• Home
  • About Comedy101
  • Events
Comedy101Comedy101
  • Home
  • About Comedy101
  • Events

2020

Home » Blog » STEP 1 Getting Started with your Virtual Event

STEP 1 Getting Started with your Virtual Event

  • Posted by ChuckRoy
  • Categories 2020, Your Logo Here Intergalactic School of Business
  • Date September 10, 2020
STEP 1 Getting Started with your Virtual Event

Objective

In this article, you will learn how to turn your idea for a virtual event into a successfully organized production. The first step is to organize your idea into a clear, concise document that explains the event to stakeholders.

  • Our first objective is to organize your virtual event idea into a General Information Sheet (Link coming soon!)

Let’s start with the General Information Sheet

  • General Information Sheet – a shareable document that organizes the basic details of a virtual event.

Watch the complete discussion on STEP 1

Start Gathering Information

One of the best things you can do at the start of a production is to start creating everything you need to get your ideas successfully produced. Here’s a short list of virtual event information to gather:

Free Online Class. START HERE!
  • Virtual Event Title
  • Purpose or theme
  • Date, time
  • Location link, password
  • Ticketing
  • Short description

Tips for a successful virtual event

  • Start with things you know. If you know the date or time of your show add those details to your General Information Sheet.
  • Change the title off the General Information Sheet so it explains your event.
  • Find a temporary solution for anything you don’t know. If the event does not have a title yet, use “Untitled Project” as a temporary file name.
  • Create your inspirations. (Type a script, make a poster, outline a show, etc…)
  • Organize your data cloud. If necessary, create a folder in your cloud to save documents, posters, information, budgets in a central location.

Ready to get started?

Use the activities below to get started. Within a few minutes you’ll be producing a successful virtual event!

Case Study #1 Annie Get Your Pen (Part 2)

What would you do in this scenario?

Annie wants to put on a show!

In this online course, we are following the story of Little Annie D’Joakley and her idea for Virtual Pub Theatre. Annie wants to use Zoom to present a series of 1-pint plays in a virtual happy hour theatrical performance. She imagines that a 1-pint play is like the sketches, skits or 1-act plays she performed in theatre class but a lot more fun!

What can Annie do to turn her idea into a virtual event?

Click here for the answer.

Annie uses her smartphone notepad and starts a new folder labeled “Virtual Pub Theatre Battles”. She types the title, date, time, ticket prices and a few details.

Virtual Pub Theatre Battles

  • Title of Event: “Virtual Pub Theatre Battles”
  • Date and Time: October 2020, Happy Hour
  • Zoom Link: TBD  Password: PubTheatre
  • Tickets: $10 General Admission, $25 VIP Tickets
  • About This Event: Details coming soon…

Now, Annie has some of the details of her event organized in one space that ‘s easy to edit, add to, copy/paste and more!

Notice how she included all the details she knows and wrote ‘Details coming soon…’ for an event description. Move on to the next activity to see how Annie re-writes a short description for her virtual event.


Creative Writing Challenge | Write a Short Description of your Virtual Event

What would you do in this scenario?

Annie wants to describe her idea for Virtual Pub Theatre Battles.

In the previous activity, Annie started a draft of her General Information Sheet. She collected all the details that she knew about. Next, she’s needs to write a short description of her virtual event. So, she brainstorms by asking a few questions about her event and reflecting on the best answers.

  • What is the show about? For Annie, her idea is to entertain the audience with short skits, sketches and 1-acts presented as 1-pint plays and Virtual Pub Theatre.
  • Who is going to the show? Annie is inviting friends from school, work, home and her mentors from Elevating Connections, the people who provided her sisters with poetry workshops that helped them bond.
  • What do people attending the virtual event want to know? In Annie’s case, she’s inviting people to a virtual performance and theatrical event. People will want to know when the show is, how long, what it’s about, and what to pay.
Click here to read Annie's event description.

Annie updates her smartphone notepad in her smartphone.

About Virtual Pub Theatre Battles

  • Title of Event: “Virtual Pub Theatre Battles”
  • Date and Time: October 2020, Happy Hour
  • Zoom Link: TBD  Password: PubTheatre
  • Tickets: $10 General Admission, $25 VIP Tickets
  • About This Event: Virtual Pub Theatre Battles features a collection of humorous, original 1-pint plays written and produced by Annie D’Joakley. You’ll laugh, have fun as local theatre nerds battle to win your hear with their best original performance of a 1-pint play.
Comedy101 Virtual Event Media Kit

Prepare a General Information Sheet for your event.

