22 Nov hybrid event planning: when to host a hybrid event
corporate virtual events were at the forefront of the event offering during the pandemic and as the world has emerged back to live events and the ability to get people and groups together again, the prominence of hybrid events has come to the forefront.
a hybrid event is essentially an event that combines aspects of in-person and virtual events that allows attendee, both remote or onsite, to enjoy the content of an engagement with one another. hybrid events are one event, however, have the ability to provide distinct and rememberable experiences for two distinct audiences.
event management companies within the uk have had to develop the appropriate skills and resources to host this type of event and this article is going to highlight when to host a hybrid event and the benefits.
to increase the attendance count
with a hybrid event, you can reach attendees globally due to no limitations on the virtual reach. this has great benefits for organisers which have employees across the world or events which need to reach an audience globally. this enables event organisers to reach a massive audience that would not be possible with just a person event.
in person events of course have limitations on event attendees based on the physical size of the room but adding a streaming element to the event essentially means there is no upper limit on the number of attendees which means the reach of your event can be amplified providing much greater
an in-person event will have an upper limit to the number of virtual attendees the organizers can have but with virtual audiences, there is practically no upper limit.
to reduce environmental impact and travel costs
as an industry, all event management companies uk can take greater responsibility in ensuring they offer the most sustainable and environmentally friendly business practices to make events more sustainable.
we saw throughout the pandemic the positive impact that the reduction of air travel had on our environment so the hybrid approach to events is a great way to reduce the carbon footprint of events if there are delegates travelling from all over the globe. the offering of hybrid events allows those delegates who may not want to travel great distances to be in person, to be equally engaged in the content of an event without having a detrimental effect on the environment due to the reduction in travel.
not only is the benefit of less travel to events the reduced environmental impact but this element is normally a significant business expense. of course, the introduction of the hybrid element allows guests globally to reduce their travel costs by staying at home.
when you require higher engagement
adding a virtual element to a hybrid event and the software required means that event managers can gain a much greater insight into attendee engagement and analytics.
utilising a range of virtual event software allows event managers to engage their virtual audience and make them feel involved. such networking tools as live q&a, polling, live chat, one to one conversations with delegates both at home and within the venue. allowing attendees to ask questions on your content and answering in real time will ensure that delegates feel part of your event as they would face to face.
virtual event analytics give you the incredible ability to see exactly what your audience is engaging with, in what order, and for how long. combine this visibility with the fact that you may have 4x or more attendees than at your in-person events, and that’s a lot of data. all of this data gives you many avenues for measuring virtual event success. it also allows marketers to use events more strategically as part of your overall integrated marketing strategy.
identifying which metrics you want to track and how you’ll use them is an important part of hybrid event planning. it has the ability to provide greater insight into your audience behaviour such as dwell rate, q&a involvement, attendance within the session, and polling, than a typical in person event. this coupled with the fact that your event still has an in person element means you create an incredible data rich event.