Virtual events are here to stay if there is one thing we could learn from Covid-19 after more than a year. We recently performed research using event organisers’ actual experiences, and the results showed that until the end of this year, almost 70% of them are organising a virtual or hybrid event.
Although virtual events are undoubtedly helpful in instances like this pandemic, many individuals still prefer face-to-face interaction at actual events. Our research also revealed that “screen fatigue,” or exhaustion from spending extended hours in front of a screen, is one of the top worries among event attendees. Therefore, it is now necessary to merge the finest aspects of both industries and adjust to the hybrid event business of the future.
Hybrid events are more engaging, less expensive, and produce material that can be repackaged and utilised in a number of marketing channels, in addition to reaching customers in many time zones. Once you understand how to organise and manage one, hosting a hybrid event is a snap. But why are hybrid events so crucial to host? Why would they do your bidding? Why are they significant? Let’s find out together.
What is a Hybrid Event and Why Should You Consider Hosting One?
Imagine this: While hundreds of online viewers are tuning in, your keynote speaker is getting ready to walk on stage, and those in attendance are taking their seats with notes and coffee in hand. The event begins with several interesting live and online components that provide online guests with more than simply a live feed.
Events that blend the online and physical event forms are known as hybrid events. They aim to combine guests from both types of events into a single audience so they may engage in the same activities and debates. Everyone has the same fantastic experience at a successful hybrid event, regardless of how they attend.
External and internal hybrid events are the two primary categories. External events, which include conferences, live product demos, exhibits, and trade fairs, are commonly organised for that outside of your organisation, such as clients and partners. This event has a limitless worldwide audience and is only constrained by your limitations.
Instead, internal hybrid events are oriented toward teams and stakeholders. They can include any number of diverse activities, including training, group social outings, leadership summits, and anything else that comes to mind. Consider a remote team: with a hybrid platform, you may effortlessly connect and communicate with your office and remote colleagues online.
How to Plan a Hybrid Event That Will Be Successful for Your Business?
The popularity of hybrid gatherings is growing as the epidemic begins to recede and people assemble again. Nobody is prepared to give up virtual. Who can blame those participants who have decided to enjoy the business on top, party on the bottom kind of meeting? These are only a few factors that make the hybrid the future of events, along with the simple fact that you may expand your organization’s reach.
However, how can you even begin to plan a hybrid event? We’ll give our detailed planning advice for organizing a hybrid event after executing several fruitful hybrid events!
- Designate Your Team
Making sure you have the proper leaders is essential to creating a successful hybrid event. To own the logistics and oversee deliverables, you require an overall event lead, a virtual lead, and an on-site lead. To ensure that the occasion is flawless on both sides, they must work together to walk through every aspect.
- Design Your Hybrid Event Strategy
Once the team is in place, it’s time to establish the objectives and mission that will serve as the framework for your hybrid event—starting with all the obvious questions like “why,” “how,” and “what”, you can see where this is going.
- Select a Platform for a Virtual Event That Meets Your Goals
How will you achieve your goals now that they are in place? Make sure the virtual event platform you select has all the required features. Consider the sponsors, attendance, and management convenience for your team. It’s better to start with a list of three things: must-haves, desirable extras, and optional extras. You may choose the platform best for you by looking at them in a three-column layout.
- Decide whether You Want to Bring Your A/V Dream Team or Use One at the Venue
Ensuring the on-the-ground staff is prepared is crucial to organizing a successful hybrid event. This implies that you must pick a hotel or other unique event location with an A/V dream crew. Alternatively, you could choose a location that will let you bring in your own A/V production dream crew. You should bargain the prices to plan your budget if you bring in your team.
- Market Two Experiences
Once your location and platform are established, you must position yourself to promote two very distinct experiences. You should change your pricing, registration, and benefits! Because let’s face it, these two events will be very different, even though they are officially one event.
- Provide Value for Sponsors
You need to provide a dual-sponsorship kit option that enables sponsors to profit from live attendance and virtual attendees in addition to selling various experiences.
- Plan Your Engagement Tactics
How will you make contact with your attendees and guarantee that they may stay in touch with one another wherever they are? While virtual involvement may entail moderated small breakout groups with on-site participants or polls during the keynote where everyone may participate, on-site interaction may take the form of vendor displays or one-on-one meetings. To make it a seamless and exciting event for everyone, you want to integrate virtual and in-person as much as possible.
- Connect Over Logistics
Do you recall the leads you choose at the beginning? It is now time for them to gather with all the individuals in charge of the execution. This includes hotel employees, the staff of the virtual event platform, and your team so that everything may go well from beginning to end. Ensuring everything runs well and putting everyone on the same page, so they know their duties in carrying out this event are the objectives.
