As many career centers continue to operate virtually, it’s important to facilitate virtual events to keep students engaged. Virtual workshops aren’t just in-person events that you can convert to a digital platform and call it a day. They require strategic planning to deliver an experience that creates a lasting impact on its attendees.
Here is a quick guide to help career centers successfully host a virtual workshop.
Establish a Plan: Before your virtual workshop begins, it’s important to create a strategy and establish key goals. Answer the following questions to fully prepare:
- What’s the point of this workshop and who should attend?
- Will there be open discussion or other types of virtual interactions during the presentation?
- Is there going to be a visual or presentation or just a “talking head” discussion?
- What do you want the targeted participants to get out of this?
- What do you want to get out of this?
Determine the Logistics: Executing the event also requires some planning. Determine where, when, and how by answering the following questions:
- What is the best time for this event for your target attendees?
- How many attendees do you expect to attend?
- Should there be a follow-up survey or real-time polls?
- Where can students sign up and access this workshop?
- Do they need to pre-register so you have a list of attendees prior to the event?
- Will students be able to access the recording of the event after it’s over?
Promote the Event: Promoting your workshop helps gain awareness and build excitement. Announce your upcoming event in newsletters and emails where you can explain the purpose of the workshop and what students can expect to gain from attending. Be sure to share the most important details including when and how students can access the event. But also list the workshop within your online career center platform.
Prepare for Technology Issues: As the facilitator, it’s important to have complete control of the tools you’re using. Technology troubles can easily take away from the purpose of the event, so it’s important to understand the tools you’re using and test it out before the event begins. Use a secure platform that can’t be “bombed” and make sure to have a plan if something goes wrong.
Create an Engaging Environment: It’s important to keep students engaged during a virtual event to prevent distractions, so keep the workshop short. Be sure to stick to a plan in order to get through everything you want to accomplish. Promote an engaging environment where students can interact and ask questions to ensure they fully understand the content. This will make a more impactful and long-lasting impression.
Need help hosting virtual workshops? Our new fully-embedded video meeting technology will make it easy to create a virtual workshop in the same career center platform your students already use for job searches, advising appointments, career fairs, and everything else career related. Contact us today to chat and see a sneak peek.