Tips for Attendees: Making the Most of the Virtual Conference

  • March 10, 2021
  • Lynne Yryku

Tips for Attendees: Making the Most of the Virtual Conference

After a year of social distancing and isolation, now is our chance to come together to connect, reflect and engage. On April 22, beat the Blursdays and join us for the CCCA National Conference, Silver Linings: Turning Adversity into Advantage!

Our conference team has been working diligently to bring interactivity and impactful learning into this fully online experience. We did a rapid-fire Q&A with Stephanie Lockhart, our conference planner extraordinaire, to see how we are focusing on motivating, engaging and inspiring participants.

What are the top three benefits of going virtual?

  1. Purposeful and efficient networking: Skip the mindless hallway chatter about the weather, and go straight to the people, products and services you’re after.
  2. Easy and tangible references and takeaways: Download contacts, copy chats, and save notes and handouts to your laptop.
  3. The post-conference recordings: Replay an inspiring speaker, catch up on any part of a workshop you missed and see all the sessions instead of having to choose only one concurrent workshop.

What are the top three pain points with virtual conferences—and how is the CCCA solving these problems?

  1. Conference platform: All the bells, whistles and avatars in the world cannot trump a platform that is easy to log in, navigate and interact right away. Everyone is already overwhelmed with new tech these days, so we researched and tested to find a versatile, user-friendly platform. EventMobi was the clear winner.
  2. Communication and orientation: There’s no time to be stuck in the lobby with a one-day event. We will walk you through the minimal technical requirements, outline what you can expect and explain all the different ways you will be able to participate with intro videos and guides. We will also have announcements and tech support available throughout the conference to make sure everyone gets the most of the experience.
  3. Interactivity: Connection is more important than ever. We are excited to create unique opportunities for engagement and interaction with unique networking events, polls, games, Q&As, a mix of webcast and webinar formats, and more!

What are the top three things that attendees can do to get the most of their conference experience?

  1. Log in early and orient yourself: Don’t start the day stressed. Make sure you are set up, logged in and ready with coffee in hand before our fabulous keynote speaker takes the stage. And don’t forget to access the platform post-conference for all the recordings!
  2. Plan your day: Make a schedule of the sessions and items you want to attend—there’s a handy tool available right in the platform for this—and don't forget to book meetings to connect with colleagues and meet with service providers.
  3. Dedicate and focus the time: You will get more from the education sessions and make more meaningful social connections if you are not distracted by other responsibilities. Just like when you went away at a conference in person for the day, book off the time to fully engage in the experience and enjoy your day out of the office!

With over 12 professional development workshops, two inspiring keynote presentations to open and close the event, networking cafés and games to meet in-house colleagues from across Canada, a full-service Exhibitor Hall, and more, it will be a one-day investment that pay dividends for years to come. Register now!

Lynne Yryku is the Executive Editor of The In-House Edition.