Hosting engaging events is not easy. You can scroll for hours on Google looking for ideas to transform your next event into something truly remarkable — but more often than not, virtual beer tasting doesn’t fit too snugly into the agenda. Add to this everything else that needs doing to run and grow your business, and you’re struggling to simply rest your eyes, let alone attend that big event you’ve been dreaming about.
In short, time, effort, and money are valuable resources if you’re a small team, or even an individual, running a business. We understand you — we live that life. Life in a startup, SME, or small organisation, in general, is comprised almost entirely of getting things done in an efficient, affordable, and innovative way. Need to pivot your product to meet customers’ needs? Our dev team is nothing if not agile. Need to produce 30 social posts in one week? The magic word is templates.
This means we’re always on the lookout for tools that make our lives easier, and we wanted to share the ones we’ve found to be a cut above the rest. Check them out, and of course, let us know of any that you use yourselves. We hope you find these tools to be as useful as we do.
Contapp makes business card (and contact) management easy and sustainable. It has an innovative method of scanning and storing business cards safely and securely. You can also share contacts, both within and outside the app. This makes it a gamechanger for all networking events, especially IRL ones, where you end up collecting tens of business cards only to promptly forget everyone you encountered. Contapp even has integration with Google Maps — so, if you do forget where you met someone, you can pinpoint the exact location using the app. Best of all, its pricing tiers are extremely reasonable (starting Free), making it perfect for personal use.
Collaborative workspaces are the bread and butter for everything — from workshop events to meetings. With remote gatherings becoming more common, Miro has emerged as a leader in the collaborative whiteboard space with its easy-to-use features and accessible pricing. Miro has ample templates to get started and also supports images and files on its boards. It also integrates with many other apps, including Tevent, as the default whiteboard app on any call.
mmhmm has made a lot of progress over the last year with its fun-to-use real-time video customisation product. It’s great for both live videos and for recordings. You can incorporate anything from funky backgrounds, text, and images, to video slide decks, gifs and even additional video feeds within. It’s a fantastic addition to any event you’re hosting — whether it be a webinar showcasing a presentation or a fun networking get-together.
Pitch makes presentations simple and collaborative. Presentations are sometimes a necessity for virtual events, especially ones in which you find yourself in the spotlight — perhaps a webinar, or maybe a sales pitch. Pitch’s claim to fame — in an era dominated by a certain software from Microsoft — is its ease-of-use, customisation features, and the ability to make even your most blasé slide decks look professional and riveting. Collaborate on presentations with ease, add reactions and gifs, and select styling from a plethora of templates. Considering the quality on offer, the app is undeniably affordable.
Hosting engaging virtual events is all well and good — but, what about the ability to digest all that awesomeness? The written word is still the preferred mode of content consumption for a lot of folks, and it’s also very accessible. Transcribing your video recordings can aid in generating additional content, highlighting and sharing across socials, and even helps to engage those members who were unable to attend. Apps like Otter.ai make it especially easy to transcribe meetings by using AI-powered technology. Otter can transcribe live sessions, a useful feature for accessibility, while also identifying individual speakers. It works for myriad accents and has integration abilities too.
Now that you’ve looked through these exciting tools, you’re going to need a virtual events platform to host your exciting and engaging event.
Look no further than Tevent. Yes it’s a shameless plug, but hey, we’re very proud of our platform — you have to see it to believe it.
Tevent offers an easy-to-setup events platform with ample features to host any kind of event. Networking events? Check. You can swap contact details using Contapp or stay in touch on Tevent.
Interactive webinars? No problem. Showcase any talk with polls and questions built-in. Hosting a workshop? Easy. Utilise Miro to collaborate, or breakout into rooms and record everything. In addition to messaging and the ability to share gifs, it’s extremely customisable, so you can show off your sponsors if need be. Tevent is an end-to-end virtual events platform boasting a whole host of features and tools to truly elevate your virtual events.
Well, there you have it. Engaging events are no easy game — but with the right platform and tools (ones that don't have to pinch your wallet), you can help your attendees truly interact, share, collaborate, and stay in touch. Remember, the more your attendees are able to contribute, the more fulfilled they’ll feel long after the event is over. Good luck.
It’s about time we outgrew the teething pains of current virtual and remote solutions. Let’s start making remote fun, collaborative and workable for all.