As more meetings and conferences shift to a digital platform, the role of the Virtual Emcee has become more in demand. In a virtual meeting, the audience is 100% virtual with each attendee participating as a singular person in front of a digital device.
While the absence of an audience being present may not seem like it has an impact on the role and duties of an Emcee, the Virtual Emcee has a goal of creating the illusion that they are all in the same room co-creating and enhancing the digital meeting experience. This requires a much more deliberate and intentional set of skills that are unique to the virtual environment.
Ideal type of event that lend itself to hiring a Virtual Emcee:
- Virtual conferences and conventions
- Virtual Summit that is live and does not include an on-site component
- Facebook Group live sessions
Virtual Emcee Deliverables:
- Manage technical dry run prior to the event and coach presenters who are not familiar with the digital platform.
- Guide and clarify the learning experience that the organizer is hoping to garner from the event and suggest technical support tools needed to achieve the end result.
- Depending on the size of the group and budget, the Virtual Emcee may also be responsible for running the technical side of the event while managing the group. In most instances, however, the Virtual Emcee will have a support team that runs the additional technical components of the meeting (which are off-monitor but can impact the experience). Or they work with the event and in-house technical team to share their needs and requests.
- The Virtual Emcee is the consistent voice for the virtual event that weaves the learning and networking experiences for the virtual audience.
