It’s easy to think that because it’s technology, your internal IT team can handle virtual meetings on their own. We all have some brand of meeting software and it’s just a big virtual meeting, right? Right? Well… not so fast. If you’re looking to produce a virtual or hybrid meeting, there are a few things you should think about before you land on keeping it in-house.

TEAM CAPACITY

Just because a meeting is virtual doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a lot of moving parts. Something we’ve noticed from clients over the last year is that most people go into their virtual meeting planning thinking that they just want a webinar, but what they really want is an interactive virtual replacement for their live meeting. That means produced segments, scripts, animations, graphics, understanding platform capabilities and workarounds, streaming, and production timelines. Support for your virtual meeting is one of the biggest considerations before you make the call to stay in-house.

PLATFORM KNOWLEDGE

Another consideration is how much knowledge or experience your team may need to navigate the program chosen for your event. Can they quickly assess problems with the platform? Can they embed the stream on a custom website or build the event in the full-service platform? Can they expand your capabilities or does staying in house limit the potential of your event?

TROUBLESHOOTING

Any number of issues can arise with technology even if we do our best planning before the event. When you partner with a production company, you get dedicated, experienced support throughout the planning and execution of your event for you and your attendees to ensure everyone can get the most out of your program. Thinking about how you’ll troubleshoot potential problems ahead of time will set you up for a successful event.

PRE-PRODUCTION

Partnering with a production company gives you support from start to finish. From initial strategy and goal setting to speaker coaching, script writing, platform building and creative support, to rehearsals and show day execution. For a virtual event, planning and defining goals is key to success. Having an experienced partner nearly guarantees that success and ensures you have capable hands putting all the pieces into place along the way.