Neuroscaping Online Experiences
Creating and communicating information digitally has never been more essential than it is now.
Online communication offers unimaginable opportunities to connect, yet it also conflicts with our traditional habits and expectations. To thrive in a digital environment, we need to adapt.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented cancelations of business travel and in-person meetings. Many events and conferences have transitioned to virtual gatherings, via video conferencing, live streaming and other digital platforms. Yet research demonstrates that attention, retention and self-regulation are negatively impacted by online events. Participants are more likely to be distracted, to multi-task, or go off task. In addition, while social distancing is essential in these exceptional times, employees can experience a lost sense of community and belonging when virtual events replace face-to-face contact.
Findings from social science and neuroscience can be applied to virtual event design to recapture attention, increase immersion and retention, and to keep participants on task. As well, strategies can be deployed to enable connection and dialogue, helping peers and colleagues to build a sense of community.
Overview
Before COVID-19, businesses were challenged by limited levels of engagement at live events. Studies show that people are typically not paying attention up to 52% of the time (Seli, Risko, Smilek & Schacter, 2016). At live conferences and events many factors negatively affect the audience experience including mind wandering, fatigue, mood, and cognitive overload. And that s just from the audience perspective. Add in a poor presenter and lackluster event environment and we could easily find that 75% of event investment is lost as content falls short.
Research demonstrates that virtual events provide additional attention and retention challenges, with participants being much more likely to go off task.
Consider the high rates of off-tasking with devices in classrooms (McCoy, 2015). Multi-tasking is even higher when viewers are not in a live event audience.
For example, sampling nearly 300 Kent State students enrolled in both online and on-campus courses, Andrew Lepp and his team found that students are 25% more likely to multi task in non-academic work when enrolled in online.
This is in addition to the increased distractibility that comes in times of crisis. As a result, organizations can expect lower transfer of information through as live events close and there are poor transitions to digital alternatives. This leads to less overall satisfaction and reduced alignment with business objectives. In addition, businesses should anticipate a lost sense of connection with colleagues and peers. Collectively, these factors have an impact on business results.
However, by approaching online events with the rigorous application of research from behavioral science and neuroscience, these impacts can be mitigated. Immersion and engagement strategies can be applied to combat off-task distractions and mind wandering, while also building a sense of community and connection.
At Debut, we want to help organizations capitalize on this opportunity to engage their employees and consumer audiences through a digital transformation. Now is the time to use the latest insights and technology to stay in contact with others.
Benefits and Challenges of Online vs. In-Person Events
A Comparison
Conventional In-Person Event
Conventional Online Event
Flexibility:
Relatively inflexible, since important work must be paused to attend group workshops or meetings.
Very flexible, since pre-recorded or digitally streamed sessions can be viewed at any time.
Networking:
Easy to make connections.
Online formats can be prohibitive in making new personal connections.
Format:
Typically presenter-guided.
Flexible. Online streams and sessions can be independent, collaborative or presenter-guided.
Cost:
Space, facilitation and food & beverage can be expensive.
Large upfront cost to develop, but inexpensive moving forward (reusable & recorded modules can be viewed from anywhere).
Delivery:
Inconsistent. Each presenter has a different style, so speaker quality and content can be inconsistent.
Consistent message delivery. The same presenter is broadcast to all viewers, with the exact same content and presentation style. Sessions are also recorded for later reference.
Presenter Difficulty:
Familiar and easy. Presenters are typically familiar with in-person presentation formats and tools, such as PowerPoint or live polling.
Unfamiliar and difficult. Many presenters have difficulty engaging audiences online, and have less experience directing webinars and using streaming software.
Profile of Individuals Best-Suited for Online Events
Some participants are better suited to benefit from online platforms than others. Comprehensive research has been conducted to identify the profile of individuals who are best suited for online learning platforms. For live events, we can expect similar individuals to thrive. And, as designers, we must also find ways to engage those who struggle to connect meaningfully through digital platforms. Creating online psychological audience personas is beneficial to guide design decisions.
Successful online learners are shown to demonstrate or possess
Greater emotional intelligence, self-awareness of needs and adequate management of feelings (Berenson, Boyles, and Weaver 2008)
High self-regulation skills, self-discipline, time management, organization, planning, self-evaluating (Eom, Wen, and Ashill 2006; Kerr, Rynearson, and Kerr 2006; Muilenburg and Berge 2005; Ruey 2010; Song et al. 2004; Waschull 2005; Yukselturk and Bulut 2007)
Reflective/visual learning styles (Eom, Wen, and Ashill 2006; Means et al. 2010)
And an internal locus of control (Berenson, Boyles, and Weaver 2008; Kerr, Rynearson, and Kerr 2006)
It can be assumed that individuals with these characteristics are also most likely to benefit from conventional online event experiences.
Using Neuroscaping to Increase Online Engagement, Retention and Connection
There are strategies that mitigate the disadvantages of online events and amplify their benefits, while extending their reach and impact to ever larger audiences. Neuroscaping is an event architecture approach that applies findings from behavioral studies to meeting and communication design, including online events.
