Virtual programming

Virtual educational event setup

HBA components (i.e. chapters, regions, branches, affinity groups, programs) can plan and execute their own virtual educational offerings (i.e. webinars) Monday-Friday and there are multiple time slots available each day to choose from (maximum 3 webinars per day). To ensure webinar topics and dates/times are never in conflict with each other, while also providing our programming teams a lot more flexibility and ownership, we have developed a new step-by-step process:

Step 1: initial conceptualization

Begin developing your program concept and determining/securing potential speaker(s) internally (see Event speaker management guidance for more information). Leave yourself some flexibility, but begin determining a few potential dates and times that could work for all necessary parties for the webinar. Make sure to visit the Global Planning Calendar to see what other events are in the works across HBA. This calendar also outlines holidays and HBA Central event dates to avoid. The Global Planning Calendar can also be used to collaborate across chapters or regions on similar event topics. We also have an association-wide calendar that shows educational webinars already booked. Lastly, speak with your regional programming team to get a better idea of what other webinars are upcoming so you can better plan your event.

Step 2: secure your webinar date and time slot

Visit HBA's webinar scheduler on Calendly to see which of the dates and times you've determined are available. This tool will show you in real-time what webinar slots are available on any given day.

Times listed are in Eastern Standard Time, but you are welcome to convert to your time zone via the drop down at the bottom of the calendar.
If your webinar is longer than one hour or does not perfectly fit into one of the slots listed, please select the closest slot available. Please note if a time overlaps with an existing webinar, your time will not be approved.
Once selected, enter your name, email, proposed webinar title, region, description, speakers and any additional comments (such as chapter name, if being handled by a chapter, exact timing if it differs from the slot you selected) and click Schedule Event.
Note: If you plan to hold your educational webinar on your region's Zoom license, please also make sure the date and time are available on that platform and set up your webinar while booking your Calendly slot.
This is a best practice to ensure HBA events are not competing with one another. It also allows for HBA Central to market your event globally, and reach a wider audience than just your chapter/region -- which will in turn increase your registration and revenue.

Step 3: await HBA approval (within 2 business days)

HBA staff will review your submission to ensure the topic is not duplicative or competing with existing upcoming webinars, and confirm your date/time selection. Once approved, your event will appear on the association-wide calendar, which is available to all HBA programming teams for planning purposes and the individual who submitted the proposal will be directly notified.

Step 4: set up your event for registration

Once your webinar is approved by HBA Central, the concept is fully developed and speakers/sponsors are secured, you are welcome to open your event for registration following the procedure outlined in our How to open an event for registration article. Please be sure to add the webinar login information to the Additional Information section, which will be set up as an automated email to go out to individuals when they register. Remember, minimum pricing for educational webinars is $10/€8 for members, $20/€17 for nonmembers and HBA Central will automatically adjust the pricing listed to these amounts after you submit.

Upon the submission of your event setup:

You will be notified when the registration link is available and with next steps to ensure your speakers can register and sign the HBA speaker agreement.
Your event will be automatically included in the weekly HBA event digest email and will be available for registration association-wide Note: events set up after COB Wednesday will not appear in the following Monday's digest.

Step 5: marketing and pre-webinar prep

Marketing: While your webinar is automatically added to the weekly event digest email, the chapter/region is responsible for all other marketing of the event, such as on social media channels and the HBA Community.

Pre-webinar prep:

Panel prep: as you would with any other educational event, work with your team and speakers to ensure all are prepared to address the content and topics of the webinar, including preparing them with all questions that may be asked, opinions they may asked to give. Please feel free to have your team and speakers refer to HBA Virtual Presentations - Speaker & Recording Tips (1).pdf
Develop your materials such as:
- Slide deck: please use HBA's Intro slides as a basis for your webinar presentation, which are templates with HBA branding, include an HBA informational slide and technical tips to quickly review with your attendees. We have a few versions available based on your event needs:
  - Zoom Tech Tip slide templates:
    - For traditional educational events: Intro slides_template for zoom_educational.pptx
    - For educational events with breakout sessions: Intro slides_template for zoom_educational w breakout.pptx
      - This template include an additional tech support slide for breakout rooms which can be included before the breakouts begin, along with two placeholder slides for on screen during/immediately post breakouts
    - For more interactive/conversational events: Intro slides_template for zoom_networking-engagement.pptx
- Other optional items: poll questions, handouts to be shared with attendees, a few Q&A questions to be prepared should attendees not ask enough questions via the chat

