There is a wide choice of software packages and mobile apps on the market and you will need to compare their functionality against your needs and check what may already be available in your existing software. The well-known video conferencing packages include Microsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Zoom, Skype for Business, Google Hangout, and Whatsapp (which only allows video calls of up to 4 people). In order to find new people to participate in your events, Meetup is a good platform.

There are also a choice of dedicated webinar and virtual event software packages on the market and again it will depend on your needs and your budget. Features you might want to take into account when making your decision are:

• Maximum number of attendees
• Automated and live webinars
• Automated reminders sent to the participants
• Hybrid pre-recorded and live webinars

The video communication approach is becoming increasingly popular, especially in these changing times. However, it is important to include it in an overall strategy and remember why you are doing it. Is it to optimise internal communication, increase your brand awareness, generate and nurture leads, increase customer loyalty and retention?
Here are a few things to take into account to ensure you get the most out of your video communication activities:

Video conferences:

• Establish a connection 5 minutes early to enable you to overcome any technical or connection problems and join the meeting in relaxed mode
• Share the agenda in advance so attendees can prepare well and highlight the planned outcome
• Note a backup phone number in case you get disconnected
• Use headsets if several people are attending from the same office to avoid an echo
• Mute when not speaking to reduce background noise if there are a large number of participants
• Appoint a meeting facilitator
• Engage all participants
• If sharing documents, check they are available on your desktop or in the shared document folder in your video software so you can pull them up quickly

Webinars:

Beforehand:

• Understand your target audience well and what you want to achieve from the webinar and tailor-make your content to optimise results and meet expectations
• Use a professional-looking template for your slide deck highlighting your brand
• Co-brand where it makes sense to give the webinar increased credibility
• Showcase sponsors in a dedicated area with their logos
• Invite a guest subject matter expert to co-present or set up a presentation with several panelists and a moderator
• Make it very easy to register (including automated email confirmation and addition of login details to the attendees’ calendar)
• Keep the slides text light so that that audience does not lose interest and ensure that the presentation is animated
• Use images, icons, charts and other visuals to make your slides more attractive and appealing
• Promote the webinar well with a dedicated webinar registration landing page
• To maximise attendance, promote via several channels i.e. email, social media, blog post and third-parties and partners as appropriate. Insert a tracking code so you can measure which channels were most successful

Beforehand:

• Understand your target audience well and what you want to achieve from the event and tailormake your content to optimise results and meet expectations
• If you plan to do regular virtual events with many attendees, invest in a robust and performant virtual event management software
• Invite participants to attend all or just a selection of the sessions
• Use a professional looking template for any slide decks highlighting your brand
• Include an event specific backdrop
• Co-brand where it makes sense to give the event increased credibility
• Showcase sponsors in a dedicated area with their logos etc.
• Invite a guest subject matter expert to co-present or set up a presentation with several panellists and a moderator
• Make it very easy to register (including automated email confirmation and addition of login details to the attendees’ calendar)
• Keep any slides text light so that that audience does not lose interest and ensure that the presentation is animated
• Use images, icons, charts and other visuals to make your slides more attractive and appealing.
• Include videos between presentations to bring in variety and keep attendees engaged
• Promote the virtual event well with a dedicated event registration landing page
• To maximise attendance, promote via several channels i.e. email, social media, blog post and third parties and partners as appropriate. Insert a tracking code so you can measure which channels were most successful
• Do a test run in advance to check there are no technical issues and to finetune any presentations. Recorded presentations are a safer bet for virtual events
• Turn off all notifications on your computer prior to the session
• Send out an automated email reminder to registered attendees 24 hours in advance and on the same day

Protect your business

No company with an online presence is immune to a cyberattack. However, there are several precautions you can and should take to protect yourself and your business.

Some videoconferencing platforms have attracted a lot of attention because of their security vulnerabilities, and the threats they pose to users’ personal data. Here is a series of best practices which can be applied on most platforms to reduce the risks.

There are mainly three types of risks:

• The main risk is a data leak as a result of passive and unauthorised listening to confidential discussions
• Risks linked to an invasion of privacy following improper use, configuration, or software flaws allowing, for example, for someone to take control of the organiser’s camera without his/her knowledge, recording the call or even sending data from user accounts to third parties without authorisation
• Documents, presentations, notes, and other chat messages exchanged (in addition to voice) which may contain sensitive information which may find their way onto uncontrolled servers

General Recommendations

• A unique password for each meeting should be defined and provided to all invitees
• If you do not have a password, use the ‘waiting room’ function to filter meeting participants
• The audio connection options need to be configured so that the organiser is informed of the arrival of all participants.
• The organiser of a videoconference should ensure that the right people are invited and present in the meeting. Guests should be discouraged from forwarding the invitation to other people
• In the administration console, it is preferable to configure in such a way as to prohibit recording sessions
• Administrators should not disclose reports on user activities
• After use, it is preferable to close the session
• It is advisable to ‘hide’ the webcam when it is not in use
• Screen sharing options should be set correctly to avoid unwanted screen sharing with the group. Normally, only the organisers or presenters of the meetings should be able to share their screen
• File sharing and note sharing options should be restricted to avoid storing sensitive information on uncontrolled servers

Make data-driven decisions

These are the metrics you should ideally track to measure success and ROI of your webinars and virtual events:

• Number of registrations and as a % of people reached
• Number of registrations per acquisition channel (you can easily customise the URL to share a unique URL per channel) so you can then use the most relevant one
• Attendees (average is 40 – 50% of registrants)
• Number of attendees per channel so you can then use the most relevant one
• Engagement – how many people stayed until the end and the % who participated in a survey /poll
• Chat engagement