9 quick DIY virtual event ideas

A selection of simple DIY virtual event ideas to create right now using free tools and services. Get your virtual event up and running in just a few minutes.

1. Virtual karaoke party

This is probably a no-brainer, but the virtual karaoke’s number one favourite virtual event ideas of ours. It does require a bit more preparation time on your part, but the outcome is worth it. One of the most awesome advantages of the virtual karaoke event is that everyone has to participate. Meaning, that you’re not going to be awkwardly speaking into the computer and waiting for feedback from your participants - your participants have to provide the content. 

What you need to think about is probably some good props for entertainment value and timing. Here are the basics: 

• Schedule a virtual event on Zoom or Google Hangout (these are the best free tools for face to face interaction)

• Create a signup form on Billetto and add booking questions to ask what song each participant would like to perform
• Add a confirmation message to the signup form to automatically send the link to your virtual event
• Download the list with songs & participant names and set the order of songs for the day
• If you like to get more technical, you can also use Watch2Gether to sync YouTube videos with lyrics and your Zoom presentation. Otherwise, you can also just share your screen with participants with the song that is being performed
• Test your internet connection and web camera on the day and you’re ready to go!

2. Virtual fun run

You can also organise a virtual “together apart” fun run, depending on where you are and how much you can get outside. We recently read a story about a French man running a marathon on his balcony - if there’s a will there’s a way. This is a great opportunity for a fitness business to tap into the global audience too. So, how do you organise a virtual fun run: 

• Create a digital sign up form with Billetto
• Add additional booking questions to collect registration information from your participants (it’s a good opportunity to collect email addresses or ask which division they’d like to participate in)
• Decide on the goal: is it a 5k, 10k or is it a half-marathon?
• Decide on how your participants submit their results. The best way is to use social media and a hashtag, as this is going to provide extra social content for you. As the participants to take a photo with their time and distance and post it on social to win prizes. 
• And it’s up to you if you have a single winner or a raffle for the prizes with the results. You can even organise medals if your competition calls for it (you can collect participant mail addresses with Billetto too). 

3. Virtual scavenger hunt

There are many variations of virtual scavenger hunts right now. You can decide between hosting in person or hosting an ongoing virtual scavenger hunt. This is a great event to host for kids. 

For the in-person virtual scavenger hunt you’ll need: 

• A scheduled live event on Zoom, Google Hangout
• An event sign up form on Billetto
• You can add additional booking questions if you want to collect more information from your participants (if it’s someone’s birthday or any special requests, for example).
• Add an order confirmation message to send a link with your scheduled live event
• Create a list of things that everyone will definitely have in their home to find during the scavenger hunt. If you’re organising a scavenger hunt for kids it could be a good idea to share the items to be found with their parents prior to the event. 
• Test your webcam and your internet connection on the day of the event, get the list of participants so you know their names and start hosting your virtual scavenger hunt

You can also create a simple social media-based virtual scavenger hunt competition. This is a great opportunity for you to generate some content marketing material. For this, you can also simply pick the items that need to be found around the home and let the participants share their found items on their social media with a hashtag of your choosing. You announce a winner picked at random. 

4. Yoga & fitness classes online

If you’re ready to teach an online yoga or a fitness class - this is a great opportunity for you to start with a virtual fitness event. If you have not yet developed a following or have an established participant base, it could also be a good idea to offer free-taster classes for your participants to take. This could be a pre-recorded YouTube class or a live guided class with a free sign up (but do collect their email addresses for a newsletter). To create a simple free online class set up: 

• Decide if you want to host a class in-person or as a simple guided class where your participants can comment. You can use Zoom or Google Hangout for an in-person experience or Facebook Live, Instagram Live and YouTube Live for a live broadcast with commenting and poll features. We’ve made a handy comparison table for live streaming tools to help you decide.
• Schedule your class on a streaming platform
• Create a signup form or a payment page with Billetto to accept payment or collect donations for your class
• Add booking questions to your form to ask your participants if there are any special requests or any injuries you should know about (helps you think about exercise variations before class)
• Check your internet connection and your webcam on the day 
• Make sure your background is appropriate and obstruction-free for the live stream
• Download the list of participants beforehand to learn their names and what the exercise variations should be for each class
• Go live and start hosting your virtual class

5. Virtual conference

You can also create a virtual conference or a virtual festival using free tools online. The most important thing about hosting either of these is to have the presenters or performers confirmed and a schedule put together for them to present/perform on set times. 

