Events and meetings aren’t just about information—they’re about interaction. Virtual networking events and meetups are no different. Without human connection, they fall flat. With these virtual networking ideas, you’ll be able to effortlessly facilitate new relationships and deeper connections.
We’ve got plenty of virtual networking event ideas for all different sorts of use cases: community meetups, business events, large groups, and more.
Plus, we offer advice on how to select the right tools for virtual networks.
Virtual networking event essentials
Before we dive into our mega list of ideas, let’s lay some groundwork.
What you need to provide great virtual networking experiences
Virtual networking events are different. You can’t just hope that people will connect with each other in the hallway or during breaks like an in-person networking event. Instead, you have to create the opportunity for networking.
Make sure that your virtual networking strategy includes the following:
- Time slots dedicated to networking – It’s helpful to provide clear opportunities for networking. Make the time for it in your event schedule, and clearly name all networking sessions, so people know what to expect.
- Virtual networking spaces – You should also create spaces dedicated to networking. While chat can be helpful for certain meetings, most events should go above and beyond chat with special virtual rooms designed for networking.
- Fun virtual networking ideas and prompts – You need to break the ice. Offer games, questions, and prompts to give people something to talk about.
- A motivation for networking – Do people want to share advice on shared problems? Do they want to expand their business network? Figure out why people want to network and use when strategizing.
Things to consider when choosing virtual networking ideas
Use these factors to help you determine which ideas will best fit your virtual networking event.
- Your audience – How tech-savvy is your audience? Are they tired of seeing the same virtual networking event ideas used again and again? Are they hard to impress? The answers to these questions will help you decide which ideas will truly work.
- Tentative group size – With a very small group, you can implement simple icebreakers and chat prompts. But the more attendees you have, the more effort you need to put into facilitating networking.
- Capabilities of your virtual event technology – There’s only so much networking you can do with Zoom. If you’re using basic tech, you might not be able to implement some of our more advanced ideas. (See how you can take interactivity to the next level with Airmeet AX360.)
- The goal of the event – Networking should feel like a natural extension of your event—not something you’re forcing onto everyone. Make sure that the ideas you choose match the purpose of each event, whether that’s knowledge transfer, team building, community building, or something else.
Now, onto our best virtual networking ideas!
Virtual networking ideas that work great for any event
These concepts are a great fit for all sorts of meetings and virtual networking events.
1. Breakout rooms with icebreakers
This idea is simple and easy to implement. Breakout your attendees into groups of 3 to 5 people and offer icebreaker questions or prompts. For example, you might ask everyone to share what they want to learn from the event, a piece of inspiration they live by, or (for laughs) the worst advice they’ve ever received.
2. Social Lounges for virtual networking events
Social Lounges are virtual event spaces that feel like informal table chats. For virtual conferences with lots of activities and sessions, you can have Social Lounges available the entire time. Whereas for webinars they’re typically best offered before or after the main content. A dedicated space like a Social Lounge might be the key to a successful virtual networking event.
3. Proximity-based networking rooms
Why not gather people together virtually based on proximity? After all, that’s how conversations flow at large conferences.
With Airmeet, you can create what we call Fluid Spaces, which mimic the way that people walk around a room. Attendees can move their digital avatar around the Fluid Space, and then the proximity-triggered algorithm will automatically place nearby people in the same networking room. People can join different conversations in a fluid manner.
And with our megaphone feature, you can announce upcoming sessions or offer icebreaker prompts and ideas.
4. Virtual speed networking event
Speed networking is the backbone of any virtual networking event. It is so effective because the lightning-fast format adds an element of fun that puts everyone at ease.
You can host a dedicated speed networking events or sprinkle some speed networking sessions throughout your conference schedule.
To manage speed networking with Airmeet, all you have to do is setup a Social Lounge and choose the time duration for the speed networking feature. We recommend 2 to 5 minutes per session. And make sure to have dedicated time slots for speed networking so you ensure enough people are available to participate.
