I got a call recently from a desperate event organizer. Her event was in the process of being rained out, and she only had one day to organize a last minute virtual event. She was franticly searching for a last minute motivational speaker to fill a time slot initially intended to be an in-person activity. I wish I had been able to accommodate her request, but if you’re stuck in a similar situation, here are my suggestions.
First, keep in mind that everyone knows things are going sideways. All those carefully arranged plans are suddenly uprooted. But, even though time is limited, you still need to test the equipment. Find someone to do a Tech Run with your speakers ahead of their speech. The earlier, the better.
Key things to check:
Keep in mind that virtual events don’t generally hold people’s attention as long. Take a quick look at segments that could be shortened or broken up. A shorter time slot does make it harder to present, so keep it forgiving if time runs over or a topic needs to be skipped until the next time. I once had a CEO decide at the last minute that my time slot should be reduced from 20 minutes to 15. I pulled it off, and everyone still said it was one of the best presentations the company had ever had (which is probably thanks to my 18 years of experience!).
Hopefully, your speakers know how to use polls, know to look at the camera instead of their screen and know the difference between the Q&A box and the chat box. They are all great ways to ensure the audience is still engaged. Take some time to ensure you are also familiar with them on your platform. It often takes time to build elements like polls, so jump in quickly.
You can also go old school. Do a raffle! Have you got a spreadsheet with the names of all the attendees? Notate each attendee with a number. Then ask Siri to pick one of those numbers at random. The winner gets to have a piece of merch, lunch with the CEO, a $25 gift card, or an ice cream party for their department the following week. Have fun with it. And best of all, you can give out the awards after the event is all over.
When hosting an event on many professional platforms, you will have logins for both presenters and attendees. If so, please ensure you have a clear plan to keep the respective links straight. It will also help your presenters to get one clear message with instructions, links, guidelines, start time, duration, etc. I’ve spoken at virtual events where one email had my instructions; another had my start time and speaker link, another had a link for the tech run, and more. If I didn’t have a professional system to keep that information straight on my end, finding the correct email to log in for my presentation would have been a nightmare.
Finally, keep a close eye on the event. Have a backup plan in case someone’s connection fails unexpectedly. You can either have a video ready or have another presenter on standby. That way, you can quickly switch to Plan B if necessary.
If you made it this far, I wish you good luck with your last minute virtual event! Are you looking for a last minute speaker? Try my other article or reach out directly. I’m Jessica Cox, by the way, and I’ve been speaking for 18 years and have presented in 28 countries. When you are in a pinch, a top-tier motivational speech is just what you need!
