Understanding Audience Attention Span and How to Keep Virtual Audiences Engaged

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Eight seconds. This is how much time companies have to capture virtual event attendees’ attention before it wavers. (1) Grabbing their attention is only the first step. From there, brands must keep the audience’s attention while a myriad of distractions assails their senses.

This is the age of great distractions and severely abbreviated content courtesy of the smartphone and TikTok. This duo can prove deadly to businesses when it comes to audience engagement. Due to their high tech nature, virtual events present distinct challenges to the organizations that host them.

When attendees are at home and separated from the group, distractions and a lack of accountability are a recipe for disaster regarding engagement. Fortunately, there are strategies to hold their attention during virtual meetings.

Provide a Guide on Interacting

In many cases, it is not a lack of desire to interact with virtual event attendees, but rather, a lack of knowledge of how they can do so. Remedying this situation is as simple as giving them clear-cut instructions on interacting with presenters, speakers, other attendees and the platform itself.

Optimal results come from sharing these instructions in multiple ways. The moderator can deliver a synopsis of them at the beginning of the event. However, it is essential to outline the information in written form instead of a digital download.

Participation Is Golden

Offering attendees ways to actively participate in virtual meetings is a classic strategy for keeping them engaged. This approach has endured for many years because it works.

Effective tools for letting attendees play an active role in virtual events include:

Quizzes
Polls
Surveys

These three tools offer several compelling benefits. First, they are easily personalized according to the event’s focus, characteristics of the audience and different segments within the overall target audience. Second, they play a dual role by revealing key insights while keeping attendees engaged. Event organizers can leverage the information gleaned from them to inform future meetings and marketing efforts.

Networking Is Still a Priority

While virtual events do not occur in person, giving attendees dedicated opportunities to network with each other is still critical. There may not be a physical space in which they can talk, but organizers can create virtual discussion rooms that can do the job nicely.

These spaces can look eerily realistic and give attendees a strong feeling that they are standing or sitting face-to-face with the other audience members. Networking sessions should be scheduled with enough time to let participants feel like they have plenty of time to hold fruitful conversions at a leisurely pace.

While eight seconds is a short window of time to capture audiences’ attention during virtual events, it can be done with meetings that incorporate the elements outlined in this article. Businesses that implement them will experience significant returns from their virtual events.

Uncertain times call for creative thinking. Contact Gavel International to be inspired with solutions that connect and engage your people.
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SOURCES:

1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/

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Eloisa Mendez

With over 25 years of experience in the meetings and event industry, Eloisa has worked closely with a variety of clients on events ranging from small incentive trips to large corporate meetings. While growing her career at Gavel International, Eloisa has managed all aspects of the event lifecycle, including site selection, creative materials, attendee registration, rooming list and transportation management, entertainment bookings, as well as website development. Eloisa was progressively promoted in recognition of her meeting management expertise, professionalism, and genuine passion for driving improvements within overall event operations. She was recognized as the 2000 Employee of the Year and is currently the General Manager for Gavel International.