Mike Thurman: We had to make some key design decisions right up front.

The biggest challenge with this crisis, we agreed, is that it will force advisors to change their habits, along with their clients’. We had to focus to make our solution as simple and turnkey as possible. There are a lot of people who really did not do much digitally because they either did not have the education or enough familiarity with how to do it. They never saw a need for it.

Also, given the lack of technical savviness on the part of older consumers, which a lot of advisors tend to target as their clientele, we chose to use a platform that does not require software. Instead, it is web-based and does not require downloading of any software. For a younger demographic, that is not a big deal. But for our older consumers, that is like building a moat between our virtual seminar and the consumer themselves. So that was also an important consideration early on in building out our solution.

Hortz: What did you determine are the main differences between a live event and a virtual event?

Dean Thurman: I would say that the content and the quality of the education between the Host and the learners are exactly the same. There are, however, plenty of differences in delivery.

Pros:  Neither the Host nor the attendees are restricted by geography. They are not limited by the weather or parking. They do not have to get in a car for 30 minutes and drive there. All that friction goes away for both the Host and the learner. Acknowledging that and selling the convenience of a virtual meeting environment for the learners is crucial. Consumers can now learn about estate planning, taxes in retirement, Social Security, Medicare, how to diversify their portfolio, all in their pajamas. From a client or prospect perspective, that is priceless.

Cons: We do lose some of that direct interpersonal relationship dynamic we are used to developing. And so, the challenge for every one of our advisor virtual Hosts, as well as ourselves, is how to keep things warm, fuzzy and human in this digital context. And that is something that nobody has cracked the code on yet, but we are working hard and improving every day on turning a cold digital world into a connected, personal environment.

Hortz: The goal for seminars is to educate and build a connection with audience participants leading to their setting up a personal appointment after the seminar. Is it harder to attain that pivotal connection point in a virtual environment and, if so, what do you do to address that challenge?

Dean Thurman: Just like in front of a live audience, there needs to be passion. A presenter must project excitement. They need that same energy as if they were there in-person and their personality still need to shine through. White Glove has always provided seminar coaching for free from Frank Maselli of the Maselli Group. He is a leading guru and presentation coach on how to have strong openings, strong sales closings and convey charisma, no matter if it is a webinar or a live event. It is also important to make the talk simple and direct, using lots of visuals and variety. People are used to stimulation, maybe more so in a virtual environment.

Mike Thurman: Make it personal. Share stories, share experiences, and make analogies throughout the presentation—and it must be real. People know when something is contrived. So, share a personal story and experience to make that personal connection with each one of the learners listening. That is really, really important. Whether it is live or virtual, that does not change. Some things just stay the same and that is one important personal engagement truth that does stay the same.