If you’re hosting a virtual product showcase, webinar or some other online event, you have a chance to wow attendees with your message. With a little creativity and advance planning, you can make your event a meaningful and memorable experience for your customers and prospects.

While you might feel intimidated about hosting a virtual event when you are accustomed to seeing clients and prospects in person, think of it as an opportunity to create moments of delight. Lindsey Crafford, content manager at LogMeIn, caught up with Leigh Doyle, VP and partner at Digital Journal Group, on smart ways to spark delight at virtual events.

In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share what Crafford learned from Doyle on how to create moments of delight for your customers.

Surprise them with promotional gifts. You don’t need an in-person format to delight with promotional products. Just like most conferences and tradeshows offer all kinds of logoed products, you can do the same for your virtual event attendees. By shipping promotional products ahead of time, you can drum up excitement for the event and keep your name top of mind. Doyle notes that you could also pair a relevant influencer with sponsors to help curate elements within a box.

Kick off the fun with a virtual happy hour. Your potential buyers are probably used to virtual hangouts by now, so keep the fun going by hosting a virtual happy hour at the start of your event. Inside your gift box of promotional products, consider adding a cocktail recipe and ingredients so attendees can make the same beverage. Doyle suggests kicking off a lively networking event for all attendees and then hosting separate, smaller events for greater engagement and ROI.

Schedule an attendee lunch. Want to spark delight in an unexpected way? Doyle suggests sending attendees a custom sponsor code to GrubHub or DoorDash. This allows them to stay tuned to your event and engaged throughout lunch when a meal is delivered right to their doorstep. The chance to support local businesses is an added incentive in this kind of delight moment, Doyle says.

Encourage action. When you are running an online event, Doyle says it’s important to have a plan for down time. One fun way to keep participants engaged in between gaps is to sponsor a playlist or entertainment. You could also arrange for yoga or meditation sessions by qualified professionals. Doyle says you can think of these mini events as sponsorship opportunities.

Delight with giveaways during sessions. To keep engagement levels high, Doyle recommends creating bingo games or digital scavenger hunts. Like the meditation or yoga breaks, these games and activities can be sponsored events. Another idea is providing virtual giveaways such as Spotify passes or other gifts your audience would appreciate.

Whatever kind of virtual event you are working on, look for opportunities to delight. You can stir up excitement before, during and after the event by using promotional products sent right to your customers’ and prospects’ doorsteps. You can also look for ways to partner with other businesses to add an extra layer of surprise and delight. The opportunities are out there—take what works best for your audience and customize it for your event.

Compiled by Audrey Sellers

Source: Lindsey Crafford is content manager at LogMeIn, a provider of cloud-based remote connectivity services for collaboration.