Step 6: technical rehearsal

Scheduling a tech rehearsal on the same platform you will be using is incredibly important to ensure all team members and speakers have an understanding of the technical nuances and flow of the event. It should be held a few days prior to the actual webinar date and last about 30-45 minutes. Be sure to include all event team members who will be responsible for something on the day-of the event and all speakers.

Before the rehearsal, identify your technical leader: at least one of your team members should be savvy with the webinar platform so they can be the "Host". This person will assist and guide the team and speakers through any technical elements (such as video camera sharing, breakout rooms, polling, etc). It is helpful to inform your technical leader of elements such as polling, breakouts, etc that you are hoping to make use of prior to the technical rehearsal, so they can be prepared. Be sure to use same technical leader for the live event.

Please make use of HBA's Zoom tech support tips. These are a collection of technical tips and nuances that HBA's staff have learned over the years, which will help you to run your event smoothly and look polished.

During the tech rehearsal:

Please make use of our Webinar technical rehearsal guide to walk you through the flow of the rehearsal and make sure you don't miss any important details.
Use HBA webinar tech rehearsal notes.pdf tool to log any and all important information.

Step 7: hold your flawless webinar

Your team and speakers should log on to the platform 15-30 minutes early to ensure no one has any issues. Also take this time to review any important last minute items or gain clarity on any final details and feel free to refer to the Zoom Interview Best Practices 3.pdf document to ensure everyone looks/sounds their best.

Remember to use HBA's Zoom tech tips during the live webinar to ensure you don't miss any nuances.

Remind attendees to reply to the post-webinar email that is sent from HBA. Click here for more information on accessing survey results.

Step 8: post-event wrap up

After your event, send the shareable link to your converted recording and any handouts to events@hbanet.org so it can be set up to be emailed to all registrants. HBA will clearly state that the recording is available for approximately one week, so after that time frame you are welcome to delete it from the cloud. Don't fret, HBA will download the file for our archives upon receipt.

Finally, thank your speakers and team for a job well done!

Educational webinar planning timeline

Virtual networking events

Virtual recruitment events (formerly "engagement events")

Virtual event platform options

Event speaker management guidance

For ease of event setup, HBA has developed the below two-step guidance to ensure the speaker administration pieces are taken care of in a timely manner.

Step 1: immediately upon confirmation of the speaker's participation and before setting the event up for registration...

Request that the speaker create an HBA account or update their current HBA account:

Create an HBA account (if they don't already have one). They do not need to become a member and can just create a guest account. Once they create their account, please inform them that they will need to complete the tasks listed in step 2 below. OR
Update their HBA profile (if they already have one), specifically:
- Add or edit their profile picture if needed
- Ensure their title and company information is accurate
- Upload their speaker bio
While in their profile, complete the HBA Speaker Agreement

Why is this?

During the event setup process, HBA's system pulls your speaker's information directly from their existing HBA profile. If they do not have an HBA profile, you will not be able to add them to your event; or if their profile information is out of date/inaccurate, it will appear that way on your registration page.

HBA staff are not allowed to edit speaker profile information (such as their title, company) or add anything to their profile (such as a headshot or speaker bio) per HBA policy and GDPR regulations. We rely entirely on the individual to ensure their profile information accurate.

For these reasons, it is very important that speakers all have accurate HBA profiles before you even begin the event setup process. If a speaker is not willing to do the about steps, please let them know that, unfortunately, they will not be able to participate in the event as a speaker.

Step 2: once your event is open for registration...

