As the world continues to adapt to the changing landscape of events and gatherings, hybrid events have emerged as a powerful tool for fostering human connection and engagement. Hybrid events offer a unique experience that combines the best of both worlds – the convenience and accessibility of virtual events and the immersive experience of in-person events. By blending the two, hybrid events have the potential to revolutionize the way we connect and interact with one another.

Here we discuss how getting good at planning and executing hybrid events can increase bottom-line impact and extend the reach you’d normally see hosting larger, big-budget in-person events. We suppose you are already familiar with in-person event planning and provide tips and best practices for hybrid events. 

Advantages of Hybrid Events

The two biggest advantages of hybrid events are the ability to reach a broader audience and can save you money (per attendee). 

Hybrid events make it possible for people from all over the world to participate in the event, regardless of the location or travel restrictions. Not only does this grant you the chance to get more leads and boost your ROI, but it also affords attendees a level of ease and convenience previously unattainable. 

You will likely pay far less per attendee than you would hosting an in-person event. Most of the costs associated with in-person events fall off with virtual-only. Of course, you will add some cost to making your event a hybrid event, but the costs associated with making it hybrid are not usually exorbitant and, if you plan correctly, can be outweighed by the increase in reach.

They also provide attendees with greater flexibility and freedom, as they may choose a preferred method of attendance, giving them an experience that caters to their needs and desires. 

Another advantage of hybrid events is the ability to offer more engagement and interaction. The merging of traditional in-person events with the latest digital technologies furnishes you with an unprecedented chance to forge a more immersive experience that fosters meaningful connections between attendees. Live Q&A sessions that transcend borders, interactive workshops that allow minds to collaborate, and virtual networking opportunities, sales pitches, and masterminds connecting people across continents – this is the promise of hybrid virtual events.

Best Practices For Planning A Hybrid Event

Determine The Objectives And Goals

Envision your target audience, create a purpose for the event surrounding your needs, and set realistic and specific goals. Moving on!

Design A Seamless Attendee Experience

Integrating real-time communication and collaboration-promoting technologies, such as live streaming and video conferencing, is crucial to ensuring that attendees can transition between the physical and virtual components of the event without feeling disconnected or alienated. Making sure that cameras are set up unobtrusively in the in-person event is almost as important as getting the right video angles for your virtual component. Programming interactivity can give virtual attendees something to do while the main stage is dormant.

Virtual event platform selection must be carefully considered, using a platform that is easy to use for both producers and attendees and filled with features that give the attendees opportunities for interaction. Navigation instructions for the attendees must be either disseminated beforehand, quickly accessible, or shown with frequency.

Interactive features are pivotal to sustaining attendees’ connection throughout the event. Live polls, Q&A sessions, one-on-one networking, breakout rooms, and gamification elements all incentivize participation and boost engagement.

The quality of audio and visual elements significantly impacts the attendee experience. As such, top-notch cameras and microphones are essential to guarantee reliable and crystal-clear audio and video.

Maximize Engagement and Interactivity

Do this by utilizing the following:

• Presentations: Providing well-designed and informative presentations can help capture the attendees’ attention and engage them in the event.

• Handouts: Agendas, schedules, speaker bios, and other materials can provide meaningful context and help attendees follow along with the event. Also can be an email!

• Polls and quizzes: Interactive polls and quizzes can be used to gather feedback from attendees, engage them in the event, and keep them interested.

• Multimedia content: Including relevant videos and multimedia content can help to break up the event and provide a change of pace, keeping attendees engaged.

• Q&A sessions: Incorporating interactive Q&A sessions into the event can offer attendees valuable opportunities to pose questions, voice opinions, and provide feedback, contributing to heightened engagement and vested interest in the event. It can be helpful to have a camera for live audience participation and a designated screen for virtual question-askers that’s shown to IRL attendees.

• Live chat: Live chat can facilitate interactions among attendees, promote networking, and keep attendees engaged throughout the event.

• Social media integration: Get them sharing. Shared content can be an identity boost for an attendee. Rewards help encourage this. 