5. Interest tags
Interest tags can help people strike up conversations with event attendees that share similar interests. With Airmeet, you can add custom interest tags based on your company, industry, or event topic. Each attendee can select the ones they like. Then, throughout your virtual event, people will be able to see others’ interest tags and will be able to use this information to choose their connections.
6. Two truths and a lie
Two truths and a lie is a simple icebreaker that offers a great way to kickstart networking. Break everyone out into small groups or Social Lounges and encourage them to share their two truths and one lie. Then have participants guess which statement is the lie. It’s so fun that it should definitely reserve a spot in your list of networking event ideas
7. Open up the event chat early
One of the easiest ways to facilitate virtual networking is to open up the event chat before the event, instead of right at the beginning. We suggest opening it 30 to 60 minutes before your event. Make sure to prepare some icebreaker questions ahead of time to get the chat flowing.
8. Host a GIF war in the chat
Play to your strengths with the idea that only works for online events and can’t be replicated offline. Host a GIF war in the chat by encouraging everyone to post their all-time favorite GIF. Or ask a question and tell people to answer it with a GIF. This will get everyone interacting before or during your event.
9. Would you rather
You can also play a game of would you rather. This is one of the most fun virtual networking ideas because it encourages everyone to use their imaginations and share their opinions. Theme your question to your audience or the event. For instance, if the event is about yoga, ask if people would rather go on a yoga retreat for two weeks or have a yoga instructor come to their house every day for a year.
Virtual networking ideas for large groups
Use these networking ideas for virtual events with lots of attendees.
10. Host cooking or crafting classes in smaller groups
Cooking and crafting classes are popular at virtual events. You can ship out the materials ahead of time and engage everyone in a fun activity, be it cookie baking or candle making.
But with large groups, it can be hard for people to interact with each other. Try breaking up the same concept into smaller groups. So, a company of 50 people might all be creating the same craft, but in 10 different breakout rooms. This way, there are only 5 different people in each room, and it’s much easier to comment on each others’ silly creations. You can have everyone watch a simple tutorial together before they get started.
11. Virtual escape room competition
Provide networking opportunities by having people collaborate in teams to solve a problem. Whoever can escape the virtual room the fastest will win a prize. To manage virtual escape rooms, try a company like Let’s Roam or Escapely.
12. Silly team hats or accessories
Questions and prompts aren’t the only ways to break the ice. Props work great too. Ship out silly hats, masks, mustaches, or other party accessories before your event, or give everyone a theme to shop for themselves. This idea can help lighten the mood and kickstart conversation. Plus, it works great in tandem with the other virtual event networking ideas on our list.
13. Virtual tea parties
Almost everyone has some sort of tea in their cupboard. Host a networking session with breakout rooms where everyone brews a cup of their favorite tea. Kickstart the conversation by sharing what type you chose. You can also ship out elegant or eccentric hats, cups, and other accouterments before the event.
Virtual networking ideas for communities
Virtual meetups can serve as a form of community-building. But to help your community establish deeper connections with each other, you’ll need to strategically facilitate virtual networking opportunities.
Try these ideas that are perfect for communities of any kind.
14. Small-group AMAs
Ask me anything (AMA) sessions are popular event formats, but they can work for networking sessions too. Break out attendees into virtual spaces of 3 to 5 people. Have everyone share what they’re an expert on (something that’s relevant to the event topic or community at large). Then take turns asking questions and sharing hard-earned advice.
15. Live forums
Many communities have some type of forum where people can answer each others’ questions. Why not bring this format to the virtual stage?
Try creating themed breakout rooms on specific pain points or problems. Then, people can join the session that most interests them.
16. Pre-event live chat with replies and emoji reactions
If you’re hosting a virtual event for a large community and are looking for a simple networking idea, try making your chat more interactive. Open up the chat at least 30 minutes before the event (and promote this to your audience). Make sure your virtual event platform offers replies and emoji reactions in the chat to make things more interactive.
