by Aubrey Mellos | Feb 23, 2018 | Blog
Guest Blog from our Partners at ExpoLogic
Sessions make up a significant part of your event’s agenda and can be a deciding factor for attendees when choosing to come to your event. It is important to select sessions that are exciting, interesting, and engaging to ensure your event’s success.
But how do event organizers know what sessions attendees are interested in and what topics they find relevant?
Tracking session attendance is an easy and accurate way to gather attendee feedback and translate this information to useful data. Feedback from attendees on the sessions offered can be incredibly valuable when it comes to planning a successful event and deciding how to make the attendee experience more meaningful.
Here are 5 reasons why you should start tracking session attendance at your next event:
- Understand your attendee’s interests – Tracking session attendance gives event organizers important insight on what topics their attendees find interesting and captivating. Session tracking data identifies how many people enter a session, leave a session, and how long they spent in the session. This data can be analyzed and used when selecting session topics and speakers for future events.
- Award education or professional credits – Identifying the amount of CEUs or CMEs to award session attendees is no longer a challenge when using session tracking technology. Event organizers can accurately report this information with the data obtained from the session tracking technology.
- Measure your investment – Understanding which sessions your attendees are spending the most time in allows you to better measure the investment made on speakers and session material. Session tracking data can be used to evaluate which topics, speakers, and overall sessions are popular with attendees and if they are worth bringing back again in the future.
- Focus on your event budget – Event organizers can better plan their budget with the data provided from tracking session attendance. If sessions are empty or attendees are consistently leaving early, remove these sessions from your agenda and use the funds in other areas to help improve your event.
- Adjust sessions to improve future events – Session tracking data provides details about attendees that can help organizers when planning an event. Information such as number of unique attendees and average dwell times can measure the level of attendee interest for each session letting you plan more efficiently. For example, a session with higher attendance rates can be designated to a larger room to better accommodate the demand.
If you aren’t tracking sessions at your event, you are missing out on valuable information that could help improve your event. Start tracking sessions and use this information during the event planning process. Session tracking data can help you create a well-planned agenda with engaging speakers and session topics that attendee’s will be excited to participate in.
To learn more about how to get started, visit www.expologic.com/session-tracking-expo-logic.
by Aubrey Mellos | Jan 4, 2018 | Blog
The truth is that all subject matter experts don’t always make great speakers. Additionally, some people can deliver a killer in-person presentation but fall short when presenting to a virtual audience. We’ve compiled a few webinar presentation tips that will help ensure that your webinar speakers are equipped to deliver an amazing and memorable presentation experience:
Our Top 6 Webinar Presentation Tips for Speakers
- Deliver on the expectations of the learner – provide solutions, education, and inspiration. Leave your attendees with key takeaways and action items. But be sure to make it entertaining – tell stories, speak to personal experiences, include video or bold imagery. Case studies or real-world scenarios also work really well to help illustrate points.
- Encourage speakers to have personality and add energy. It can sometimes be awkward when you have to present to your computer screen and you don’t have an in-person audience to infuse natural energy. Consider having another person in the room so the speaker feels like they are talking to an audience. Standing up to present (with the right headset to ensure audio quality) can also help ease a presenter who is more used to in-person events.
- Speak the language of your audience. When preparing your webinar presentation, know who is on the webinar – their role, industry, department, etc. If you have a varied audience, that is okay, but be sure to acknowledge that on the live webinar and set the expectation that some of the content may not be completely applicable. This is also a great way to encourage post-event follow-up if you are unable to address specific audiences.
- Remove the fear of presenting. Presenting can be scary and doesn’t always come naturally. Layer that with a presenter that isn’t all that tech savvy and we may have a recipe for disaster. Consider having another voice to help moderate and make the presenter more comfortable. Always have a training session on the technology before the live presentation to reduce fears about how the webinar platform works, or consider hiring an event production company so that presenters can simply focus on delivering content. Lastly, always do a thorough sound check – bad audio can ruin the best presentation.
- Create a slide deck that encourages engagement. The following list includes our favorite tips on how to prepare a webinar presentation slide deck that people will pay attention to:
- Include polls, breaks for questions, or even encourage attendees to openly use the chat window to share ideas. If the speaker is comfortable they may even address some comments on the live webinar.
- Know the flow of the presentation and your story.
- The webinar should address ONE thing. Don’t try to cram too much into a webinar, you will lose your learner and will simply run out of time.
- Avoid cobbling together a presentation from old decks – start with the narrative first, then build the presentation.
- Leave time at the end for questions and conversation. This can be a great way to infuse the participants own personal experiences around the topic.
- Rehearse – but not too much! Know your narrative in and out, but don’t rehearse to the point that the delivery feels rigid. Rehearsing will also help boost the confidence of the presenter. Comfortable, interactive, and confident speakers top the list of how to ensure your next webinar will be a success.
Need Help Managing Your Webinars?
As a webinar production company, CommPartners has 25 years of experience helping to enhance and advance our clients webinars. We hope these webinar presentation tips will help your speakers deliver an outstanding and memorable learning experience! If you’re looking for someone to manage your webcasts, fill out our online contact form or give us a call at (800) 274-9390 to see how we can help.
