From a participant’s POV, there is no interaction in live events. In online sessions or video conferencing, people can see you so they have to participate and be alert. However, live streaming with thousands of viewers can feel overwhelming and there’s limited interaction. The use of a live streaming chat helps in these instances.

Even when the content is substantial, participants feel there is little to no engagement. So, this dilemma makes it harder for event organizers to capture the same feeling and interaction when compared to an in-person event.

People are influenced by others. These tend to leave a mark, making the event more memorable. Because of this, event organizers are thinking of new ways to engage and interact with the participants. They are trying new things to make the event more relevant.

Without the benefit of physical interaction, event organizers need to develop new strategies and tactics and use these to facilitate their online events.

Communication and strategy for virtual events

For virtual events, an all-in-one communication solution should be present. This will help replace the face-to-face interaction happening in in-person events. The RumbleTalk group chat platform has all the communication features that you need in a single space, including our latest feature: Polls.

In the RumbleTalk group chat platform, everything is readily accessible in one platform such as group chat, chat moderation, Q&A, and polls, all that next to the embedded live stream platform.

Engaged and full of interaction

• Q&A sessions are held to measure engagement and interaction
• Polls can be used to get feedback from the audience
• Chat is in real-time as the event is ongoing
• Login options made easy with social sign-in (Facebook/Twitter) for a seamless chat entrance

Read more here: Overview of main RumbleTalk chat types and features

Interaction in the live streaming chat

A basic chat is available on some live stream platforms. However, there are few personalization options, making the chat lifeless. RumbleTalk live stream chat has been made to start meaningful conversations, not forgetting the users’ side. We made sure that every user has personalization options, ensuring everyone has a face to go with their profile.

Participants can create their own profiles, complete with an avatar and their username. Emojis are also available in the chat room as they add color and fun to any conversation.

Participants can also start their own discussion in the chat room. Since large events have too many people in one chat room, they are allowed to create their own threads. Other attendees can answer them. If the speaker is not available at the time, moderators and participants can answer.

To enable this feature on your RumbleTalk chat room, choose Moderated Chat. Moderators can watch over the chat and see that the chat is still on topic.

Here, moderators can approve or delete questions and answers. Only approved ones will appear in the chat room.

NOTE: Moderators can send messages normally, without needing the approval of another moderator.

After the live stream session

After the live stream broadcast, participants can still continue the discussion if they want to, without needing moderators. Change the chat type to Group Chat so anyone can join in.

For event organizers, if you want to keep a copy of the chat transcript, click Export on the admin panel. Alternatively, you can also click Export chat transcript directly in the chat room.

Keep this copy and see what your participants have talked about. Use it to enhance your future live streams.

More than just live stream broadcasts

Engagement in a live event is not determined by how many people have attended your event but the effects after. Moderated Chat and Group Chat are just two of the many features of the RumbleTalk group chat platform.

Because of the oversaturated market of online events, it’s more important to ensure communication is two-way. Enabling your participants to connect in real-time will help create a community and look back on it as a memorable virtual event.

Since the pandemic, virtual events have increased in popularity. As we know event trends, Zoom was the top contender. However, there are many others, such as Dacast, who also saw an increase in their sales since the previous years.

However, virtual events are still not known to many companies. Prior to the pandemic, they have not even hosted one. To stay relevant through 2021 and the upcoming years, check out these event trends.

What contributed to the increase in virtual events?

It was technology that paved the way. Even before virtual events were a thing, online meetings and conferences were.

With the rise of virtual events and webinar platforms, communication tools also saw increasing popularity. What previously were to take years, now it only took months to boom.

Virtual event and live chat providers were at the right place and at the right time when the pandemic hit. Now that it’s becoming normal again, how can these platforms still be a part of the trend?

Organizers and how they engage attendees

Based on feedback from attendees and users, we have found that the best ways to keep the audience engaged are through Q&A sessions and open communication.

Another strategy is to interact with the audience before and after the event to introduce networking. This helps the companies and participants stay in touch even after the event for partnerships and solutions. This included freestyle chatting, live discussions, sharing materials, and more. Usually, attendees do come for the virtual event itself, but they find it more interesting when they attend the chat room wherein they can connect with other people, which is what people are craving now. The great news is that RumbleTalk group chat can provide that on any kind of virtual event, even with hundreds and thousands of attendees.

Strategies companies can use going forward

Because of event trends, companies have learned and used this as an opportunity to plan for future events. Here are some strategies going forward.

Platform

When companies shifted from in-person events, they saw that some strategies cannot be used. So, they had to adjust their format to suit the virtual event.

With that, they saw the pros of having a virtual event such as saving on travel costs and venue, having an international reach, getting more speakers to join, and communicating through chat platforms.

RumbleTalk is one of the chat platforms that you can use for any virtual event. Since it’s a web-based platform, you can embed it on any website. Here are the steps that you need to take if you want to use it for your event.

1. Sign up on the RumbleTalk website and create an account.
2. Log in to your account to see the admin panel.
3. Click Embed.
4. Choose Embedded or Floating. This will determine how the chat will look on your website.
5. Get your pre-made code and paste it on your website page.

See the chat on your website immediately after saving. It’s easy and it can be embedded like this on almost any site. If you’re using a third-party platform, you can see the list here for the available chat plugins.

