In 2022, only 20% of US employees stated they were ‘extremely satisfied’ with their company as a place to work.

Because the truth is pay incentives, benefits packages, and other juicy perks might be great extrinsic motivators — but they’re not sustainable on their own. In the new world of work, culture matters just as much (if not more).

Now more than ever, employee experience has to be a priority for every growing company.

With the right internal event, you can elevate team satisfaction and deliver a big boost in productivity, simply by helping employees connect.

If you’re ready to explore the ways internal events can work for you, don’t miss these proven tips.

• What are internal events?
• 5 types of internal events every team needs
• Should your next internal event be digital or in-person?
• 6 ways to elevate internal events

An internal event is a private corporate meeting or gathering, hosted by a company with the goal of engaging employees, announcing key updates, and/or educating partners and stakeholders.

The operative word here: engaging.

Because according to research from Gallup, engaging your employees has some pretty impressive benefits, including:

• 43% lower turnover
• 23% higher profitability
• 18% higher sales
• 14% higher productivity

But with only 21% of the global workforce currently engaged at work, most companies could use a little help reigniting the fire. And with the rise of remote and work from home (WFH) teams, building a sense of community can be an even greater challenge.

Fortunately, that’s where internal events come in, bringing team members together with a high-impact gathering that keeps your best people happy, productive, and engaged.

Only 21% of the global workforce are currently engaged at work. Source: Gallup

We’ve covered why engaging internal events are so critical. Here’s a quick rundown of five common internal events and how they’re typically structured.

• An internal event where organizations announce their latest goals and strategy.
• The objective is to align the org and motivate teams to produce the best results.
• Events can be multi-track with sessions geared toward employee communication and engagement.

• Also known as a town hall. This company-wide gathering gives all employees the opportunity to meet and discuss.
• The aim is to ensure everyone in the organization feels heard and that they understand and support the company direction.
• Effectively executed, all-hands can build transparency across departments by allowing leaders to share business updates and explain new processes.

• Team kickoffs take place at the start of a project and include all project stakeholders.
• The idea is to provide each team member with the tools, information and contacts they need to complete the project successfully.
• Team kickoffs may also include sales kickoffs, events that bring the whole sales team together to energize reps for the year ahead.
• To keep your team kickoff productive, focus on communicating goals, clarifying tasks and responsibilities, setting timelines and identifying challenges.
• These events are also about instilling a sense of excitement. Don’t be afraid to have a little fun!

• Team-building events are usually an activity-based way to engage employees.
• The goal of these events is to strengthen ties between team mates, improving communication and collaboration.
• With a host of gamification options and in-event apps and widgets, you can bring teams together, instill a sense of friendly competition and increase engagement for every attendee at your event.

• Hosted by company leaders to celebrate the seasonal holidays together.
• This type of event is a great way to unwind together as a team and show appreciation for employees..
• For an extra thank you, don’t forget to include virtual swag bags with seasonal goodies for every member of the team.

The quick answer? Both.

According to our recent Attendee Sentiment Report, 73% of attendees predict that hybrid events will become the most common event format in the future.

Because attendees want certain things from their events, including:

• Convenience
• Low cost
• Networking opportunities
• Engagement options

To help you decide which format is best for your next internal event, it helps to take a closer look at the pros and cons of each.

Intrigued by digital but not sure how it works in practice?

Find out how some of our incredible customers are making the move to digital work for them. Including risk management software providers, Onspring.

With just 72 hours to go before Onspring’s first in-person company kickoff in 2022, Covid-19 reared its ugly head. Luckily, Director of Marketing Megan Guerra had already hosted a full conference on Goldcast. In just a few hours the day before, Megan and her team were able to create a fully branded digital event.

Only a handful of the event speakers had used Goldcast before the company kickoff, but with a quick tech check the she and her team had the speaker onboarding process knocked out in a matter of minutes. Even folks who couldn’t make the tech check easily figured things out on their own.

That was the best part. We made the decision to pivot on a Friday, and I didn't have to work or stress over it on the weekend. I knew that I'd be able to move the whole event into Goldcast on Monday. It wasn't even a concern. — Megan Guerra, Director of Marketing, Onspring

So you’ve made the jump to digital — congrats!

To make your digital internal event just as exciting as your in-person gatherings, check out these six high-impact features.

As employees join your internal event, you want them to be anticipating what’s to come. Which means the snooze-worthy static welcome slide has to go.