17. Breakout rooms for introductions
Most likely, people in your community want to get to know each other. Make this easier for them by hosting breakout sessions designed for simple introductions.
Adapt this example prompt for your unique audience:
- Share your name, team, job title, and how long you’ve been in the company.
- List your top 3 skills.
- Share who you’re hoping to meet or what you want to learn from the event.
Virtual networking ideas for internal company meetings and kickoffs
Need to get everyone in a collaborative mood? Use these virtual professional networking ideas to engage your audience.
18. Mini hackathons
Try hosting a mini hackathon. Come up with a problem that needs to be solved and break everyone out into groups to come up with different solutions. Depending on how technical your audience is, they could actually code a rough prototype or sketch it out. Offer a prize to the winning team.
19. Guess Who (colleague edition)
Guess Who is a popular childrens’ board game, but the concept can be easily adapted for professional audiences. You’ll need a team moderator to make it happen. Have everyone provide clues about themselves to the moderator, who will then share these with the group at large.
Depending on the size of your virtual group, you can have people guess aloud or in the chat. Track who guesses correctly first and give a prize to the person with the most wins.
20. Company trivia
Come up with a mix of easy and difficult trivia questions about your company and posit them to your team. To adapt this idea for large events, make sure to use breakout rooms, so people have a chance to interact with each other better. You could make those breakout rooms competitive, or have people collaborate as teams within the rooms to try and get more right answers than any other team.
21. Planned one-on-ones for strategic intros
If you’re hosting an important company event and you want to make sure that the right people get a chance to interact, you should coordinate meetups. Have one of your event coordinators play matchmaker. They could matchup people from different teams that need to forge relationships (such as content marketers and sales executives). Then, tell people who they’re supposed to be chatting with during networking opportunities, or setup the conference room links for each pair.
22. Finger food and cocktails to set the mood
Food and drinks are always a great way to get people talking. Not only do they set the tone, but they also give people ideas for small talk. People can chat about their favorite items.
Ship out the goods in advance, give your team a gift card to buy what they need, or reimburse them for their own purchases. Make sure to encourage people to purchase finger foods or appetizers. (Eating a hamburger or taco while trying to chat virtually won’t work.)
If you’re providing the items, be sure to ask your team about any preferences for non-alcoholic beverages or food restrictions.
Virtual networking ideas for business events 
Whether you’re hosting a large virtual conference or a special event for your target accounts as part of your ABM strategy, these ideas will help you provide networking opportunities.
23. Small fireside chats
In the business world, people want to spend time with people they can learn from. Invite business leaders and niche experts to host intimate fireside chats. Small room sizes will make it easier for people to have more authentic and engaging conversations.
24. Self-led sessions with 6 participants max
Convert any event topic into a virtual networking session by letting participants host it themselves. For instance, let’s say you have 3 different networking session topics (revenue operations team structure, churn analysis, and business alignment). For each of these session categories, provide several different time slots to ensure that people can book the sessions they want while still keeping the room sessions small. Then, have everyone chat about that topic and share their best advice.
25. Chat questions that kickstart networking
Let’s say you’ll be hosting Fluid Spaces or Social Lounges right after a speaker’s session. You could help people identify who they want to interact with the most by having everyone answer a question in the chat. For instance, you might ask people to share their number one weakness, pain point, or question as well as their number one strength or skill. Then encourage people to read the chat responses and find someone whose responses aligns with their own.
26. Small wine tasting sessions
Wine tasting is a popular networking tool during in-person business meetings, and it works great virtually too. As part of your event, host breakout rooms where everyone can taste the different wines that you’ve shipped to them beforehand. Make sure an event coordinator is available in each room to guide everyone through the tasting experience.
27. Facilitated matchups based on interests
Above, we mentioned interest tags as a great way for everyone to reveal to each other what they care about most. To make online networking even easier for your audience, you could use these tags to assemble people into groups, breakout rooms, or one-on-one conversations based on their interests. Because you’ll have to do the coordinating, this idea is probably best for business events of 50 people or fewer. Keep in mind that you can do the matchmaking while participants are attending a session.
