How Do You Organize A Hybrid Event?
In the modern era, technological improvements and the global pandemic have altered how we conduct meetings and arrange events. Although virtual events undoubtedly have their advantages, physical events will always hold significant importance because of the relationships they allow individuals to build in person. This, in particular, has been one of the most important lessons the events industry learned during COVID-19.
In addition, hybrid events appeared when we began understanding the role virtual events started playing in society. However, the current problem is hosting a live and virtual audience and figuring out how to interact to make the hybrid event successful.
While things may seem complicated initially, hybrid events offer great promise. Giving attendees choices can help you increase reach while maximizing the potential for engagement that live events present.
With recent trends, events that combine live and virtual experiences will become the new event sector norm. Modern technology is used in hybrid events to make the onsite event digitally accessible while retaining all of the live event’s experiences and advantages.
Continue to read this post ahead to learn tactics and advice on how to help jumpstart your next hybrid event planning session.
What is a Hybrid Event?
Conferences, seminars, training, and even trade exhibitions that mix an in-person, live audience at a location with an online audience that participates via a virtual conferencing platform are known as hybrid events.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid events grew in popularity in 2020, allowing businesses to continue holding large-scale digital and physical meetings with audiences while remaining safe.
Ways to Organize a Hybrid Event
All events, whether live, online, or combined, must be well planned. Take into account these five suggestions to plan a successful hybrid event.
Prepare Thoroughly
Whether planning a fully remote or hybrid event, you need more than moving your in-person event online. Delivering a fantastic hybrid event requires letting go of conventional models and changing your perspective, but it also takes a lot of planning.
If you have an event coming up, ask yourself if you want to repeat what you accomplished in person or if you’re willing to attempt something new to achieve the same. Consider how distant attendees might react to this strategy even if you had previously held an in-person eight-hour conference.
Among the things you can do to get ready for your hybrid event are:
- Rethink your content to allow for active participation;
- Review your practical instructions;
- Consider the online tools (especially for remote participants) to ensure good audio and image quality;
- Divide attendees into groups and conduct introductions;
- Talk about their expectations and preferences;
- Present questions or explore the content itself through videos or other material.
Of course, all of these preparations are optional for some occasions. Instead, you can decide which techniques fit best with the participants and are most significant to them. You’ll feel confident and at ease when facilitating the event if you’ve prepared well and are comfortable with the technology.
Establish Realistic Expectations
Once everyone is present, it’s critical to maintain reality and establish the appropriate bar. Some companies offering hybrid and video solutions will assert they can satisfy any request from an event planner, regardless of the timeframe.
They probably can’t, and an excellent event planner will value an honest evaluation of what is reasonable and what is not so they can control expectations (with sponsors, presenters, planning partners, etc.).
You can consider “trade-offs,” “quantity vs. quality,” “must haves vs. nice to haves,” or “quantity vs. quality.” It has been discovered that starting the conversation with “Tell me what achievement looks like” is frequently successful. Whatever the language, it’s crucial to organize the discussion so that everyone is focused on the event’s main priorities, which are often:
- The content’s value and availability;
- The amount of audience involvement.
Plan Around Attendee Time Zones
Although it is simple to overlook, it is crucial to remember that when accommodating distant participants, many of them are connecting from their native country, which may or may not be in a different time zone. Since remote guests vary in time zones, you must make accommodations.
It can entail modifying start or end times to coincide with the audience’s current time(s) or making your personnel accessible after hours to accommodate different time zones.
It’s also crucial to converting any established time slots or timetables into the time zones of your target audience. Additionally, the data must be easily accessible on a well-known portal, such as your website or the landing page for the virtual event.
Keep it Easy with an All-in-One Event Management Platform
One of the most crucial components when setting up your hybrid experience is one tool to govern them; make sure you pick the right Hybrid Event Platform. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to get your audience to register across numerous platforms, depending on whether they will attend in person or electronically.
Additionally, last-minute adjustments are not always possible, particularly with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s safe to offer the option of quickly changing the ticket type at any time – not to mention the hassle of event organizers having to track their sales and statistics on numerous different points of sale.
Consider Both Audiences Every Step of the Way
It’s one thing to organize a live event; quite another to successfully translate it to the screen. Being an expert in both responsibilities is necessary to manage a fantastic hybrid event. Consider both of your audiences while organizing your event.
Find ways to involve your live audience, and use different tactics to attract your online audience. You are the event’s organizer, and it takes a lot of work to organize and carry out a hybrid event. It would help if you created a schedule that appeals to in-person and online guests and a captivating and practical program.
The Takeaway
As we transition to a post-pandemic world, we may invent fresh approaches to bringing people together and linking them regardless of where they are situated or what obstacles they encounter.
Hybrid events have a broad audience and significant involvement. They capture the energy of physically being together while assisting in removing financial, physical, and geographic constraints.
We recommend checking out Event Engage, which provides various hybrid, virtual, and in-person event solutions. Their award-winning event management can expand your live event to reach a global audience through their event planners and marketing personnel team. It is the most efficient way to handle events high on engagement and ROI.
