As conference organizers convene audiences online, many are struggling to hold audiences’ and reporters’ attention.

Here are some ways you can make your virtual conferences more engaging for participants and enticing for reporters:

• Meet reporters halfway. Engaging media requires more advance outreach now. Reporters covering specific sectors typically take meetings on the ground at conferences. But with most stuck at home and struggling to cover a seriously disrupted business environment, it can be difficult for them to extract news from a virtual conference presentation. Embargoed summaries can help them prioritize coverage, line up interviews and keep an eye on presentations from smaller companies that might not otherwise be on their radar.

• Adapt your content. Presenters should treat the camera as the audience to connect with viewers, use images and videos to make presentations more visually appealing and take audience questions throughout to prevent fatigue and keep viewers engaged.

• Integrate networking capabilities. Conferences provide opportunities for both spontaneous and planned meetings with business leads and reporters. To keep virtual events lively, conference organizers can provide a networking app or facilitate virtual breakout rooms. And attendees should be encouraged to plan virtual coffee chats before and after presentations with their contacts.