Keeping your audience active and engaged is no longer a nice add-on, but a non-negotiable for online and offline events. Getting this right requires planning and forethought and is a fine balance between playfulness and tight direction.

For Momice founder Rutger Bremer this means leaving nothing to chance, which is why he has provided some tips and tricks on how to use the tools of interaction Momice has developed.

Before The Event

The success of audience interaction during the event, relies on good preparation, which should include:

• Viewer questions – Create a backup questionnaire should no viewer questions come in.
• Chat & viewer questions – Prepare answers to expected questions.
• Moderators – Put together a diverse team of moderators and brief them on their role.
• Polls & wordclouds – Ensure questions talk to the presenter’s desired storyline.

During The Event

With little room for improvisation, you must be prepared to act quickly and anticipate what comes in from the audience. Keep these tips in mind:

• Chat – To prevent distraction and negative discussions, only use the live chat when necessary.
• Polls – If you have a low turnout, show poll results in percentages instead of absolute numbers.
• Chat channels – Set up a separate chat channel, where moderators and presenter are connected and communicate with each other during the event.
• Breakouts – Provide strict guidance for breakouts to ensure participants do not get ‘lost’.
• Polls & viewer questions – Allow for a delay of approximately 20 seconds before the question reaches the audience.

After The Event

You can reuse the content and data of the event for greater interaction in the following ways:

• Polls & wordclouds – Share screenshots of the results on your social channels.
• Chat – Save the chat history to analyse the atmosphere of the event and save interesting comments.
• Chat & viewer questions – Use unanswered questions as a trigger for email engagement with ith event participants.
• Polls, chat, breakouts – Making use of the input and the data to evaluate your event.

Should you need further guidance on applying these tips, the SES team are one click away.