With hundreds of virtual events behind us, the following tips are derived from data-driven results such as attendance relative to registrations, attendance related to time of day, guest login/logout pace, time spent at the event and peak logout times. All of these indicators drive a nonprofit's ultimate success with a virtual fundraising event.
Here are our current recommendations based on event data since Swell's first 100% virtual event on April 23, 2020.
Event registration.
The event registration process is the most important driver of a successful virtual nonprofit event. Attendance at a virtual event is a factor of the pre-registrations. While there were a few outliers, attendance ranged from 50%-65% of registrations.
Furthermore, events that followed a table captain/team invitation process enjoyed the highest attendance and engagement as a percentage of pre-registrations.
Virtual events that did not connect a healthy registration process were the least successful universally.
Learn More About How Swell Registration Impacts Fundraising
Live streaming.
Invest in a professional company. First, the live production IS the event and serves as a reflection of you, your sponsors and all who support you.
After a well-produced virtual event, a nonprofit CEO received a message from a smaller sponsor bemoaning the fact that they weren’t the signature sponsor this year.
It’s an investment in the future.
Second, the footage can be reused in many locations - on your social channels, blog and even an encore event.Virtual guests remained on professional streams three times longer than guests on a DIY event.
Third, the time you and your team will spend practicing and figuring out how to produce a live streamed event can is better spent communicating with donors and guests.
What should your program be? Run-of-Show.
Characteristics of the most successful virtual fundraising events include the following:
Time of Day.
While we have witnessed successful events at all times of the day, the data suggests that lunch events perform best (higher percentage of pre-registered guests, higher engagement with chat/giving), evening events performed slightly better than breakfast fundraisers. The lowest attendance and engagement occurred for Saturday evening events.
Test the Experience Completely.
Prior to signing up with a software company, we strongly recommend attending an event using that software as a guest (if possible).
Once your event is launched, go through the registration, communication and virtual event entry/experience. With virtual, your board and constituents will look to you. If the nonprofit team shows confidence in the process and experience, your guests will respond accordingly. Your leadership with a new experience matters.
PS… Event Registrations. It’s absolutely the key to success.