Instead, create a mini-experience before the show even begins with Goldcast’s buffer video feature.

Whether it’s a sizzle reel of speaker and presenter clips, an inspiring mission video, or even someone from your team sharing tips on how to get the most from their event experience, the right buffer video will help you grab the audience’s attention as soon as they enter the event. Don’t be afraid to get creative!

Need a little inspiration? Check out this buffer video from our Rock Your Funnel event.

👋 Want to set up your own buffer video on Goldcast? Check out our handy help page!

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Multi-track events allow you to host multiple agenda items at the same time, giving your attendees the choice to attend whichever session suits them best.

This means you can optimize your employees’ event journey, removing the need to attend sessions that aren’t relevant and catering each attendee’s experience to their role, level or interests.

To keep things flowing, attendees will automatically be advanced to the next session in the track they are in. But if they want to browse what else is on, they can simply navigate to ‘Agenda’ and click into the track they wish to join, all while having their original session still playing in a smaller window.

But what if two (equally awesome) sessions clash? By providing your attendees with on-demand follow-up links, your content stays evergreen and accessible to all. No FOMO. No problem.

💡 Learn when and how to create tracks and how to restrict a track to certain attendees to effectively personalize and guide individual event experiences.

Producing attention-grabbing event content is either time-consuming or expensive or, if you’re really unlucky, both.

But your employees work hard. They deserve a digital internal event experience that feels just as easy to get absorbed in as their favorite Netflix show — and that means acing your video production.

With Goldcast, producing professional-grade event content doesn’t have to involve hiring an expensive team of producers or spending weeks of your time learning new software.

You get access to intuitive video production tools that create an immersive experience for attendees, including:

• Live speech-to-text captions and subtitles
• Live subtitled translations
• Ultra customizable branding options

Discover all of the production capabilities available to help you start producing like a pro.

Our report also found that 72% of attendees believe it’s the technology that makes a virtual event excellent. There’s a pretty simple reason for that. When it comes to digital events, the better the tech, the better the engagement.

With Goldcast, keeping your attendees engaged during your event is as easy as turning on the right features.

Here are just some of the tools you’ll find in our easy-to-use engagement panel:

• Live chat: A digital event must-have known for its ability to bring everyone together to contribute to the session in real-time.
• Polls: A crowd-pleaser for 39% of attendees, polls allows employees to shape the direction speakers take with their sessions and instantly share their own feedback and experiences.
• Video Q&A: 40% of attendees like this next-generation technology that allows you to invite audience members ‘on stage’ to ask their questions live.
• Post-event survey: Ask attendees about their favorite feature in your post-event surveys to continuously improve your engagement.

⚡️ Try out these 12 engagement ideas at your next internal event and watch those activity scores rise.

Networking is always a winner. In fact, 90% of attendees say it’s the top reason they enjoy in-person events.

But unless you’re using the right digital and hybrid event tools, that experience is extremely difficult to replicate.

Luckily, Goldcast has you covered here too.

With seamless breakout rooms and booths attendees can easily come together for seamless networking. Moderators can facilitate group projects, deep-dive discussions, and targeted team building activities in dedicated digital spaces all within the same event.

The chat, booth, and breakout rooms are ideal for Trino events and foster an atmosphere of activity on a virtual platform. We have seen increased participation at our events since incorporating these features into our event plan. — Mandy Darnell, Director Field & Event Marketing, Starburst

💡 Goldcast makes breakout sessions easy. Learn how to create breakout rooms, then try out these 10 ideas to drive engagement higher!

Embedded engagement apps are the cherry on top for internal event attendees.

Whatever type of experience you’re looking to offer, our app marketplace has you covered with fun engagement add-ons, like:

• Twine for creating in-event speed-networking opportunities
• Integrated gaming solutions like Drimify and Engamio
• WeBooth or Snapbar for ultra-shareable branded photo booth content
• And so much more

Whichever route you choose, your internal event will definitely bring the fun-factor.

🎮 Ready to get into gamification? These 6 ideas are a great place to start!

Events are an incredible way to keep employees engaged while offering an experience that shows you care.

Because your team deserves better than a patchwork event hosted on a clunky Zoom or legacy platform. They deserve an elevated event experience that they’ll be raving about for years to come.

At Goldcast, we’re all about helping people leaders uplevel the employee experience with modern digital event features that bring teams together. With engagement and networking features designed to get your employees excited, you’ll have everything you need to launch an internal event they won’t forget.