Virtual TownHall Meetings

PrimeContact revolutionized campaign communications and mobilization services forever, when we single-handedly developed and brought Virtual TownHall technology to Canada and even conducted the very first Virtual TownHalls on the Municipal, Provincial and Federal level.

A Virtual TownHall Meeting is much like your own personal radio show only over the telephone. An automated message goes out allowing people to connect into the Virtual TownHall live and participate by asking questions and sharing their feedback via the different participation tools within Prime Contact’s Virtual TownHall interface.

The Power of Virtual TownHalls

The numbers behind the success, the true success of Virtual TownHalls is in their ability to transcend traditional communication avenues in reaching an audience and capturing their attention. Virtual TownHalls are revolutionary because their interactive and multi-faceted platform enables you to gain and maintain the attention of voters.

The numbers behind Virtual TownHalls illustrates how successful they are:

1) On an average basis, Virtual TownHall participants remain actively engaged for over 15 minutes.

2) That’s an attention span 16 times greater than the web (57 seconds).

3) That’s an attention span 30 times greater than a 30 second TV spot.

4) The most significant number that truly makes a Virtual TownHall powerful:

– The price per call is far less than postage stamped literature which is less expensive than traditional marketing methods.

5) Of those who answer a Virtual TownHall call, the average participation rate is 52% versus:

– 3.4% direct mail response

– 6.6% online click-through rate

– 19.5% targeted email open rate

– 99% of Virtual TownHall participant’s voice messages are positive.

– Many messages include requests for invitations to future events and follow-up calls.

– Capacity to dial lists of 3 million people.

Fully Hosted Events

All of PrimeContact’s Virtual TownHall Meetings are completely fully hosted with all aspects being carefully considered to alleviate the responsibilities and time commitment from the client. PrimeContact has been trusted over 3000 times by Public Office Holders, CEOs, Unions and Campaigns. We also hold over three dozen government contracts to conduct 100% of their Virtual TownHall meetings in two different countries spanning into 2022.

With each event PrimeContact includes:

1) A Virtual TownHall Production Manager

2) A Virtual TownHall Technical Manager

3) A professional Radio Quality Moderator

4) As many as 100 professional Question Screeners

(depending on the size of the event)

Inbound Virtual Conference

The problem with conference calls is that they lack features to ensure proper management and control of a live call event. They also severely lack the capacity required for a large scale inbound TownHall. Combine this with the fact that they can be incredibly expensive, PrimeContact has filled this gap with our Inbound Virtual Conference technology.

Make your Virtual TownHall Meeting an inbound event. Use all of the traditional features of a Virtual TownHall and much more specifically designed for inbound participation.

Some unique inbound Virtual TownHall features are:

Issue individual PIN codes for security.

Quickly pre-screen every participant entering the event.

Live question and answer with professional Question Screeners.

Fully hosted by PrimeContact’s expert team.

Use of a 1-800 number or local number.

A massive capacity of up to 10,000 individuals calling inbound.

Additional bridges to transfer individuals out of the event to a third party. For example, this could be used for registration purposes.

Virtual Telethon

PrimeContact’s Virtual TownHall Meetings are also fully capable of holding Virtual Telethons. This technology is exactly the way it sounds, the ability to hold a massive fundraiser over the telephone. You could even include guest speakers and make exciting announcements all while being backed up by a team of operators, ready to take donations during the TownHall event. We have had some clients raise as much as $350,000 in 45 minutes when partnering with PrimeContact’s Virtual Telephone Technology.

Included in a Virtual Telethon service:

Experienced Live Moderator.

Professional fundraising consultation and a team of fundraising operators.

Live stream of the operators phone center.

All the additional personnel required for a fully hosted Virtual TownHall

PrimeContact’s Virtual TownHall meeting key elements and features.

Add to your TownHall an unlimited number of polling questions that can be submitted live to your audience during your event. They can record their response by selecting the corresponding number to their answer on the keypad of their telephone. All responses are collected and displayed in real-time via your web interface as well as within your detailed statistics report available after the event.

Enhance your meeting by introducing any number of guest speakers or personalities into your Virtual TownHall from virtually anywhere in the world.

