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:
- 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!
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?
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.
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
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)
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Please share this article with your friends in the virtual event community.