I would like to hold an online event on my site

[Mary Jane Peterson]

Hi all 

I would like to hold an online event on my site B-yond Social Network www.b-yond.co 

Any one got any ideas that I can do for an online event 

Thank you 

[Doug Lowthian]

Look at Classroom 2.0 This is a Ning based site that hosts live online events all the time. 

[Mary Jane Peterson]

hi Doug Lowthian

Thank you :)

[Deb W.]

I held a live chat recently for the first time.  It was very easy.  I set it up as an event ("Coffee Break") & scheduled it only for 30 minutes.  Decided on a theme (but also said they could ask any question).  sent a message to all members announcing it, saying they could drop by any time during that 30 minutes - gave them a link to the main chat room.  I had about 10 people "stop by" - 3 or 4 engaged in discussion pretty well.  This may not seem like much but this is a group that is really shy of participating online so even this showing was worth it to me.  Plus since I didn't use video or voice, I didn't even need to get dressed up for it ;-)

Lessons I learned:

• pick a time that works for your members.  I had originally picked 8:30-9 & 4-4:30. 8:30 worked well - it was right after most people got to work. the afternoon time was right during the drive home from work for many of our members, so it didn't work as well.
• Make sure you have one or two friends (or more!) committed to being on there so you know there's someone to start talking with.
• RSVP was optional and I think it helped people who weren't sure of joining in... I may change that in the future.
• Since members had to sign in to see the chat, I could see that there were online & wasn't afraid to say hi to them - I think it got at least one person to engage in conversation when she wouldn't otherwise have done so.
• I had questions I wanted to ask them in case they didn't have anything to say (which they didn't at first).
• We had a snowstorm going that day, which was a great "icebreaker" for conversation...(Ha!)
• Start simple!  see how it works before trying to do anything too fancy (unless you have a lot more experience than I did...)

Have fun!

[Mary Jane Peterson]

Hi DEB W

Thank you so much :) you have given me some ideas thank you :)

[lorianne]

I guess it would depend on what you were trying to accomplish with an event. to reward/entertain members? to attract new? both?

My members had several "movie night" events. I simply set up a page and added a video sharing/ chat space from Wavelength (free) using an embed code (you can see it here: http://oursalon.ning.com/special-events)

They watched movies and chatted and had a blast. The numbers for each event were around 20ish members ... around the holidays they had a wonderful time watching holiday movies and chatting.

My members did all the work, all i did was  provide the software for them to use.

good luck with whatever you do

L

[Mary Jane Peterson]

Hi  lorianne

Thank you, do you have a link Wavelength as I can not find in on google I have always wanted to have a movie night thank you so much :)

[lorianne]

http://wavelength.fm/

Have fun with it & let me know if you need a hand.

L

[Mary Jane Peterson]

Hi lorianne

I have reg but there is no video's to start us off can you help me with this ? and how do I Wavelength on my site ?

[lorianne]

MaryJane - If you have already registered and created your 'room', check the address in your browser bar and save it.

this is how I did it & there may be a better way to add it to your page, but I used i-frames:

Create a page and go to the edit function for the page. Set the page for full width and check who you would like to view the page. I had mine set to signed in members but changed it in case you wanted to go look at it.

Once you have the settings how you like them just click to edit the HTML and add this using the URL for the room you set up and saved earlier:

<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="990" height="640" src="LINK TO YOUR WAVELENGTH"></iframe></p>

thats it. hope it works for you

[Deb W.]

This sounds great! Can't wait to try this.

[Tat Ruck]

We also hold scheduled chats but not altogether successfully - so will be watching this thread for tips. 

We have also held online radio shows with live chat before using flatcast (other streaming services are available!) It is fun, we play world music and have had guest DJs. Like Deb W, I spent a lot of time hosting (encouraging signed-in members to chat and welcoming people as they joined the chat. However - some members had problems downloading the software needed to listen - any suggestions of easier-to-use audio streaming services would be very helpful!  I will take a look at Wavelength - thanks Lorianne.

[lorianne]

you might look at Blog Talk Radio  for streaming. I havent delved into it too deeply yet as my plate is pretty full, but I do have some friends who use it with much success.