If social distancing is putting a damper on your plans or you want to hang out with your loved ones separated by thousands of miles, don’t let this distance stop you from having fun. Virtual events let you connect creatively worldwide. If you’re unsure where to begin, this guide has 15 awesome virtual event ideas to engage a global audience. Use these fun virtual event ideas to bridge gaps when apart to play and learn together digitally.
What Makes a Great Virtual Event?
Knowing how to host successful events is key before learning ideas for virtual events. A great virtual event isn’t just moving an in-person experience online. It leverages virtual platforms’ strengths to construct an engaging, interactive experience that attendees will want more of. Here are the critical ingredients for a successful virtual event:
- Engaging Content: Content is king, even in virtual events. Variety in content formats helps keep attendees engaged. Hence, use compelling presentations, panels, workshops, and discussions that are informative, thought-provoking, and relevant to the audience’s interests.
- Interactive Features: Incorporating interactive elements such as live polls, Q&A sessions, and chat discussions allows attendees to participate and feel connected to the event actively. Additionally, engagement tools like virtual breakout rooms can enhance the overall experience.
- Networking Opportunities: Facilitating networking among attendees, speakers, and sponsors is essential for fostering connections and building relationships. Thus, virtual events can offer virtual lounges, matchmaking algorithms, and scheduled meet-ups to facilitate meaningful interactions.
- Smooth Operations: Technical glitches can spoil your virtual event, so be wary of them. Choose a platform to handle your expected number of attendees to avoid these troubles. In addition, do a thorough tech run beforehand to identify and fix potential glitches and prepare contingency plans.
- Post-Event Resources: An excellent virtual event goes beyond the event and keeps the connection going. Hence, share recordings of presentations and event materials so attendees can revisit the content they found valuable.
15 Best Ideas for Virtual Events You Will Like
After knowing what constitutes a great virtual event, it is time to look into some top-rated virtual team event ideas. Go through these top 15 virtual event ideas that can be a massive success in your circle:
1. Gaming and Contests
Hosting game nights and contests is one of the most interactive and fun virtual event ideas. You can organize these for your friends, family, colleagues, or the general population. Additionally, this can involve several creative games to keep the audience engaged.
You can try online murder mysteries, bingo, jigsaw puzzles, and other interactive games. Remember that these work best over live video calls, so use a dedicated platform or build one yourself using ZEGOCLOUD for a successful game night.
2. Live Virtual Concert
If you cannot host a physical concert for some reason, virtual concerts are also not a bad idea. In fact, you can easily stream a concert or host a musical night from the comfort of your couch. From opera to classical and from jazz to pop-rock, you can select any genre of music and brighten up your evening.
Furthermore, you can host a live audio or video call and keep your audience occupied with live music or play an instrument yourself.
3. Cooking Night
Hosting a cooking night is one of the most interactive virtual social event ideas that can involve active participation from your viewers. You can host a cooking class and teach your audience your favorite recipe.
Alternatively, you can all share your cameras simultaneously and cook your favorite dishes collectively. Another way is for everyone to cook the same recipe in their respective kitchens and bond over culinary exquisite.
4. Trivia Night
Another way to keep your team engaged and get to know each other better outside of the typical office environment via virtual team event ideas is to host a trivia night. Although things may take a competitive turn here, you can still have fun answering questions and sharing your interests with others.
You can divide your audience into teams and choose random topics for the trivia. Additionally, you can set prizes and incentives for the winners to encourage participation.
5. Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are among the best virtual networking event ideas to foster team building and critical thinking. Everyone from across the globe can come together and have fun, seeking the prize that awaits them.
For instance, you can set offline and online tasks that participants have to complete to proceed with the hunt. This way, a mix of assignments and tasks will help develop teamwork and problem-solving abilities.
6. Yoga Sessions
Hosting wellness activities is a great way to bond with people across the world without the chaos and commotion that other virtual social event ideas may bring. Online yoga sessions can help promote a friendly and active lifestyle for the attendees.
As a result, people can actively relax while staying in the comfort of their own homes. You can also provide different yoga techniques and record them using an online or offline screen recorder so your audience can revisit them later.
7. Virtual Dress-Up
If you are looking for fun virtual event ideas for your friends or family, nothing can beat the old-fashioned dress-up game. You can choose to dress up as your favorite character and test the limits of your creativity. Consequently, you can add a layer of interactivity and self-expression to your online sessions.
Alternatively, participants can also use AI avatars and digital models to try on different outfits, hairstyles, and accessories.
8. Guess Who
If you haven’t met your friends or loved ones in a long time or want to know your coworkers better, you can play a “Guess Who” game. It is one of the classic games that can prompt even the quietest members of the group to chirp.
To evoke memories, you can prepare questions such as “Who once broke their arm?”. Alternatively, you can ask your audience to send photos of their desks, pets, family members, or other things that people can use to guess the owner.
9. Movie Night
Other than these, you can bring your love of cinema to your virtual event with an online movie night. You can pick a movie by sending out a poll beforehand to see if everyone is on the same page. Then, urge everyone to grab some snacks, sit back, and relax while you share your screen while the movie is playing.
For an exceptional viewing experience, I recommend using ZEGOCLOUD to host your movie night. ZEGOCLOUD’s powerful live streaming capabilities ensure smooth, high-quality, and buffer-free playback, making it feel like you’re all watching a movie together in a theater. Whether you choose to use their ready-made platform or leverage their APIs to build a customized viewing experience, ZEGOCLOUD provides all the tools you need to host an unforgettable movie night.