Neuroscaped design is built upon seven principles:
Enhancing Group Dynamics
Elevating Attention
Curating Mood
Recognizing Cognitive Processes and Biases
Managing Cognitive Load
Combatting Fatigue
Optimizing Retention
Proven Neuroscaping design strategies can be applied to architecting and curating online event experiences, improving levels of engagement, retention and connection. These strategies include:
Narrative Design
Event Broadcasting Skin
Virtual Studio Design
Incentive Models
Task Change Systems
Professional Moderation
Entertainment Integration
Interaction and Community Building
Cognitive Optimization
Content Strategies
Measurement and Analytics
Neuroscaping Design Strategies
NARRATIVE DESIGN
Maintaining attention and focus is critical during an online event to combat the user s desire to multi-task. A narrative is a messaging arc designed to thread through an entire event from beginning to end, serving as chapters in a storyline that connect with the viewer. This approach allows for messaging to be effectively communicated in alignment with the viewer s mindset. By applying insights and behavioral analytics from previous broadcasts, it becomes possible to predict where audiences are likely to lose interest, engineering the narrative accordingly.
EVENT BROADCASTING SKIN
Since online events lack the environmental control of live events, energy and branding should be delivered in a more overt way to compensate. By producing an online event that is of similar quality to what viewers experience at home in their own personal consumption of television and streamed programming, increased attention will be captured, while elevating the organization s brand standard and connection to the audience.
VIRTUAL STUDIO DESIGN
In addition to broadcasting standards, studio design can dramatically enhance the impact of online events by creating a compelling and dynamic viewing experience. By utilizing an advanced LED screen background that transfers high definition imagery, speaker support can be integrated as part of the set design to create a seamless presentation experience.
This tunnels the focus of participants while elevating the event s production
- an approach that is similar to that used by major news networks and sporting events. Creating a multiple-set studio environment also allows for switching between content experts, panels and creative elements.
This has been shown to aid in maintaining focus and energy.
INCENTIVE MODELS
Engagement can be elevated and distractions mitigated by incenting audiences to pay attention. In addition to traditional polling and Q&A features, an incentive model can be layered into event design. This can include opportunities to accumulate points and the sharing of messages amongst colleagues/peers. This provides a psychological payoff for attendees that leverages social science and the fear of missing out.
TASK CHANGE SYSTEMS
Online participants can begin tuning out the sound of a single voice after a short amount of time. This risk can be managed by engineering task changes during presentations to sustain attention. Task changes can include structural design of content that includes interstitial messaging and pre-designed commercial-style segments.
PROFESSIONAL MODERATION
Professional moderators can enhance an online event s production value, while building community and maintain a compelling narrative arc. This adds a dimension that can get lost in a virtual environment. Professional moderators have the ability to speak directly to each viewer, engaging them while also adding event flow interventions that provide natural task changes. When paired with analytics, a moderator can make adaptations to the event in real time, responding to the state of the audience to recapture and elevate engagement.
ENTERTAINMENT INTEGRATION
Online presentations and productions that are entertaining are proven to increase audience interest, engagement and retention, while creating an experience that becomes shared by the online viewing community. Integrating entertainment into online events rewards the viewer,
COGNITIVE OPTIMIZATION
Insights on an audience s cognitive state can be used to inform design decisions. These insights can be generated from audience pre evaluations that will guide decisions on pacing, online event length, event tone, content delivery style and incentive mechanisms.
while supporting incentivization and community building. Examples include the integration of musical team-building into the virtual experience, or surprising viewers with high-value guest speakers, talent and celebrity interactions.
INTERACTION AND COMMUNITY BUILDING
Live events offer many opportunities to interact and nurture relationships. Strategies exist to enable meaningful online interactions that create a sense of belonging and of being a part of a larger community. Examples include designing collective experiences that invite participants to share images or videos that can then be integrated into the live event experience, and branching participants into interactive virtual breakout rooms before returning as one united community to share insights and action items.
CONTENT STRATEGIES
The delivery of content in online settings can take many forms. How this content is delivered can be integral to creating energy, enhancing the mood of participants and maintaining a captive audience. This includes direct-to-consumer, journalistic, and YouTuber-inspired formats capable of seamlessly delivering messaging with highly dynamic standards.
MEASUREMENT AND ANALYTICS
Various forms of analytics can be integrated into the online platform to enhance engagement and capture data, allowing for future optimization. In addition, the application of emerging AI platforms can measure participants emotional-behavioral response to the experience. This provides deeper real-time insight on what resonated during the event and where disengagement took place.
Conclusion
While current technology is not yet capable of replicating the immediacy, impact and connection of live events, strategies informed by neuroscience and behavioral science can be used to bridge this gap.
These strategies can also be applied to reach audiences who would not traditionally respond to online platforms.
In a time of international crisis, online events using these strategies can provide employees and stakeholders focus and a sense of purpose, reminding them they are part of a larger community that shares common goals.
