Step 1: Design Your Event
Start by designing the virtual event as you would if this was in-person. Ask yourself:
- What is the purpose or goal of this event?
- What is your topic? Can you successfully convey your message?
- Who is your audience? (UNO faculty, staff, students, community, etc.?)
- How many attendees are you expecting?
- How long will your event be?
Step 2: Identify Your Agenda and Layout of Your Event
Answering these questions will determine your platform.
- Create an agenda to ensure that a virtual event can successfully convey your message or answer the questions you are posting.
- How many speakers and presenters will you have?
- Will there be a single speaker giving the presentation?
- Will there be more than one speaker discussing the same topic in a panel discussion format?
- Will there be multiple speakers discussing different topics?
- Do you want the audience to engage with speakers during your event?
- Will you have audience participate using the poll, hand raise, and/or chat feature?
- Will you want audience to ask questions live (be able to talk) or only submit questions through chat or Q&A?
- Do you want to use break out rooms?
Step 3: Pick Your Date(s) and Times Carefully
Be mindful of the dates and times that you pick; there is actually a lot to consider.
- What date and time will you host your event?
- Choose this carefully and double-check that there are no other university conflicts. You can check the UNO Events Calendar and Academic Calendar for dates to avoid.
- Also, be mindful of any holidays that would impact your attendee’s ability to participate.
- Will you have participants in another time zone, if so a “Brown Bag Lunch Zoom Session” will not line up well on the West Coast.
Step 4: Identify and Build your Event Team
Who will be helping make this event successful? Keep in mind that other than your speaker(s) there are other key people that help make your virtual event run smoothly.
- Host: This person schedules the meeting/webinar and is the person that is responsible for the technical aspects of the event. They have full permission to manage the meeting/webinar. There can only be one host.
- Co-Host: This person has most of the same controls that the host does such as managing attendees. A co-host however cannot start a meeting/webinar and must be assigned by the host.
- Alternative Host: This person can be assigned by the host when they schedule a meeting and has the same controls as the co-host. Unlike the co-host they can start the meeting/webinar if the host is unable to.
- Moderator/MC (unofficial roll in Zoom): This person could be the same person as the co-host but the moderator will help welcome attendees, help with transitions between speakers or topics, they can monitor chat, polls, and the Q&A, and can ask the questions to the speaker(s).
- Breakout Room Moderators (unofficial roll in Zoom): If your event is using the breakout room function (only available in Zoom Meeting), this person would act as the moderator for the breakout room and help facilitate discussions.
- Panelist and Speakers: The individuals presenting on the event topic.
- Panelists are an official role in Webinars.
Step 5: Determine Your Technology Needs
Determine what type of Zoom session is appropriate for your event.
Meeting vs. Webinar Comparison
Meeting: up to 300 people, everyone can do a meeting through their UNOmaha account
Webinar: can host up to 1,000
- Meeting/Webinar Engagement Features:
- Chat: Using Webinar Chat or In-meeting Chat
- Raise Hand: Non-verbal reactions
- Polling: Polling for webinars or Polling for meetings
- Reactions (for Meetings only)
- Share Screen
- Whiteboard (share screen option)
- Annotations
- Break-out sessions (available in meetings only) Assigning break-out sessions can be random or Pre-assigned
- In a breakout session, the host is able to send out messages
Presentations
There are several things to consider:
- Will one person be managing this or each presenter?
- Will you want or need to record the event?
- Will there be a video incorporated? Does the video have sound?
Note: The person showing the video has to have their sound unmuted if playing from their computer unless they change their audio settings.
Accommodations
Interpreters can be requested through Accessibility Services:
Stephanie Vik, Interpreter Coordinator
Email: svik@unomaha.edu
- Interpreter should be added as a panelist in a Webinar
- The event host/department will have to pay for these services
- Captioning services can also be used, UNO’s preferred vendor is Inclusive Communication Access Nebraska (previously known as Exclusive Reporting). You can contact them by email at icancaptions@gmail.com or 402.889.2950
- Zoom now has automatic captioning, but the captioning is not 100% correct. The host has to enable this service by clicking “CC” located in the bottom menu bar at the beginning of the meeting.
Please check with the facilities manager to make sure the room you are using is zoom or virtual ready. If the room does not have all the equipment you need, please contact IT Services to see if you can borrow some equipment.
Step 6: Adjust the Zoom Settings and Controls
- Set-up and adjust settings on the web browser unomaha.zoom.us
- There are additional resources available for different settings on this webpage
- Participants view
- Security Settings: Passcode or Waiting Room
- Audio and video settings
- Virtual Backgrounds
- Change participants names
Step 7: Advertise Your Event
Depending on who your target audience is you will want to promote your event differently.
- Communicate the event details to your target audience.
- If needed, pick a registration platform. Zoom can be used for this as well.
- Allowing only registered participants keeps your events more secure.
- Market the event internally via Maverick Daily, Bullseye, on your website, targeted email, social media, or any other avenues.
- Please submit a Start Your Project to work with MarComm.
Step 8: Prepare Your Speakers
- If possible, try to collect all the presentation content prior to the event so you can create one cohesive slide deck.
- Schedule a time to practice with the speakers or panelists in a setting that will match the actual event.
- Discuss roles, tasks, and other last-minute details.
- Discuss attire and their backgrounds—presentation is still important.
Step 9: Produce Your Event
A little preparation goes a long way!
- Give 24-hour notice
- Remind attendees about the event and resend the links
- Touch base with all key players to make sure they are good to go
- On the day of the event, the host should log in 60 minutes prior to event time to confirm that all settings are correct and ready
- Remember to Manage the Participants Settings
- Have co-hosts, moderators, speakers, and panelists connect 30 minutes prior to event time to do a final sound check and review any questions or concerns anyone might have
- Have an intro slide (optional background music), this can provide instructions, show presenters, and give the agenda
Step 10: Follow-up With Attendees and Key Players
- If you use Zoom as your registration tool, you are able to connect easily in one place with all attendees
- Follow-up with any resources that need to be sent out
- Conduct a follow-up survey to collect feedback—this will help plan future events
- Send a thank you note to your key players