Do you know what is more important if you want to host an immersive and excellent virtual conference? You should be aware of the mistakes you should avoid making if you are planning to host a virtual conference. We believe there are enough blogs for you to tell the things you should do and include in your planning. However, we have hardly come across any blog or post that will guide you through the mistakes you should avoid making. 

Considering this, we have compiled a list of a few mistakes that organizers tend to make frequently and you should avoid making while hosting one. 

• Having Indefinite Goals and Objectives: 

The first and foremost thing you should avoid doing is not having clear and well-defined objectives. There is a very simple thing; what would you want to achieve if you don’t even have any clear objectives? It is the most basic thing, and you should always have clear objectives and well-defined goals. There should not be any scope of uncertainty, and you should have certain and clear objectives. While you are defining objectives, keep in mind what your audience expects to see from the event. You should execute your planning in such a way that your objectives should align with your attendees’ needs and demands. 

• Unclear Planning: 

No matter how prominent speakers you are going to have at your virtual conference, the content you decide to deliver to your attendees is still going to be the king. Trust us, no matter how efficiently you have planned your entire conference, nothing will be justified if you don’t deliver compelling content. Not only this, but since virtual events are more distracting than physical events. Hence, you need to be extra careful while planning content for your audience. Not only this but there are a few more things that affect the attendee’s attention and experience in a virtual event. Hence, as organizers, you should have proper knowledge and understanding of those factors. For example, since people experience Zoom Fatigue, you should focus on keeping the content short and crisp. 

• Setting Unrealistic Expectations: 

The next thing you should not do is set unrealistic expectations from your online conference. We understand that you would want to achieve bigger things and objectives with your virtual conference. So it is advisable to live in reality and set goals that are achievable. Also, in your mind, you should be clear that even though we say that virtual events are replicas of physical events. However, both are different things. Hence, while you are planning your virtual conference, make sure that you are not expecting it to be the same as physical events. Both formats are totally different and have their own advantages and limitations. Hence, setting up wrong expectations might ruin your entire game. 

• Using Wrong Online Conference Platforms: 

The next and another major mistake that the organizers generally make is selecting the wrong virtual event platform for their virtual conference. While looking for the right platform, make sure you give it enough time and conduct proper research before coming to a conclusion. There are quite a few reference sites that make their claims; however, you need to refer to the most authoritative sites and then choose the platform of your choice accordingly. 

Though all the platforms have their own limitations and plus-points, there are a few features that are common for all of them, and you should never compromise with them. 

A few must-have features in a virtual conference platform are: 

• Customization Capabilities
• Audience Engagement Tools
• Interactivity and Communication Tools
• Secure
• Budget-Friendly
• Recording
• User-friendly Interface

• Not Rehearsing: 

One thing that we have noticed is organizers always tend to ignore or overlook the importance of rehearsing before going live with the virtual event. They think that having enough experience in hosting one kind of virtual event will compensate for the other. Hence, they avoid rehearsals to save time. However, they do not know that no matter how proficient you get in hosting online events, there is nothing that will ever compensate for rehearsals, and you should always rehearse before hosting the event. It will help you know the loopholes in your planning and the platform you have chosen for the event and get them corrected in time. Moreover, suppose things fail in front of your guests. We are sure you will never want something like this to happen. Hence, to save yourself from embarrassment, always rehearse a few times before the virtual conference. 

Since virtual events are less complicated than physical ones, organizers generally underestimate them. Hosting virtual conferences means more than just having attendees and speakers on a platform. Also, as said, while you are hosting virtual conferences and events, you should be well aware of the mistakes you should avoid making. The intent of this blog was to make you aware of things one should avoid making if you want to host immersive virtual conferences; We hope you find it helpful.