Virtual networking ideas for leadership conferences
In today’s dynamic business landscape, leadership conferences are one of the key event initiatives for both internal and external events. These conferences serve as vital platforms for sharing knowledge, facilitating networking, and fostering collaboration. Here are some effective ideas to make your virtual leadership conferences more engaging and interactive:
28. Panel discussions
In leadership conferences, panel discussions bring together experts and thought leaders to share insights, perspectives, and best practices on relevant topics. They offer attendees the opportunity to gain diverse viewpoints, learn from industry leaders, and engage in discussions.
In panel discussions, attendees could also connect with panelists and fellow participants to exchange thoughts and expand their professional networks.
29. Virtual stage interactions
Virtual stage interactions or on-stage interactions promote networking and collaboration in leadership conferences by offering attendees an opportunity to join speakers or hosts on-stage in real-time. These interactions encourage attendees to interact with speakers, share their thoughts, ask questions, and have meaningful discussions.
30. Q&A sessions
These sessions provide attendees with dedicated time to ask questions and get answers about the session topics. They allow attendees to interact directly with speakers, presenters, or panelists to clarify any doubts or seek further information
Q&A sessions can be designed in various ways:
- Dividing attendees into breakout rooms with assigned leaders
- Leveraging chat features available in virtual event platforms
- Allocating dedicated tables for attendees with leadership in networking lounges
- Encouraging on-stage interactions with leaders
31. Pre-conference sessions
Pre-conference sessions allow attendees to start networking early, establish connections, and maximize their networking opportunities throughout the event.
These sessions may include one-on-one sessions, workshops, or meet-and-greet sessions designed to facilitate introductions and create a sense of anticipation for the upcoming conference.
Virtual networking ideas for product launches
Launching a new product in the virtual space requires innovative approaches to engage and connect with your audience effectively. Let’s discover some virtual networking ideas that can help you create buzz, foster relationships, and generate excitement around the product launch.
32. Customized booths
Customized booths empower companies to showcase their new product in a visually appealing and interactive way.
These customized booths provide opportunities for attendees to engage with company representatives, learn about product features, and ask questions, facilitating networking opportunities.
Personalize your virtual booths with branded content, product images, videos, and interactive elements, to create immersive experiences that captivate attendees’ attention and leave a lasting impression.
33. Virtual product tours
Virtual product tours offer attendees the opportunity to explore the new product in detail through guided tours, a 360-degree product view, or interactive presentations. By providing virtual walkthroughs of the product’s design, functionality, and benefits, you can give attendees a firsthand look at what the product has to offer.
Product tours create engaging and impactful experiences that enable attendees to understand your company product, driving excitement and interest around the launch.
34. Live product-testing sessions
Live product-testing sessions provide an engaging and interactive method to involve attendees during virtual product launch events. While planning your virtual product launch event, dedicate a session to trusted partners, stakeholders, customers, and VIP attendees for live product-testing.
For software products, provide early access to new features or updates, allowing attendees to be among the first to explore and experience the latest innovations. For hardware products, take it a step further by delivering the physical product directly to select attendees, trusted partners, stakeholders, or loyal customers.
These live product-testing sessions can:
- Create interactive experiences that captivate attendees’ attention
- Allow attendees to use and test the product in real-time
- Empower attendees to ask questions and share feedback
- Establish trust and credibility among attendees by offering an hands-on experience
Virtual networking ideas for virtual job fairs
Virtual job fairs have become increasingly popular in today’s digital world, offering a convenient and accessible platform for job seekers and employers to connect and explore career opportunities. Try these virtual networking ideas to maximize the networking potential of your virtual job fairs.
35. Career assessment quizzes
Career assessment quizzes offer job seekers valuable insights into their skills, strengths, and career preferences. Incorporating these quizzes into virtual job fairs helps attendees clarify their career goals and identify suitable job opportunities.