10. Award Ceremony
Hosting an online awards ceremony is one of the best virtual networking event ideas. It can make your team feel appreciated for their efforts. As a result, it can lead to healthier workplaces and more excellent employee retention.
Conversely, it can also be a way to have fun with your friends using made-up awards such as “Most likely to”. You can also encourage participants to prepare speeches to give the ceremony a lifelike feel.
11. Escape Room
Similar to a scavenger hunt, an escape room is also a fantastic way to foster critical thinking and teamwork. During this activity, participants can explore their surroundings and search for clues to pave their way to freedom. This turns your digital calls into a thrilling and engaging experience as everyone channels their inner Sherlock Holmes.
To ensure the success of such interactive games, seamless and lag-free communication is crucial. I recommend using ZEGOCLOUD, which offers robust real-time communication solutions that are perfect for keeping everyone connected without delays. With ZEGOCLOUD, you can build a high-quality communication app that enhances the excitement and fluidity of your virtual escape room.
12. Painting Class
A Virtual Painting Class is an inspiring and creative way to connect people through art, regardless of their physical location. This event is perfect for beginners and seasoned artists alike, providing a relaxed atmosphere where participants can learn painting techniques, explore color theory, and express themselves creatively.
Led by a professional artist or instructor, these classes can cover various styles and mediums, such as watercolors, acrylics, or digital painting. Participants can follow along in real-time, ask questions, and share their progress with the group, making the experience interactive and social.
These virtual classes are ideal for community groups, corporate team-building, or even as a family activity. Organizers can enhance the experience by sending out art kits beforehand, ensuring that all participants have the necessary supplies. During the session, features like multiple camera angles and screen sharing allow everyone to see the instructor’s demonstrations clearly, making learning easy and enjoyable from the comfort of one’s home.
13. Book Club Meeting
A Virtual Book Club Meeting is an excellent idea for bringing together literature enthusiasts from various locations. Each month, club members can democratically select a book to read, cultivating a shared reading journey. Utilize a reliable video call platform for meetings where participants can dive deep into discussions about themes, character developments, and personal interpretations. This not only fosters a sense of community but also enriches the understanding of diverse perspectives.
Additionally, these meetings are a fantastic opportunity for members to share their reading experiences, favorite passages, and even book recommendations. Engaging in these insightful discussions helps maintain the literary spirit and keeps the community connected and intellectually stimulated, even in a digital setting.
14. Leadership and Skills Seminar
Hosting a Virtual Leadership and Skills Seminar is an impactful way to enhance professional development and networking in a digital environment. This seminar can focus on key topics such as effective leadership techniques, communication skills, team management, and personal growth strategies.
Invite industry leaders and experienced professionals to deliver keynote speeches, participate in panel discussions, and conduct interactive workshops. Participants can gain insights from these experts, engage in real-time Q&A sessions, and collaborate in breakout sessions to discuss application strategies and share experiences.
Such events are not only educational but also inspirational, providing attendees with practical tools and knowledge to advance their careers. Furthermore, by leveraging a robust virtual event platform, organizers can ensure seamless interaction, high-quality video, and integrated features like polls and chat rooms, enriching the overall experience and fostering a collaborative learning atmosphere.
15. Virtual Craft Sessions
Art can take many forms other than paintings, and crafts are a reliable way of keeping the participants engaged and learning new things on the go. You can host virtual sessions to learn crafts, such as flower arrangement workshops, journaling, charcuterie boards, origami, etc.
Besides learning new skills, it can help unleash your creativity and connect with others who share the same interests. You can pair live video sessions with screen sharing and messages to build a conducive environment for the participants.
How Can ZEGOCLOUD Help for Your Virtual Event?
Now that you are aware of the best virtual social event ideas, you are ready to host your own event. As mentioned earlier, a critical factor that can impact your event’s success is the platform you use to host it. While many virtual event tools are available to help you hold an event, it is better to build your custom virtual event platform containing all the features you may need.
You may think that building a virtual event tool from scratch may be difficult, but reality is far from that. For this purpose, ZEGOCLOUD offers powerful APIs and SDKs to help you generate the perfect tool for your virtual events. It also offers 20+ ready-to-use UIKits and components to help you create interactive apps relatively quickly.
Besides that, you can seamlessly incorporate the necessary elements for your virtual event, such as audio/video calling and in-app chat. From group calls to live streaming features, ZEGOCLOUD can make your virtual event a booming success.
Prominent Features of ZEGOCLOUD
- ZEGOCLOUD offers an easy way to record audio and video streams and whiteboards. Hence, you can redistribute your recordings after concluding your virtual event.
- In addition, it offers integration with third-party cloud storage services. As a result, you can save your recorded files directly to a cloud.
- To make virtual events more fun and creative, you can apply AI effects, filters, and makeup to your face during live streaming using ZEGOCLOUD.
- If your virtual event involves learning and collaboration, ZEGOCLOUD offers an interactive whiteboard with features such as drawing tools, laser pointers, and custom background images.
Conclusion
Now that you know what makes a great virtual event and examples of events you can hold yourself, it is time to ditch the sweatpants of solitude and dust off your virtual party hats. Use these ideas for virtual events to get a dose of laughter, learning, and connections from the comfort of your own home. To ensure your virtual event goes as planned without any hiccups, remember to try ZEGOCLOUD’s valuable APIs/SDKs.
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