Award ceremonies are an essential part of our life. They are held to celebrate or recognize one’s’ achievement or efforts towards a particular field of work or a cause. This achievement can be in any area like scientific, academic, artistic, business or social. One can be awarded for making a film while the other for innovation or invention.

Some of the most prestigious awards are The Academy award (Films), Emmy Awards (TV industry), Grammy awards (Music industry), Nobel prize (scientific, literature, and social achievements), and Red Dot awards (Designs), and so on.

It makes award winners feel valuable, while others are inspired by them. And these award ceremonies motivate people to give their best or strive for success.

But the last few months warn that hosting a physical events is not feasible. And with such a high level of uncertainty, we don’t know when physical events will return. So, what is the solution to this problem?

The answer is to adopt the technology. And move to the digital world, host a virtual event. But what is a virtual event?

A virtual event is a digital event. These are aimed to replicate the physical experience in a virtual one. So, the next question is how to host a virtual award ceremony? Let’s address this question.

Hosting a virtual Award Ceremony

1. Planning the Process

The first step for hosting your Virtual event is to answer several fundamental questions. These questions are: what is the goal of your event? Who will be coming to the event? How many people are you expecting for the event? And so on.

Here, in the case of a virtual award ceremony, you need to decide various things. These are what will be the award categories? How will people submit their work? Who will judge the entries? Will there be any jury? And how will you distribute awards? So on.

Also, decide the time, date, and duration of your event and the target audience for your event. These questions will help you to prepare the outline of your event. And then, you can move ahead to the next step.

2. Budget

After deciding the procedure and the requirements for your event, you can start working on the budget.

Budget is one of the most influential factors. It will affect your event. The whole planning of your event depends upon the budget, so you must carefully plan your budget. From the production quality to the feel of your event, everything is determined by the budget.

3. Selecting the Right Platform

Everything that can be controlled by you relies solely on the platform you have selected for your virtual event. It means that your audience experience and the performance of your event depends upon the platform itself.

Now that you are aware of the importance of the platform. You must be wondering how you will select the right one? Don’t worry, we have the solution for that also.

You should look for various things while selecting a platform. But the most vital thing is the features and solution provided by the virtual event platform. And how these features stack against the needs of your event. In other words, what will be the design of your event? What will be the security measures available? And lastly, what will the technical and staff support you will get from the platform team?

Acknowledge these factors before finalizing the platform for your virtual event for the award ceremony.

4. Inviting Guests and Audience

Once you are done with planning and budgeting, you need to prepare a list of invitations. This list would be made up of guests (judges and jury), award nominees, reporters or media persons and most importantly, the audience. You can tailor the list according to your needs. For example, you can also invite experts and industry leaders or business tycoons for your event. Again, it depends upon the nature of the award ceremony and the industry to which it belongs.

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5. Sponsors

Sponsorship is essential for any event. It will decide the budget and the reputation of your event. Since the number and background of sponsors will directly affect the budget and the status of your event. So, start working on a strategy for how to approach sponsors. And try to get maximum and well-known sponsors for your event.

You need to provide multiple pieces of information to the potential sponsor. This can be the expected viewership, who all are invited, and the reach of the event. Also, tell them how you will promote them in your event. For this, you can demonstrate the features available on your platform like dynamic banners and social wall etc.

6. Promoting the Event

Marketing your event is as important as deciding the budget and getting sponsors. The response to your award ceremony will be assumed by the number of audiences. You cannot afford to not promote your event. Also, the marketing of your event includes introducing your event to the world. And inviting people to your event. So how will you promote your event? The answer is simple, use social media.

For this, first, prepare content and a strategy to market your event on social media. This strategy should be based on several factors. These are the interfaces of social media platforms. The time when most users are active and the latest trends on these platforms.

Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram are more video and picture friendly, but only the short videos work well. Whereas on Facebook, longer videos and text also works.

7. Don’t forget Rehearsals

It is always advised to test run your event. In this case, your platform also. So, you need to do a rehearsal of the schedule of your event. Also, test the virtual event platform that you have selected for your event. Try to identify possible technical issues, work with the support team to eliminate them. And make sure that during the event day, everything works smooth and as planned.

Also, be prepared with the backup. This can be in the form of extra equipment and tech support.

8. Dress Code

Usually, in an award show, there is a dress code. So, you can ask a judge, jury and award nominees to dress according to a particular dress code or theme. This will give a personal and professional touch to your virtual award ceremony.