our way of giving attendees a super fun way of participating and are also the way that we let our audience really show our speakers how they're feeling. And there is nothing like speaking to over a thousand people and seeing everyone hold up their heart card or like their light bulb moment card because they had a good idea. Now, number seven is something that we're trying for the very first time this year and we're calling it Live Notes. We are wanting to inject creativity and energy with this particular conference by having someone live note taking during the actual entire conference we it. You'll have to be there to understand. But it is such a fun way to see every presentation come to life because the note taker is like. It's the form, their form of art. Like they're making beautiful notes and summarizing the presentations and doing it in a way that you can see it live. So it's really fun. We're also thinking about doing a note taking contest or at least maybe a competition or a giveaway. Because something that's so incredible about this, this conference is truly, it's where like business meets beauty. And so almost everyone attending is an artist or a creative entrepreneur. And so they just have a way of taking beautiful notes. And so it's really fun to see everyone's note taking ability. Whether it's beautiful or just well captured, we always love to see them so we're thinking about how to play into this this year. We don't have it all ironed out yet, but I'll be sure to share it with you when we do. Now, number eight is the digital goodie bag. I mentioned this already because it is what everyone will get who joins us after August 15th. So instead of the swag, they'll get the digital goodie bag and it's. And people who get the physical swag box will also get the digital goodie bag. It is a digital version of the swag as much as we possibly can. So it's some printables, some recommendations, resources, and then anything that's relevant to the actual presentations. So worksheets, workbooks, and all of the digital goodies like that. Now, number nine is a super fun way to engage with everyone during the online conference, and that's through interactive polls or quizzes. I did one last year actually, for this very podcast. We had everyone vote on some things that had to do with this podcast, and it was the very first time that I even announced it. I'm going to have a really fun announcement to make at this year's conference as well, but it's still a secret for now. So we love to use polls and quizzes during presentations or anytime we really want audience engagement. And it's a really fun way to get feedback in a real, like a live setting. And then finally, number 10 is through creative challenges. We very much encourage attendee engagement through creative challenges related to the session's content. So we, we very much want feedback in real time. We oftentimes draw winners and give prizes away. We want people interacting in the chat and with each other. And so those are 10 ways. There's actually more than that as well, but these are 10 ways that we work to really ignite the audience for a virtual event. Honestly, it's unlike anything that I've ever attended. And every year I feel like this conference is so, so much work. We kind of have a moment of like, are we doing it again? And every single year, the attendees get so much from the conference. The takeaways, the connection, the strategy that they leave with, and the outpouring of love for this conference every single year has me saying, as long as it makes this kind of an impact, we will do it forever. And so here we are gearing up for it again. We've been preparing for it for a couple of months already, even though we still have about three months before we go live. I would love to have you join us there, and I hope this episode was helpful for you. If you run any type of online conference or workshop, or even for regular zoom calls, some of these things can be a great way to really help engage your audience. So whether you're a seasoned artist looking for fresh perspectives or a budding entrepreneur seeking guidance, Immersion Live 2023 truly holds a wealth of knowledge and inspiration for you, and we're counting down the days until we can share it. Until then, my friends, create the beauty that you want to see. Come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for you. Thank you for joining me today and I can't wait to see you soon. Bye for now.