Interaction

Holding a presentation virtually is much more challenging than a face-to-face one. In virtual events, there are instances that the audience is too large for the speaker to accommodate. In turn, this leads to losing the audience’s attention.

However, speakers have found the solution for this. It’s either you let the attendees talk amongst themselves before, during, and after the event. Or, you can appoint moderators to help in addressing the attendees’ questions. Because of these strategies, there are more chances for the speaker to interact with the participants than in in-person events.

Advancement

After the boom of virtual events this past year, many companies and individuals are still experimenting with the ins and outs of virtual event and chat platforms. There’s still room to learn, especially if you include participants’ feedback.

Before going directly to large-scale events, it’s better to start with a small one to see how you will fare. Experiment on the strategies that you will use, live chat rooms and discussions, and what’s the best engagement medium that will make your participants stay.

Event trends: virtual or hybrid?

Which will you go for? Will you be following the event trends? It may be part of our lives now, but will virtual events be the future?

Since virtual events are now common, we can see them becoming common on the Internet. Especially when social media is the king, virtual events are much more accessible than in-person events.

Others believe that it will be a mix of virtual and in-person events. This is what we call “hybrid” events. Since humans crave face-to-face interaction, hybrid events may be the solution for this.

If you want to push the limits of your event, it’s better to go virtual. However, if you want physical interaction, which has been missed since the pandemic, it may be better to go virtual. Nevertheless, both solutions still need a communication tool when the scenario arises. Contact us if you want a demo and plan for your next event.

Virtual job fairs use software like live streaming and conferencing platforms. Job seekers who are comfortable with face-to-face meetings will have no problem with this.

However, there are a number of job seekers who are not confident in virtual meetings and may opt out. Therefore, they will seek out virtual job fairs that only make use of group chat platforms.

Because of the group chat’s nature, they feel comfortable and will be able to show more of their strengths. For instance, in a group chat, an interview can go as follows: introduction, sending of one’s resume, answering some of the HR’s questions, and then just waiting for the company’s contact.

If you’re an entrepreneur, how can you utilize a group chat platform if you intend to host a virtual job fair?

First, what is a virtual job fair?

Online job fairs, or virtual job fairs, are scheduled events dedicated to jobseekers that take place in a virtual setting. Commonly used platforms are live streaming platforms, webcasts, group chat platforms, and email. These are used to exchange information before, during, and after the virtual event. As such, interviewers also use this kind of platform.

When logging into the virtual job fair, job candidates are allowed to enter various rooms, which accommodates diverse employers participating in the fair. As soon as the job candidate enters the room, a company representative can start the conversation.

In some instances, there may be others who entered the room first and are having a conversation with the representative. Group chat platforms like RumbleTalk allow simultaneous private chats, so companies don’t have to kick out other candidates. In the chat room, candidates may ask about the company, the job position, and more.

Set it up in 3 easy steps

Setting up a job fair is relevantly easy. The things that you need are as follows: a dedicated website/page, a live streaming platform or conferencing platform, and a group chat platform.

To make your virtual fair successful, these need to work hand-in-hand. In this blog, our focus will be solely on using a group chat platform.

Let’s say that you already have a website and live streaming platform. All you need is to follow these steps to set up the group chat.

1. Sign up at RumbleTalk.
2. Create a chat room for each exhibitor. This depends on how many companies and employers will be present. You can change the name of each chat room to the company name or brand name.
3. Now, go to the admin panel. Click Embed. When it generates the code, copy and paste this on your website.

Now, you’re all set with the chat rooms. That’s only the first step. Here are some other tips that might be helpful.

The start of a conversation

The host of a chat room will be the employer. Job candidates and company representatives (which will be someone from HR) conduct their interviews here. There is no limit on how many chat rooms a job candidate can enter. Once a job candidate enters the chat room, a company representative must be ready to initiate a conversation.

If you need more privacy, candidates have the option to show which username they would like. Another feature that you can use is the Private Chat. This allows multiple one-on-one conversations to happen in the chat, disregarding the group chat altogether.

Chatting privately with a company representative

As an acting admin of the chat room, a company representative can invite a candidate to a Private Chat. Once it has been initiated, all conversations can continue there. Representatives can call candidates for an interview or if they want to know more about the candidate’s past job experience. Another advantage of the Private Chat is that candidates can send in their resumes without worrying that other candidates will see them.

The Expert’s Chat is commonly used on virtual fairs. The expert’s chat was made for professionals who want to connect with their customers privately. Only the admins will be able to see all logged-in users. Because of this, only admins can initiate a conversation with another member. For this instance, the company representative will have to message the candidate.

If you want to know more about the Expert’s Chat, you can visit this page.

Follow-up after your virtual job fairs

As the job fair ends, representatives can then identify their top candidates and contact those who are suitable for the position. Representatives may give out their contact details. However, the company usually reaches out to the candidate through their given contact details, e.g., phone number or email, which can be found on their submitted resumes.

Questions? Inquiries? We’re here to help!

Since virtual job fairs are large, you might find yourself needing more chat rooms. When that happens, you can always upgrade. Go to your admin panel and select Upgrade your plan or Get more to add admins, rooms, keywords, etc.

Want an exclusive discount for your upcoming virtual fair? Contact us at support@rumbletalk.com.