Career assessment quizzes facilitate two-way networking between job seekers and employers, allowing both parties to connect, communicate, and collaborate on roles that align with their interests and requirements.
36. Incorporate virtual company tours
By incorporating virtual tours of your company’s facilities, offices, or workspaces into virtual job fairs, as an organizer or exhibitor, you can provide attendees with a more comprehensive understanding of your company’s values, culture, and working environment.
Virtual tours of your company’s facilities create anticipation and leave a lasting impression on job seekers and other attendees. These tours can be designed and facilitated through:
- On-demand videos showcasing your company structure, office, teams, team leaders, members, and their testimonials
- 3D visualization of your company’s spaces
- Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) experiences
37. Industry-specific zones
Industry-specific zones provide a focused and curated environment for job seekers to explore career opportunities within their desired industries. Having industry-specific zones at virtual fairs not only streamlines the networking for job seekers but also for employers.
These specific zones enable job seekers to directly collaborate with company representatives who understand the specific needs and requirements of that industry. On the other hand, employers also benefit by connecting with candidates who truly know their industry, making the recruitment process smoother.
To facilitate this networking session, choose an advanced virtual event platform and:
Step-1: Start by
- Adding a column for industry interest to the registration form
- Categorize attendees according to their stated industry interests
Step-2: Create sessions
- Type a: Establish industry-specific breakout rooms and invite one representative from each company to address attendee questions
- Type b: Plan industry-specific zones as scheduled sessions, allocating dedicated time slots for companies within the same industry
For instance, a networking session for Computer Software, another networking session for Business Consulting, and so on.
- Type c: Allot networking tables to companies grouped by industry, with three companies per table, each represented by one individual, and leaving the remaining seats for attendees
- Type d: Assign virtual booths to each industry, allot tables within the booth to companies belong to that industry and let attendees interact with them
Step-3: Session allotment
- Allot sessions to attendees based on their industry preferences
Virtual networking ideas for webinars
Webinars serve as valuable platforms for knowledge sharing, professional development, and networking in the virtual space. Use these virtual networking ideas to enhance the networking experience of your webinars.
39. Live chat networking
Live chat networking allows attendees to engage in real-time conversations during the webinar. By optimizing live chat features, organizers enable attendees to:
- Enable direct connections between attendees
- Facilitate engagement with webinar speakers, enabling attendees to resolve their doubts
- Encourage meaningful discussions on the webinar topic in progress
Live chat networking in webinars fosters immediate interactions and encourages engagement among attendees in a convenient and accessible manner.
40. Attendee spotlight
Attendee spotlight features enable you, as a host/organizer, to highlight selected attendees during the webinar, providing them with an opportunity to share their thoughts, insights, or questions with the audience on-stage.
41. Allocate networking rooms
Allocating virtual networking rooms or breakout sessions within webinars fosters an engaging environment by allowing attendees to connect in smaller groups. This facilitates meaningful interactions, enabling attendees to collaborate, participate in informal discussions, and build valuable connections.
42. Brainstorming sessions
Brainstorming sessions are a great way to encourage collaborative problem-solving and idea generation among attendees. By incorporating these interactive sessions, you can create an engaging event experience where attendees can stimulate creativity, share innovative ideas, and work together to resolve challenges or explore new opportunities.
For instance, you could divide attendees into small breakout groups and provide them with a specific problem statement or topic related to their industry. Attendees can then collaborate, bounce ideas off each other, and collectively develop potential solutions or strategies.
Virtual networking event ideas for award ceremonies
43. Meet and greet
Allow your event attendees to meet each other before the live award ceremony. Establish a matchmaking setup and make attendees connect with other attendees for a quick 3-5 minutes of conversation.
After the end of each round of conversation, participants will automatically connect with the next available attendee. The meet and greet session helps attendees establish new connections with others and also connect with their peers, friends, colleagues, and other stakeholders.