• Confirm the presenters and performers for your virtual conference
• Create scheduled live stream events for each presenter or a performer or ask them to do each their own and collect links to the streams 
• Create a page with the set times for each performer/presenter. You can use this page to embed a live stream for each presenter and your attendees can simply go to a next video on set times or choose which video they would like to watch
• Create a payment or donation page on Billetto to charge for the attendance and add the link to your conference page with a confirmation email/order message
• Make a memo for each performer/presenter to check their internet connection and their camera set up on the day of the conference
• Make sure you stay on top of each presentation and see that it goes live properly, be ready to assist presenters with technical issues
• You’re ready to start a virtual conference

6. Virtual crafts class

If you have a skill you would like to share with the world - there’s no better time than now. Creating a virtual class is quite simple, just make sure that it fits in an hour or so. As with the fitness classes, it could be a good idea to offer a free class as a sample first and offer more advanced classes to people that are interested in taking a deeper dive to learn your craft. So, to set up a virtual crafts class: 

• Schedule a live stream session on a streaming platform of your choice
• Create a payment or a donation page to let your participants sign up for the class
• It’s a good idea to collect email addresses for your newsletter and use it to announce upcoming classes
• You can add a link to the streaming page in the order confirmation & email confirmation with Billetto
• Make sure you test your camera and internet connection on the day
• Check your class set on the camera, make sure you don’t have anything distracting on the background
• You’re ready to host your class!

7. Virtual wine/gin/whiskey tasting

This is a great marketing event opportunity for a brewery, distillery or a shop. You can offer a spirit tasting (it can also be food, like cheese tasting) with the bundle of products specifically put together for this event. 

• Create a bundle or a few that your participants can purchase before the event starts. Make sure you set the time limit based on the delivery times to make sure that your participants receive their bundles on time of the tasting
• Schedule a live stream on a streaming platform of your choice
• Create a payment page on Billetto to collect payment for the bundle, delivery and tasting
• Add additional booking questions to your payment page to collect the delivery addresses for your participants
• Add a link to the live stream in the order confirmation & confirmation email
• Send out all deliveries and make sure that everyone gets theirs on time. 
• Have a backup plan for those that might not have received your delivery: perhaps, record live tasting or do a one-on-one session instead
• Tets your camera and the Internet on the day and you’re ready!

8. Online cooking classes

Just like with any online classes, you can offer a cooking class online. Similar to the tasting event, the cooking class can go along with a bundle offer from your shop or promote a certain brand. It’s a great marketing tool. 

• Schedule a live streaming class on a streaming platform of your choice
• Create a payment page on Billetto to charge the fee for the class or to collect donations
• If you need to send out bundles for the class, you can also collect participant addresses with booking questions
• Add the link to a live stream to the order confirmation and email
• Make sure that you have all the ingredients you need to be lined up for the class
• Check your internet connection and your web camera
• You’re ready to host your virtual cooking class!

9. Virtual theatre / standup / improv performance

It’s possible to adjust a live theatre/standup/improv or event dancing performance to a virtual format. You just need to get a little creative about it. If you don’t have a chance to gather other performers together in the same place, think about how you can adjust the performance so that the rest of the group can connect via webcams from their homes. 

• Decide on a streaming tool to use: if you have a single web-cam performance, you can simply set up an Instagram Live, a Facebook Live or a YouTube Live stream. If you want to create an audience participation set up, consider Zoom or Google Hangout
• Create a payment or a donation page on Billetto to charge for participation in your performance
• Add a link to your scheduled stream in the order confirmation page and email
• Test your internet and your webcam on the day of the event & ask the rest of the group to do the same
• You’re ready to take your performance online!

And that’s it! That’s just a few simple virtual event ideas. You can convert almost any event into a virtual version if you add a few creative changes.