Six Tips to Help You Engage With Graduates at Virtual Events
Although it wasn’t possible for the team at Macquarie Group to physically meet with students during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has enabled us to virtually engage with graduates from a range of backgrounds based all across Europe. In particular, throughout 2020, Macquarie and our LGBT+ Employee Network Group – Pride – have been busy hosting and participating in various virtual graduate events to showcase why LGBT+ graduates should join Macquarie.
Having the ability to interact with students is very important for us, especially with those that are looking for a graduate position. We know that our graduates have the potential to become the next generation of leaders for our business, so it’s important that we give students the opportunity to hear about our programs and ask questions from our team members.
Throughout the year, members of our Pride network have participated in numerous virtual events including with myGwork, Proud2B, PinkNews Futures, the LSE Careers Fair and the UCL: Virtual Diversity Dinner.
While Macquarie continuously works to create an LGBT+ inclusive environment internally, we also want to be part of ensuring that the broader industry is open to all. Understanding that there are challenges and differences when interacting with students in a virtual environment compared to in a face to face setting, the team share a few of our top tips to help other employers and employee network groups engage with candidates at their next virtual event.
1) Ice breakers: Adding a few more ice breakers than usual can be helpful to engage the audience and increase psychological safety and participation levels. Students are studying online all day and attending various virtual events, so having some fun ice breakers can help set the scene and encourage people to get involved. Do something out of the ordinary - for the UCL: Virtual Diversity Dinner event, we provided students a delivery food voucher to have dinner while we spoke. We used this as an ice breaker to ask students what they ordered for dinner.
2) Audience participation is key: It’s harder to keep students engaged in virtual events than physical events, especially when students have been listening to online lectures all day. Try going a step beyond just running through some presentation slides and students asking questions at the end. Integrating interactive features in your event such as polls and trivia questions will go a long way to increasing participation from your audience.
3) Know your audience: Presenting online makes it more difficult for people to make comments and ask questions. Begin your event by asking your audience what they want to hear about. Sometimes background and interesting statistics about the organisation and about you would be helpful, and sometimes the audience will want to launch into prepared questions.
4) Engagement also happens outside the actual event: The time leading up to the event is crucial as it will create a first impression for the event. Think about how you can make the event something your audience can look forward to. Previously, we have created a competition where the audience had to find specific images hidden in the presentation to win a prize. We found that this got the audiences’ competitive side going and increased engagement.
You’ll always have a time limit on the event and participants may not always feel comfortable asking questions in front of a large audience. Offering a way to get in contact with you afterwards (in a way you are comfortable with) helps to continue the conversation outside of the event. Giving your email address for students to get in contact should they have any further questions will go a long way.
5) Select an appropriate time: With the majority of students currently studying virtually, it may be more favourable to organise events during the day rather than later in the evening, depending on the event you are organising. For example, if you have a short presentation, you may see more students willing to attend between classes than if you were to hold an event in the evening, where they may be tired from a day of virtual learning. You may also get more interaction from participants because they are still in a learning mindset.
6) Preparation is key: No top tips list would be complete without the usual reminder about being prepared for your event. There are more variables to take into consideration with virtual events, especially when you are relying on your technology working on the day. Do not underestimate the value of a test-run with some people within your organisation – you’ll be surprised how many times you’ll thank yourself for doing the test-run prior to the event and not try to solve any problems on the day.
If you have any tips to help engage with graduates or other attendees at virtual events, leave a comment in this article as we’d like to know.
