Six Tips for Running Better Virtual Events
Just a year ago, February 2020, the team at Grid Forward was fresh off a rebrand and a successful event in Seattle, with a detailed plan to expand our impact across the western U.S. and Canada.
A month later, we threw that plan in the waste bin and started over.
I wrote in Medium about the lessons we learned at Grid Forward after a year of successfully engaging our community through virtual events. It was hard but with trial and error we were able to grow our membership, tackle tough issues like equity and resiliency, and help our utility members help their communities.
In October, we rolled out a virtual version of our flagship GridFWD 2020 event. We applied the lessons we learned along the way to making this event as relevant, entertaining and convenient as possible. Over 500 people participated in the event, and 98% said they’re very likely to attend our next GridFWD event.
It’s going to take time before large groups of people will feel comfortable gathering at conferences. But until then, these lessons that will help us keep our community engaged and moving forward with the critical work of modernizing our electric grid.