Want to talk about how you can take your webinars to the next level? Explore our learning management system, Elevate. Give Meghan a call at 443.539.4851 or email mgowen@commpartners.com for more information.
by Aubrey Mellos | Nov 1, 2017 | News
Columbia, MD – November 1, 2017. CommPartners, a leading provider of Learning Management Software, webinar, webcast, and livestream solutions announced details for Peak 2018 Conference. The event will take place March 15-16, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Peak is a conference designed to inspire, educate, and train association professionals in a wide range of e-learning topics. The event will feature two keynote sessions, eight breakout sessions, deep-dive Elevate LMS trainings, peer knowledge exchanges, and more. Topics include Social Learning, Building a Dynamic LMS, Credentialing, Course Design, and e-Learning Trends. A complete agenda can be found at www.commpartners.com/Peak.
“We are excited to host our first conference where association peers can come together and not only receive extensive training on Elevate Learning Management System and our other services, but to also learn from peers who share similar challenges.” Richard Finstein, CEO, CommPartners
Learning opportunities and trainings will provide value to all professionals who have a key role in their organizations education and professional development strategy. Attendees will be eligible for up to 4 CAE credits and will also have the opportunity to connect socially with peers, partners, and industry leaders during a happy hour reception.
“It is our goal that attendees leave Peak 2018 with clear direction on how to revolutionize their online learning programs and to arm them with the tools to help them get there”, explains Finstein.
Peak 2018 – CommPartners’ First Education & User Conference
March 15-16, 2018
District Architecture Center | Washington D.C.
www.commpartners.com/peak
About CommPartners
CommPartners is a leading provider of online education and event solutions. At the core of the company’s solutions is our Elevate Learning Management System. Elevate is the only LMS with fully integrated and embedded webinar, livestream and multimedia software to support learning, how and when it occurs. The connection between live, peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges and traditional continuing education programs leads to improved learning outcomes, as well as increased participation within an organization’s education offerings. To learn more visit: www.commpartners.com
by Aubrey Mellos | Oct 31, 2017 | Blog
With today being Halloween, we thought it would be fun to re-live some of the scariest moments from our livestreamed events. We pride ourselves in preparing for the unknown and having fallbacks to address even the most unpredictable situations. Zombie Apocalypse anyone? But no amount of planning could have prepared us for what was in store for our…
Top 5 Scariest Moments From Our Livestreamed Events!
- Tornado warning and evacuation during a live webcast. Everyone was safe, and we filmed right through it all. Unfortunately, Dorothy or Toto didn’t make an appearance for this event.
- Loss of electricity at a hotel in Hollywood during a live webcast. We were prepared to go Blair Witch style, but thankfully the power was restored.
- The fainting presenter during a livestreamed conference. Luckily it was a medical conference so that problem worked itself out.
- The sleepy presenter who missed his presentation on professionalism in the workplace. Nothing more to say about this one…
- The uninvited furry guest who scampered through the auditorium during a live webcast causing quite the uproar. You would have thought it was Godzilla, but it was just a wee mouse.
The truth is, there is always risk when livestreaming an event. But, there are measures you can take to ensure its overall success and having a vetted and experienced production partner is key.
To learn more about preparing for your next livestreamed or virtual event, be sure to download our resource, Five Tips to Ensure a Successful Virtual Event.
by Aubrey Mellos | Oct 18, 2017 | Blog
When considering how to monetize your learning, it is important to have a clearly defined and executed business strategy that properly aligns with your Learning Management System. Organizations often think of the LMS as simply the container and delivery site for their online programs. While this is true, if a goal is to make these programs profitable, it’s important to articulate and execute a revenue-generating online learning management strategy.
Here are six considerations to help ensure your e-learning programs are profitable:
Six Tips to Make Your Online e-Learning Program Profitable
1. Build a Knowledge Community vs. a Catalog of Opportunities
The LMS has evolved from a quiet presence within an organization’s website to a full-blown knowledge community that supports and integrates live and on-demand content in many forms. Be sure to incorporate social learning and peer to peer exchanges within your online e-learning platform to increase traffic and build a true knowledge community.
2. Provide Meaningful, Diversified and Relevant Content
Think of your LMS as an online learning store. Having an interesting array of content, create complementary offerings that range from free to high priced, high value. Attractively display your online content to satisfy a wider range of stakeholders’ needs and budgets.
3. Offer Individual Subscriptions & Pre-Payment
No one likes to take out their credit card and make a payment. Have your community pre-commit for access to your entire online e-learning platform, or a portion of this content through a subscription or package of programs. Make subscription purchases financially attractive.
4. Support Group Purchasing or Group Subscriptions
The easiest way to increase users of your online e-learning platform is to have all employees of an organization have access to your content. Engaging a single purchaser for many participants is a nice way to supplement individual purchases.
5. Integrate Online Learning with Other Organization Initiatives
Create loyalty by extending LMS discounts or assigning a pre-paid balance for online learning opportunities as a reward for investment in an organization. This could include a membership renewal or participating in an onsite conference.
6. Have an Attractive and Simple Shopping Cart Experience
Ensure your process for selection and payment of online learning is simple and intuitive. If you are integrating with an external database or AMS for purchases, make sure there is no visual or programmatic disconnect between the two programs.
Like any business, it takes an entrepreneurial approach to generate the returns you are hoping to receive. Investing time in the right online learning platform and having a successful strategy will help ensure a successful ROI.
Contact Us About Your e-Learning Needs
Whether you are considering investing in an LMS or simply looking to expand your organization’s e-learning strategy, CommPartners can help you create quality educational experiences that engage and inspire the learner. Fill out our online contact form or give us a call at (800) 274-9390 to learn how we can help.
