So now that the crowds have gone home and the big top has been packed away into its virtual trailer we thought that it would be a good time to reflect on The Digital Circus LIVE 2021 and how it went. I mean, as far as virtual events go, it was quite a whirlwind of a day. So much went on, the tent was buzzing and the feedback so far has been immense. And although we're clearly biased we are mega proud of what was achieved on the 18th May and we are literally chomping at the bit to get planning the 2022 Extravaganza.
Please do read on to find out more about what we learned from this virtual event and of course PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do keep sharing with us what you liked and didn't like so that we can make the next one even bigger and better.
Using Hopin as our chosen platform for our first ever event was a bit of a risk but one that we hope paid off. After what felt like a lifetime of lockdown and remote working we were very conscious of the fact that people were becoming Zoom blind. And don't get me wrong, Zoom serves a purpose. It has done an incredible job of bringing people together in a time where we have all felt isolated. But, after 16 months, we've all experienced that "not another zoom meeting" feeling and we wanted to change things up, to make people fall in love with virtual events again and to really allow people to take control of their online experience.
The great thing with Hopin is that the control really does get placed in the users hands. With Zoom its one directional. With the Hopin experience it allowed our guests to move around the virtual event space with ease, almost as though they were attending an in person event. There was a main stage, a networking zone, even an online expo hall to get involved with. All very clever and for a fairly infant platform like Hopin we can absolutely see how its going to grow and develop moving forward. It still has a few teething problems but for the most part we were really impressed.
When planning out the virtual event itself we were always adamant that we wanted to have a good balance of theory and practical application with our speaker topics. It would have been all very well selecting the cream of the crop with inspirational theorists but as small business owners ourselves we really wanted to champion some of the business owners that we have had the opportunity to work with over the last year to showcase just how blimmin awesome they are and to really highlight to our peers that anything is achievable when you focus and apply your knowledge.
The day was planned out to give our guests as much choice and flexibility as possible to ensure that they could get involved with topics that mattered most to them. With this in mind, in between each keynote presentation we ran two workshops side by side for our guests to choose from [ with the other obviously available to watch back on replay later!]
The flow was just right, no long boring slide presentations, just really interesting, interactive conversations with cracking insights. It felt homely and welcoming, not corporate or arrogant"
Lori, The Mindful Eating Clinic
Feedback from the crowd mostly stated that due to the level of interaction between our hosts and our participants it really did feel like we were in an in person event itself. People got stuck in, the chat box was filled with takeaways and lightbulb moments as well as large amount of circus based puns and humour [ which, lets face it, is what its all about!!]
This was our first ever event of this kind and we thoroughly recognise that from a technical aspect that there will be a few things we would like to improve upon for next time. A lot of this came down to using Hopin which, for most people in the room would have been the first time that they had come to play. With this in mind we will be ensuring that in the lead up to next years event we do a lot more pre-event content to help our audience get the very best out of their virtual big top experience and to ensure people understand all of the amazing tools and areas they could visit with their entry ticket.
We are also really looking forward to building the next event around the areas that you as our audience want to see. So far we've had requests for online course creation, human connection on social media as well as practical workshops around core content creation skills like short form video. If there is anything that you would like to out into the circus ring please do be sure to send us an email with your suggestions as we want to make sure the event is as helpful as possible.
For those of you that missed what was arguably the best virtual event of 2021 don't worry, we've got you covered. We have handily packaged up all of the recordings from this years event for you to purchase so that you can have lifetime access to all of the main stage and workshop presentations. Thats just 8hrs of content for you to sink your teeth into for just £19.99.
We are super excited to announce that we have launched the date for The Digital Circus LIVE 2022. Be sure to get Tuesday 5th April 2022 in your diaries. Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know when more information is launched!