There’s lots of ‘hybrid’ talk going on these days from hybrid work to hybrid cars to hybrid events — and that’s our wheelhouse!
As we navigate through loosening restrictions, everyone is starting to enjoy some of the activities and frequent places that they weren’t able to during the height of the pandemic with lockdown measures in place. Although many people may be excited to get back to larger in-person events, overall safety (especially with travel) are still big concerns that have to be mitigated by the event planning community and organizations.
We’ve been focusing lots on purely virtual events for the past year from a point of necessity since conferences, meetings, and other events still had to happen but as digital alternatives. As we look forward though, hybrid events — a combination of both an in-person live event (with a smaller audience) alongside an online virtual component (with the potential for a much larger audience — are set to become the default format.
In a previous post, we looked at how to make sure user experience remains the focal point for hybrid events and the learnings that can be incorporated from having gone virtual over the course of the pandemic. Having a high-quality live experience cannot just be paired with an online Zoom room however, you need something that’s engaging for the online audience as that’s where most of your audience will be! That’s why planning a successful hybrid event (or any event really) should always start with the overarching objectives.
What is the event trying to achieve? What is the desired experience for attendees? What’s the vision? After you know the answers to these questions, then the logistics wheels can start turning and get put into motion. This next step is a little more complex now because you have to consider both the virtual and in-person experiences, they aren’t exactly the same nor do you want them to be so different that they’re first and second tier.
It’s important to recognize, and stress during the event’s planning, how each form of event attendance has unique advantages that should be catered towards. This is where the marketer’s golden ticket of exclusivity can be leveraged from an experiential standpoint. People that attend that event in person might be getting the exclusive experience of feeling and being part of the energy in the room while the virtual audience might get access to things that aren’t in the in-person program (e.g. behind-the-scenes elements, panels, or interviews).
A huge part of cultivating these experiences is content. Since attendees no longer have to choose which sessions they attend based on scheduling and timing limitations, hybrid events need to have solid content, keynote speakers, and technology setups that meet the requirements of the event to serve its objective(s). Planners need to decide which content will be delivered and when, whether to webcast the live event or record it to be made available online afterwards.
Depending on your event, it might even be better to have shorter virtual sessions with access to a library or bank of presentations to engage with instead of expecting this audience to hold the same level of attention and engagement as the people in the room. Furthermore, you’ll also need to provide channels and sessions for those virtual attendees to engage with each other, network, and connect in ways the in-person attendees have by being onsite. After a year of virtual events by default, event planners need to think outside the chatbox in this regard.
Things like moderators can help facilitate connections, you can explore pairing up online attendees, using breakout rooms or watch parties, and other creative ways to encourage interaction. Instead of having a single in-person event with virtual participants from wherever and feeling disconnected from each other, group them together in interesting ways (e.g. the Ottawa onlookers, Saguenay spectators, and Vancouver viewers) and find ways to mix it up!
The events and convention industry is not going anywhere but it is in the midst of an evolution, hybrid event solutions are the next point on this trajectory. Contact Baldwin Audio/Visual Solutions today to learn more about our hybrid event solutions so we can help make your event everything you want it to be (and more)!