The Art of the Through Line—Finding the Story in Digital Events

Storytelling is a powerful and fundamental method of human connection. Digital events provide a unique opportunity for companies to use storytelling to connect directly with their audience to build trust, establish brand awareness, and ultimately create a strong community that will help drive business growth.

In my time as a Digital Event Content Producer, I’ve learned that there is an art to connecting all the dots—from the audience sentiment to the business needs and everywhere in between. When done well, these digital events can create lasting impacts and memorable moments and ultimately foster a strong relationship between a business and its customers.

1. Lead with Empathy and Respect

Empathy and respect are core values of event planning, especially for digital events. The lack of a personal connection can make a digital event feel dull and lifeless, but you can create magic through the screen by leading with empathy and respect. In what ways can we practice empathy and respect through a computer screen, you might ask?

Realize that the audience is giving you their time—they don’t have to spend it watching your event. Ensure that the events you create are worth the time they give you by providing engaging content with thoughtful topics and valuable information. Digital events don’t need to be boring. Content producers are responsible for taking information, no matter how heavy, and turning it into an engaging and entertaining experience. Ensure that your event content matches what you market. Don’t bait and switch – if a last-minute change happens, such as a speaker getting sick, let your audience know before they show up. Be respectful of time. If you say your event is an hour, don’t go for an hour and 15 minutes. If you say it will start at noon, don’t start at 12:05. By starting and ending events on time, you show the audience that you recognize and realize that their time is important.

Empathy and respect are also important when working with stakeholders while planning events. As a content producer, it is easy to fall into the trap of just telling an exciting story, but it is essential to remember that you are also there to support business needs. Listen to your stakeholders and their expertise, let them tell you the goals and messaging, and take that information and translate it into an event that the audience loves AND meets business needs.

2. Look at the Data and Find the Through Line

Data is queen. It is more than just numbers on a spreadsheet or answers on a survey. Data points are the story beats that help create and drive your narrative. Data enables you to start strong with your first event and adapt and improve with every subsequent event.

When starting out with a new audience, you want to use data to gain a deep understanding of who they are, what they’re interested in, and how other organizations are connecting with them. After your first event with that audience, you can analyze your event data, such as audience sentiment from the chat and survey, email subject lines that resonated and drove registration, and where people dropped during the event. This information, along with so many other data points, tells a story and will help you to identify what went well and what went poorly and iterate to move forward – making every event better than the last one.

3. Listen and Ask ALL the Questions

Content Producers should be lifelong students, always learning and growing. A deep understanding of every aspect of an event is key to developing a story that connects with the audience and fulfills business needs and messaging. Take the time to make the deep dive and resurface with understanding.

Are you producing an event for a new product launch? Talk to the experts in the product group, join sales enablement sessions, and learn as much as possible about the release and why it’s important. How will it improve lives? How will it make jobs easier? How do you use it?

Are you engaging with a new audience? Do market research – find people in that audience on LinkedIn and see what they’re talking about. Better yet, try to find some individuals in your target audience that you can connect with and have a conversation. Listen to them and learn what they care about.

Are you telling a customer story? Listen to them and find out why they think their story is impactful. If you have specific parts of their story you want to tell or information you’re trying to get to, guide them with questions. If a certain point you’re trying to get at doesn’t align with their story, be like Elsa and let it go.

4. Collaboration is Key

One of the most important takeaways I’ve learned working in digital events is that every person on your team has a unique perspective and skill set to help your story become even better. The broadcast technician can add music that amplifies the story or pull up that relevant slide used in an event months ago. The director can help point out areas that might be unclear or confusing. The engagement manager can drop that critical link in the chat at the perfect moment.

Your team is your village, and they will help you create successful events that tell riveting stories.

To Conclude

Digital Events can be so much more than your typical fake-live webinar. They can be magical wow moments that captivate audiences, create community, and capture imagination. Business doesn’t need to mean boring — by finding the story that best tells your message, a content producer can be one of the most impactful individuals on your team. With a bit of faith, trust, and content pixie dust, digital events are beautiful expressions of connection that will stick out in customers’ minds and keep them engaged and coming back for more.

Betsy Ambrose is a digital event strategist and storyteller whose work transforms virtual experiences into memorable connections. As Content Producer at Adobe, she combines her English literature background from the University of Kansas with over a decade of experience in marketing and event production. Her work reveals how empathy and narrative craft can elevate business communication from mundane to memorable. Connect with Betsy Ambrose on LinkedIn.