HBA will notify you and send you all your promo codes. At that time, prompt your speaker to register themselves using the HBA speaker code. Here are instructions should they need assistance registering:

Registering for an HBA event
Registering someone else for an HBA event (if they have an assistant, etc registering them)
Using a promo code

Once these required administrative items are complete, you should be able to focus on ensuring the speakers are prepared for the live aspects of the event.

Helpful guidance for managing your events and teams during COVID-19

The reality of life for our leaders during this crisis is widely varied: some may have more free time than ever before, some are experiencing high stress, loss or job transitions, while some have absolutely no free time to dedicate to HBA due to work and family responsibilities. HBA understands and appreciates any amount of time our leaders have to give to our mission, and with reduced capacity in mind we want to share what we hope is some helpful guidance to assist you in working smarter, not harder while still making a big impact:

Providing value and support to all our stakeholders (members, volunteers and companies) during this time should be at the forefront of all that we do.
Be realistic:
- HBA is supporting three educational virtual events per week across all 8 regions. If you do the math, that means if each region plans only 1 or 2 webinars in a month, we’ll have a full calendar!
- Some areas are struggling more than others during this crisis, so now might not be the right time for them to be planning a complex educational experience. Instead, perhaps those areas should just set up a simple series of virtual networking events, which require significantly less work, to provide opportunities to members to network/engage with each other and stay connected to HBA during this time.
Stay connected and coordinated: this crisis is forcing everyone to think and work a bit differently than ever before. It is strangely an opportunity to connect more with other chapter/regional leaders, to explore new ways of working and coordinating across teams to better support each other and our community.

Some guidance on how to get started:

Assess your bandwidth: who on your chapter/regional programming teams has the capacity to continue, in what ways would they like to contribute?
Re-align and coordinate your teams:
- With virtual educational events now being “regional,” this is a great opportunity to engage cross-chapter/regional programming teams to curate educational content rather than continuing to work in silos. Get creative – this isn’t a “business as usual” time.
- Organize a cross-functional team of corporate relations / programming regional and chapter volunteers to align your educational programming strategy with sponsorship moving forward:
  - Would any of our planned in-person programs translate well to virtual?
  - Would any of our committed sponsors be open to supporting a virtual program?
  - Would any companies in the area have interest in supporting particular topics that would be of value for your region to develop?
Develop a coordinated plan: across the region and chapters, how many and what types of events/topics will you support and what is the most valuable to the membership?
- How many educational events can your region handle planning/curating each month (if any)? Which topics are most relevant or impactful? How will those teams work together and who is in charge of what tasks?
- How many virtual networking and engagement events should be held locally in each area to keep members engaged– please see our list of virtual networking event ideas for some inspiration!
- Which areas are struggling and could use additional support to engage their local members in the coming weeks? Is there a way other chapters and/or regional leaders could assist them with smaller, local virtual events so they don’t lose engagement from their members?

Now is a time for our leaders to come together like never before, to support one another and their fellow health care and life science professionals. We will continue building out this resource page to provide more guidance and help, so please share with us ideas, plans, ways of working, best practices and more – your shared experiences could help support and guide fellow HBA leaders across the globe.

Five Ways to Create Better Engagement During Virtual Events

From the AssociationsNow article titled "Five Ways to Create Better Engagement During Virtual Events"

As more associations convert their in-person conferences into virtual ones due to COVID-19, many are concerned about the ability to replicate the interaction, networking, engagement, and hallway conversations that are staples of face-to-face events.

On an ASAE webcast earlier this week called “Tips and Tools for Creating and Awesome Virtual Event Experience,” the two presenters said it is definitely possible—you just need to be thoughtful and creative.

Here are five ideas that 360 Live Media Director of Experience Design Beth Surmont, CMP, CAE, and Matchbox Virtual Cofounder and CEO Arianna Rehak shared during the webinar:

Prepare your speakers. “It is extremely difficult to present to nobody,” Surmont said. “A lot of speakers feed off their audience. So, the first time you present to no one, it is very strange experience and it can throw people off.” That means associations need to talk to their presenters about what to expect—and also what they can do to deliver the best experience to attendees. If they’ll be on video, that includes having a clean background (“think newcasts,” she said), wearing clothing that is not distracting, and having front lighting.

