The creation of the virtual event has been next level since the start of CO-VID19. 

In fact, I would love to see how many sales Zoom has received over the past 2 months.

For me, I think I took for granted how easily we were able to see and connect with human beings daily.

And now, more than ever, people are really seeking the human connection.

Because we are such beautiful, adaptable creatures, we have found ways to connect the best we can online.

In enters the virtual event space.

If you have spent even 5 seconds online in the past 2 months, you will have noticed that people have become very creative in taking events that were once in person and putting them into the online space. 

Workout classes, training courses, happy hours, business meetings – you name it and everyone has taken their meetings to an online forum (usually Zoom).

I feel like now more than ever I have an opportunity to be social with friends and people I couldn’t be social with because of geographic distance.

I also very much believe that even when life goes back to “normal”, that version of normal is going to be different. 

We have realized as a society how much more efficient it is to do things virtually and how simple it is to set it all up.

We don’t need to spend the added extra hours a week in the car, driving to meetings, if we can do it all online.

So in the months to come, virtual events are going to be a hot thing. 

What a better time to jump in and get on a board? 

Let’s dive into the why and the how of it all! 

Why You should Create Virtual Events In Your Business?

The question really is, “Why shouldn’t you?”  

Even when we are able to have in-person events, there are so many beautiful advantages of creating an online community.

We are going to discuss them now. 

Creates community 

If you know me, you know I LOVE building community.

I wrote a whole blog last week on it.  Click here to check it out! 

Creating community is the soul of any business. 

We were created to be in community with one another.  We have a natural desire to connect with other humans, who we know, like & trust.

Creating a community allows us to know, like and then eventually trust people and allows people to do that with us.

And creating community in the virtual world allows people to have that experience, no matter where they are at.

Which brings to my second point…

Extends the Reach of that Community 

When we create virtual communities, we are able to extend the reach of that community.

One of the things I love about the online space and about social media is that it allows us to connect with people we might not have ever connected with before in our lives. 

I have so many online virtual friends, who I have never met in person but if it wasn’t for online community, we never would have connected.

And when we extend the reach of our community, we extend our connections, we extend who knows about us and our business & what we do, and we extend our ability to serve people at a larger scale.

For me, that is fucking epic. 

Virtual events are a platform to showcase your services & what you teach

Virtual events are an incredible way to show people who you really are and what you do.

The thing I love about a live event is that it enables people to connect with me and see who I really am.  I’m not scripted.  I just show up as I am and serve in a big way.

That same goal can be accomplished through a virtual event.

Virtual events are another platform to showcase who you really are for a more extended period of time (over social media that only gives 15 second clips and slides).

It also allows you to showcase the skill, service or business that you have to offer.

For example, if you are a coach, use this as an opportunity to teach what you teach your students or live coach people in a space.

When people are able to experience who you are and have a lived experience with your services, they are more likely to want to work with you & buy from you. 

Lead generation 

Which leads us into lead generation.   

When people have an experience with your services – when they have a lived experience, meaning they actually see how you work and the transformation you help to effectuate, they will want to work with you.

Maybe not immediately.  But they will become fans. 

Major fans. 

And even if they never buy from you but love you and support and shout you out, they are your OG peeps.

And those OG peeps are the most valuable.  Trust me. 

How to create virtual events

The real way you create a virtual event is to decide to do it, invite people to it, and then host it.

Don’t make it complicated.

Don’t make it difficult.

Decide:

What do you want the theme to be?

Do you want to do it solo or have guests speakers?

What date will you have it?

That’s it. 

And then you start to tell people about it.

Email your list.

Post on social media.

Whatever method you decide to use to promote it, promote it non-stop until the event.

By non-stop, I mean every, single, solitary day. 

If I could share any piece of advice of hosting an event, it’s that you have to promote it constantly and daily.  If you don’t, people won’t know about it and will not show up.

When I hosted my first event, All The Things Business, I posted about that event every single day.

I created engaging stories and I was relentless.

And it worked.

Even if people didn’t come and buy tickets, the community had heard about it and knew what it was all about. 

What are types of online events you can create for your business now? 

Depending on the type of business you have will depend on the type of virtual event you want to host online.

Think about what type of event would make sense for you to have in person and then get creative about how you can host it online.

For example, if you are a healer or a tarot card reader, you might host a psychic fair where people could come in person and walk up to each table and have a reading or experience with each healer. 

In Zoom, you could create an event and have different breakout rooms set up, so that each healer has their own room to provide their service.

If you are a coach, what is your area of expertise and a topic that you could teach on at a workshop? 

Take that same topic and create an online webinar experience for your people. 

Create a workbook or a PDF that you email everyone before the meeting so that they can follow along, just like they would in person.

If you are a fitness instructor who usually hosts large bootcamps, why not host a virtual bootcamp?  Everyone can sweat it out 

Registration & Payments for Virtual Events 

You can handle the registration in a variety of different ways, much of it could be done through automation, which will make your life so much easier.

I love Kajabi and use it for everything in my business, including creating and setting in person and virtual events.

If you don’t know what Kajabi is, check it out here.  It is my favorite business tool to use! 

In the Kajabi platform, you can create the landing page for your event, set up payment, and then create an automated email that will send your participants a Zoom link to the event immediately or you can schedule it to go out the day before or the day of the event.

Another tool you could use is through an event site called Eventbrite.

Eventbrite is a platform that allows you to create a sales page for your event and lists your event in their promotions locally.  On the back end, Eventbrite will make a list of your event participants for you, allows you create early bird pricing options and a few different fun things.

(I personally don’t use it because Kajabi allows me to create events and the fees are lower through Kajabi.  But Eventbrite makes it so easy for you that you have no excuses to not create an event).

Another way to to run your registration is to do it manually.  As people sign up, they can pay you through Venmo or PayPal and then you can manually send them the links.  I try to minimize manual work like this but if you only have a handful of people and want to try your hand at hosting an event, this is the way to go. 

What are you waiting for?

If you have been feeling a pull to create an event, just do it.

You are feeling that feeling & desire for a reason.

Don’t let the fear of not being perfect or not being good enough prevent you from doing the thing you want to do.

Maybe 5 people show up.

Maybe 100.

Who cares.

Commit to this, execute it (messy and quick) and you will be so happy you did it!

I would also love to invite you to my virtual 3 day business event, All The Things. Check it out here! And use the promo code FAMILY for a major discount!