- Review Your Post-Hybrid Event Game Plan
Consider your follow-up plan next. What is your goal for following up with the leads you’ve acquired during your event? Analyzing your statistics and putting all the content you’ve collected into marketing materials is a crucial part of making an event successful. Utilize these two factors in your post-event follow-up to foster stronger relationships!
- Organize a Hybrid Event That Attracts Attention
Are you prepared now? We are confident that your hybrid event will be a hit if you use all of these suggestions. You can do this, buddy!
Key Elements of the Hybrid Event
The popularity of hybrid gatherings is growing as the epidemic begins to recede and people assemble again. Nobody is prepared to give up virtual. Who can blame those participants who have decided to enjoy the business on top, party on the bottom kind of meeting? These are only a few factors that make the hybrid the future of events, along with the simple fact that you may expand your organization’s reach.
However, how can you even begin to plan a hybrid event? We’ll give our detailed planning advice for organizing a hybrid event after executing several fruitful hybrid events!
- Registration
You must discover a simple way to register and, if feasible, integrate it within your streaming platform to simplify this administration. Depending on your requirements, you should also confirm that the registration platform includes a payment or ticket sales mechanism.
Additionally, you should be able to observe who registers and who doesn’t by having a broad view of your whole guest list. As a result, if you follow up after the event, you’ll know who came and who didn’t and the appropriate email to send to each.
- Marketing
If you have a hybrid event, it implies your company will have the chance to draw a sizable audience to it. As a result, you want to make the most of it by planning a whole environment for the occasion. You may create anticipation by properly publicising it and attempting to capture your target’s attention. Every marketing and promotion strategy needs to be in line with the principles and reputation of your brand or business.
- Engaging content
It would be best if you remembered that the material should be directed at your actual and online audience. This implies that you should consider both audiences while planning conferences, seminars, or presentations. Ensure that the speakers engage the whole audience and that the topic fits the hybrid format.
The Benefits of Hosting a Hybrid Event Over Traditional Events or Online-Only Events?
- Increased Engagement
Virtual-only events frequently need help attracting attendees. However, you will have additional options to provide engagement in a hybrid environment, particularly for virtual guests. You may, for instance, hold collaborative Q&A sessions where participants online can see and interact with participants in person.
Your imagination is your only constraint when planning a hybrid event.
- Reduction of Costs
A hybrid event may appear more expensive for the event planner. After all, you’ll have to organise and host the event’s online and offline components.
However, turning an in-person event into a hybrid one might lower the overall cost of your event if it is well organised. For instance, you may opt to hire a smaller space and invite more people to the event online.
A hybrid event may also save your participants money on lodging and transport while giving them additional flexibility and time savings. You can draw in more guests by decreasing the entry barrier and removing obstructions.
- Greater Flexibility
You may use hybrid events to capture your live-streaming sessions so that viewers can watch them at their convenience after the event has concluded. This gives your additional audience chances to spread the word about your event, increasing its exposure and brand recognition.
If the goal of your event is to increase brand exposure or raise awareness for a cause, you may also make the event available to viewers who are not genuine participants.
Common used of Hybrid Events.
- Press Conferences
Companies provide the media representatives formal comments during press conferences. Press releases are sent by companies in order to generate awareness and promote new goods or other significant developments.
- Customer Conferences
Conferences often last a few days and feature various speakers on a common subject. Attendees attend conferences to broaden their knowledge and connect with like-minded individuals. Attendees can participate in hybrid conferences in-person and virtually, choosing the mode that best suits them.
- Product Demonstrations
Large firms frequently plan yearly events to present all of their new items at once. Press conferences are substantially smaller than product presentations, which may have a broad public audience. Consider how many more people your hybrid product presentation could reach.
- Workshops and Seminars
Smaller gatherings for a specific topic’s professional growth are typically called seminars and workshops. Few presenters and up to 20 attendees are typical for lectures and workshops.
- Training Sessions
With hybrid training sessions, you may invite outside experts to participate remotely and communicate with your in-person participants. An invited speaker may deliver a keynote through a hybrid event platform without needing to travel for an actual event or meeting while your staff can be present on-site in the office. Knowledge advancement and increasing staff professional development are no longer confined to one location!
Host your Hybrid Event with Engage Life
You may increase the number of attendees by setting up a hybrid event. You will be ten steps ahead of the competition if you include live interpretation in your next events. Why? By bringing people from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds together, remote simultaneous interpreting aids in audience diversity.
Every participant can receive real-time audio and video with remote simultaneous interpretation. Additionally, this technology enables speakers, participants, and interpreters to join remotely from anywhere on Earth and communicate in their native tongue. Virtual guests may participate in the meeting using a video-conference platform on their stationary devices, while in-person attendees can benefit from audio interpretation from their phones.
Right now, you can understand the importance and benefits of the hybrid event. Its seems complicated to plan a hybrid event? Don’t worry; Engage Life make your life easier by planning a hybrid event for you.