You can also create meet-and-greet sessions by dividing attendees into different breakout rooms or leveraging a networking lounge, enabling them to engage with each other in a roundtable, a more formal setup.
44. Spotlighting the awardee
Spotlight the awardees of the night by bringing them on stage during the award ceremony. This will provide each of the awardees their special moment with them on stage, even in a virtual setting.
This is also a great opportunity for awardee to individually interact with the hosts and award presenters on stage. Allow the awardee to share a few words about their experience.
45. Award after-party
Use the networking lounge or breakout rooms to host a party post-award ceremony. It can be a cocktail or gala where all awardees, attendees, hosts, organizers, sponsors, and chief guests gather together to celebrate the night.
Keep a dress code or have a themed-based after-part to make it more immersive and captivating. Assign attendees different breakout rooms or allow them to join the lounge, take a seat with their peers and converse.
If you’re an Airmeet user, you can also leverage our Fluid Space feature and allow attendees to connect with each other at their own accord. In fluid space, your attendees can float around, find other participants within the range and directly engage.
46. Create memories with virtual photo booth
Integrate a virtual photo booth into the award ceremony event and offer attendees an opportunity to have fun and take pictures with their peers, friends, sponsors, and other stakeholders.
This virtual networking activity will create a fun environment, adding an element of surprise and allowing participants to create memories.
You can also set up a virtual gallery where all the pictures are displayed and your audience can roam around the gallery reminiscing about memories.
How to choose a virtual events platform designed for networking
To help you manage these virtual networking event ideas, you need the right tools.
With a virtual event platform designed for connectivity, you can easily create bespoke virtual networking sessions.
Airmeet comes equipped with:
- Chat replies and emoji reactions
- Breakout rooms
- Social Lounges
- Fluid Spaces
- Speed networking
- Exchangeable profile cards
- Interest tags
- Ability to host trivia, polls, and Q&A
Connect meeting attendees together in meaningful ways with our virtual networking platform, AX360.
Frequently asked questions
Happy hour events typically include informal networking sessions such as icebreaker activities, speed networking for the group to get to know one another, and group discussions focused on generic industry-related topics.
To optimize the live chat feature for virtual networking, event organizers can encourage attendees to introduce themselves, ask questions, share their insights or takeaways and engage in discussions during presentations or breakout sessions.
Virtual networking sessions facilitate meaningful connections by providing opportunities for participants and like-minded individuals to interact, exchange information, and share insights or experiences related to the event theme or topics.
Yes, virtual networking sessions can be incorporated into in-person events by utilizing hybrid event platforms like Airmeet. We make this happen by offering virtual components for seamless networking, such as chat rooms, networking lounges, speed networking, virtual breakout sessions, and more.
Event organizers can facilitate networking between guest speakers and attendees by organizing dedicated Q&A sessions, meet-and-greet opportunities, virtual roundtable discussions, or on-stage interactions where participants can interact directly with speakers, ask questions, and exchange ideas.
Networking sessions such as chat interactions, group discussions, and collaborative activities are most suitable for a day training program as they encourage participants to engage with each other, share insights, and build connections throughout the duration of the program.
Event organizers can utilize professional networking platforms like LinkedIn for virtual networking by creating dedicated event groups or pages where attendees can connect, share insights, and engage in discussions before, during, and after the event.
Virtual breakout sessions, speed networking, round-table discussions, and online games are some of the popular virtual conference networking ideas.
Live polls, Q&A sessions, interactive group chats, online forums, hybrid happy hours, co-hosted discussions, and 1:1 matchmaking of virtual and in-person attendees are some virtual networking activities that can be incorporated into your hybrid event.
Virtual networking ideas help uplift your event quality. It helps in keeping attendees involved, engaged, and entertained throughout the event by creating a sense of anticipation and excitement.
Incorporating different virtual networking activities in events also offers several benefits, like:
- Enhanced community engagement
- Facilitate meaningful collaborations
- Offer partnership opportunities
- Support learning and knowledge sharing
- Improved overall event experience