Get started with this quick, easy task.

Now that you’ve read how Annie turned her idea into a General Information Sheet for Virtual Event Media Kit it’s your turn!

If you haven’t already, start a General Information Sheet for your next event.

Congratulations! You’ve started your Virtual Event Media Kit!

  • General Information Sheet (Complete or In Progress)

Coming up in STEP 2 Pre-Production, we’ll look at how to use apps like Canva to complete a Virtual Media Kit.

  • Logo
  • Event Page
  • Graphics
  • 1-Sheet
  • Event Video
Click here for my Comedy101 Pro Tip.

Rate the effectiveness of your General Information Sheet

Evaluate your work and move on to STEP 2 Pre-Production.

  • Does your Virtual Event General Information sheet need improvements? 
  • How will you know if your version of a General Information Sheet meet rigorous Comedy101 standards for effectiveness?
  • What does it take to create an outstanding General Information Sheet?

Holy Sheet! Those are great questions!

Use this guide to help you evaluate your General Information Sheet.

Comedy101 Guidelines for an effective General Information Sheet

  • Content contains all the basic relevant details for a virtual event such as date, time, links, ticketing and event description.
  • Information is accurate.
  • Content is easy to share and copy/paste to social media, new documents and other production materials.

If you feel that your General Information Sheet is in good shape then you’re meeting our rigorous show business industry standards and ready to move on to STEP 2 | Pre-Production.

What do you do if your General Information Sheet needs improvement?

  • Missing some details? If you are missing key details for a virtual event such as the date, time, links, ticketing or event description that’s okay. Write what you know and skip over anything you can’t answer.
  • How do I find mistakes? Share your General Information Sheet with a person you trust to give you helpful feedback. Ask them to if your information is clear and effective.
  • Why do I need to organize information? To produce a successful virtual event, you’ll need this information to set-up a Zoom meeting, Eventbrite ticket page and social media posts to promote your event.

If you’ve got a few notes and ideas about your virtual event then you’re probably ready to move on to STEP 2 | Pre-Production.

How do you know if you’ve got an outstanding General Information Sheet?

  • If you’ve got the best title, right date and time, link, and ticketing info then you’re in great shape! An outstanding event description is short, effective and informs the best audience the key details they need to know about the event.
  • You’ve organized the information into a visually appealing literary masterpiece.
  • The Harvard School of Business declares you’re the sheet!

You have finished this section!

  • In this section, you started the 5-Steps of Virtual Event Production.
  • You learned STEP 1 | Gather Information by completing a draft of a General Information Sheet.
  • Now, your virtual event is organized and ready to move on to STEP 2 | Pre-Production. Have fun!

Suggested Order for this Series

START HERE: Introduction to Virtual Events (2020)

  • STEP 1 | Getting Started with your Virtual Event
  • STEP 2 | Virtually Effective Pre-Production
  • STEP 3 | Producing a Successful Virtual Event
  • STEP 4 | What to do after you successfully produce your virtual event
  • STEP 5 | How to know if your virtual event was a complete success

Final Project: Virtual Pub Theatre Battles (October 2020)

Laugh, like, share.

Please share this article with your friends in the virtual event community.

Tag:Intro to Virtual Events

  • Share:
author avatar
ChuckRoy
    Hi! I'm Chuck Roy, professional stand-up comedian. I teach Comedy at the Community College of Denver and online at Comedy101. You may benefit from my experiences performing in TV Shows like Will & Grace and 3rd Rock from the Sun, plus movies like Ralphie May Presents and Louie Anderson Presents.

    Previous post

    Introduction to Virtual Event Production (2020)
    September 10, 2020

    Next post

    STEP 2 Virtually Effective Pre-Production
    September 11, 2020

    You may also like

    What to do after you successfully produce your virtual event
    STEP 4 What to do after you successfully produce your virtual event
    7 October, 2020
    Producing A Successful Virtual Event
    STEP 3 Producing a Successful Virtual Event
    13 September, 2020
    Virtually Effective Pre-Production
    STEP 2 Virtually Effective Pre-Production
    11 September, 2020

    (c) 2015-2019 Renewable Energy Unincorporated, LLC