Get your audience ready too. “It’s very important to bring a specific level of intention to your virtual event to help your audience understand how they can have the best experience,” Surmont said. Tell them how to engage. “For example, submit your questions here. Raise your hand this way,” she said.

Surmont suggested thinking of engagement through four dimensions: physical, physiological, intellectual, and emotional. For the physical dimension, for example, consider where people are participating from and offer tips on how they can create the best environment for themselves: “Keep your door closed, or put a sign on your door so you won’t be disturbed,” Surmont said.

Build a virtual environment that’s conducive to conversation. “While pre-recording sessions often gets a bad rap,” Rehak said, doing so allows speakers to engage actively in the conversation that is going on while attendees are watching their session. “The speakers love this by the way,” she said. “They are seeing their content come to life.”

If you do go this route, Rehak recommends having chat animators who “create a positive conversational environment that signals to other that they can join,” she said. “That can be as simple as being the first to say, ‘Hey, really excited to be here and get started.’ That will set the right tone.”

Host virtual roundtable discussions. “If you want attendees to dive into a specific topic, you may want to consider video chat breakout rooms,” Rehak said. “It’s really a way for folks to meaningfully connect with one another.”

To make this happen, have a designated facilitator in each room so the conversation stays focused and gets people talking. If your association is unable to provide multiple facilitators, Rehak suggest supplying each room with a list of guiding questions. “You want to give them a sense of purpose around their interaction together,” she said.

Offer a little bit of fun between sessions. Create moments between sessions that capture people’s attention. For example, you can provide additional content during breaks, such as meditation or a trivia game. Or if you have awards to present, consider playing short videos of the winners. “Really, the world is your oyster in terms of that you can offer attendees during these breaks,” Rehak said.

What ideas have you implemented for introducing engagement and conversation during your virtual events? Please share with us.

Virtual programming

Virtual educational event setup

Step 1: initial conceptualization

Step 2: secure your webinar date and time slot

Step 3: await HBA approval (within 2 business days)

Step 4: set up your event for registration

Step 5: marketing and pre-webinar prep

Step 6: technical rehearsal

Step 7: hold your flawless webinar

Step 8: post-event wrap up

Educational webinar planning timeline

Relevant links:

Virtual networking events

Virtual recruitment events (formerly "engagement events")

*Important note**: HBA is not able to provide technical support for virtual events. A chapter or regional leader must be able to* run all technical aspects of the event in their entirety.

Virtual event platform options

Event speaker management guidance

Step 1: immediately upon confirmation of the speaker's participation and before setting the event up for registration...

Why is this?

Step 2: once your event is open for registration...

Helpful guidance for managing your events and teams during COVID-19

Five Ways to Create Better Engagement During Virtual Events

From the AssociationsNow article titled "Five Ways to Create Better Engagement During Virtual Events"

HBA-branded Virtual Background

Virtual programming

Virtual educational event setup

Step 1: initial conceptualization

Step 2: secure your webinar date and time slot

Step 3: await HBA approval (within 2 business days)

Step 4: set up your event for registration

Step 5: marketing and pre-webinar prep

Step 6: technical rehearsal

Step 7: hold your flawless webinar

Step 8: post-event wrap up

Educational webinar planning timeline

Relevant links:

Virtual networking events

Virtual recruitment events (formerly "engagement events")

Important note: HBA is not able to provide technical support for virtual events. A chapter or regional leader must be able to run all technical aspects of the event in their entirety.

Virtual event platform options

Event speaker management guidance

Step 1: immediately upon confirmation of the speaker's participation and before setting the event up for registration...

Why is this?

Step 2: once your event is open for registration...

Helpful guidance for managing your events and teams during COVID-19

Five Ways to Create Better Engagement During Virtual Events

From the AssociationsNow article titled "Five Ways to Create Better Engagement During Virtual Events"

HBA-branded Virtual Background

Related Articles

*Important note**: HBA is not able to provide technical support for virtual events. A chapter or regional leader must be able to* run all technical aspects of the event in their entirety.