Participants may transfer to a live department or call centre to collect additional information or for fundraising and donations.

Broadcast your event as a Live streaming audio webcast, allowing individuals at home to follow the event in real-time from their computer.

The ultimate personal outreach for your event allows you to broadcast a live video webcast of the speaker to those following online.

After your event, you have the ability to send those that did not have the opportunity to ask their questions to the voicemail center where they can leave a personal message for you. Messages are recorded in MP3 format and e-mailed to you with the participant’s contact information attached.

In addition to the outbound calling invitations, PrimeContact’s Virtual TownHall has the ability to setup tollfree inbound calling that allows those that have received the number to call in and join the event in progress.

Members of the speaker’s staff can communicate in real-time through a built in chat feature in the computer interface during the event.

All events are digitally recorded for quality assurance and are available for download free of charge after every event. Use this file to review the event or make it available for download through your website. Some clients use the recording to release as a podcast, available for download by those interested.

Every Virtual TownHall has an assigned phone number and pin code to allow staff, press or other VIPs to listen in and monitor your event.

After each event, you will receive a detailed report which will include individual statistics for every household dialled, as well as the aggregate statistics for the event.

Send interested participants of your Virtual TownHall a personalized follow-up mailing within days of the event.

Excite your audience by inviting them to ask questions. You will be able to answer their inquiries personally.

A couple of days prior to the Virtual TownHall, a pre-invite Voice Broadcast is sent out to inform voters of the TownHall. This message helps to increase awareness and excitement amongst voters thereby making the TownHall more successful.

With a team of experienced individuals to moderate your Virtual TownHall Meeting, you can be guaranteed that your event will have the professional, radio quality experience that will keep the audience listening.

These individuals will moderate the Virtual TownHall from beginning to end, allowing you to have a seamless and smooth meeting. The Moderator will welcome people into the TownHall, invite them to ask questions, ask polling questions and other tasks, with the objective of having an exciting informative event.

Our Moderators have years of experience as voice professionals, speaking to audiences of differing sizes. This expertise is vital beyond the basic sound quality. Our Moderators will use their experience in navigating the questions from participants, and ensuring a dynamic, interactive event that maintains the message control our clients require and expect.

PrimeContact provides a Moderator to ensure that the TownHall achieves the quality and success that makes our company the leader in this industry which in turn provides extra comfort to our clients who can focus on their message and answers.

The Virtual TownHall team includes our highly trained professional question screeners who play a critical role to achieve a successful Virtual TownHall Meeting. The Questions Screeners are the first people a participant speaks with if they would like to ask a question. The Question Screeners summarize the questions being asked and provide additional notes on the caller which assist in helping to prioritize their question. Notes can include details on whether a caller is hostile; will take a long time asking a question, etc.

In addition, a Virtual TownHall’s success involves the chance to ask as many questions as possible. The Question Screeners contribute by reminding callers to limit their questions to 30 seconds or less.

During a Virtual TownHall, we encourage clients to prepare a number of polling questions. The questions provide the opportunity to collect critical real-time data on different issues from thousands of participants. As a large number of individuals partake in these polls, clients are able to gain valuable insight from their audience on issues that can assist in the decision making process or in helping to provide a better understanding of the public’s views.

In its essence, a Virtual TownHall is a dialogue between a client and the audience. This communication platform allows this dialogue to be personalized though thousands are involved. With the forum to ask questions live to a guest, participants can actively engage in the discussion as the guest will also respond with a live answer. Thousands of individuals will stay in the Virtual TownHall because people are asking questions that they are interested in.

The guest maintains control of the dialogue and its direction as they determine which questions are asked and which answers to provide.

After each Virtual TownHall Meeting, a client receives a TownHall Return which details how the event went. The TownHall Return includes such vital information as how many invitations were delivered, how many joined the call and how many messages were left behind. In addition, it states the average listening time and the amount of voice messages left for the client.

More importantly, the TownHall Return provides detailed information for participants who responded to polling questions and what their response was.

The TownHall Return, produced within 2-3 business days after a Virtual TownHall, provide the real-time, tangible data that clients utilize for numerous purposes including assisting with decision making.