• Networking opportunities: Programmed into the event, they promote a sense of community and encourage interaction among attendees. Virtual breakout rooms that attendees can use to connect and share ideas. Virtual cocktail hours or other social events can foster attendee connections and networking. One-on-one networking sessions open up a broader range of potential relationships. Vendor booths let your sponsors attract new clients or reconnect with old or existing clients. 

• Live Performances: Performances other than talks demand it’s own bullet of the list. Anything you can do live, you can film and make it virtual. Cooking, farming, painting, music, pottery, show-and-tell, glass-blowing, beekeeping, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The world is your oyster. 

• Games: You can play many games in virtual events that you can incorporate into your in-person aspect. Please see our post on suggestions for games to play at virtual events here.

Have you thought of something that doesn’t fit into any of these categories? We’re dying to know about it. Send us an email with your awesome new idea for engagement in hybrid events.

Key Considerations for Virtual Attendees

Make it beautiful: Clear audio and high-resolution visual elements optimize your virtual event. Poor audio or visual quality can make it difficult to follow presentations, hear speakers, and engage with other attendees. High-resolution A/V coupled with customized branding elements show that attention to detail has been considered, and the cost was not spared.

Make it easy: Virtual attendees should be able to easily navigate the online platform hosting the event and access all necessary information, such as schedules and presentation materials, and it should be accessible for all attendees. This may be a law depending on where you’re hosting the event.

Make it live-worthy: Interactive and engaging features such as live chat, Q&A sessions, breakout rooms, and virtual networking opportunities create a more immersive and collaborative experience for all attendees.

Make it look like this isn’t your first rodeo: Have tech support ready to help and offer multiple opportunities for feedback throughout the event. Expect the unexpected.

Key Considerations for In-Person Events

Ensuring compliance with health and safety guidelines is crucial in various events or scenarios that pose potential risks to attendees. Depending on your jurisdiction, you may need separate licenses, specifically-trained staff, or insurance (amongst other considerations) in addition to following generally accepted health and safety guidelines.

The event organizer must ensure that the location is readily accessible, the seating arrangements are pleasant, and the temperature and lighting are appropriate for the length of the event to offer a safe and comfortable atmosphere for the guests. Private transportation options may need to be hired in advance, depending on your location.

To enhance the in-person experience, you should offer interactive and engaging opportunities such as networking events, workshops, and chances to meet and converse with keynote speakers. 

But not everyone gets to talk with the keynote speaker (if they do, this paragraph might not be for you this time around – something to think about for the future). VIP ticketing gives attendees more, whether it be different access, activities, or connections. Offer a higher ticket price and deliver more value.

Sponsors want different things based on your event type and industry, and the list of perks you can offer can fill four more posts of this length. Price and allot benefits to each of your sponsor tiers so it makes sense to deliver what they asked while factoring in the time it takes your team members to fulfill the deliverables.

Meals, water, cocktails, snacks (and the bathroom breaks that go along with them) – will you have the former or just the latter. If you’re not doing refreshments (or just light ones) where will they be eating? Maybe you can get your attendees a discount at one of the nearby restaurants. If you are picking the food, make sure what’s available suits the desires of your guests as far as you can control it. We like to do a menu tasting ahead of time, but that’s not always possible.

Ticketing, parking, swag, comfort features, promotional materials, navigation around the event, live feedback, mobile integration…there are so many other things to consider when designing an in-person event to coincide with a virtual event. Sometimes these obstacles make you just want to skip this whole hybrid thing and go 100% virtual. We’re there for all of it.

Challenges And Solutions For Hybrid Events

One of the biggest challenges for hybrid events is ensuring that all technical aspects run smoothly for in-person and virtual attendees. Technical issues, such as poor internet connectivity, can cause disruptions or delays impacting attendee engagement. A tech team helps fend off these issues.

Strike a balance between the in-person and virtual components of the event. It can be challenging to ensure that all attendees feel equally included and engaged. To balance in-person and virtual components, you should ensure that both types of attendees have access to the same content and opportunities.

To ensure attendee engagement, you should offer a variety of interactive elements that cater to both in-person and virtual attendees. As often as possible, you should find a way to integrate the live event into the virtual event. That means all questions from the audience are held in the same esteem, breakout sessions are filmed and there are screens where virtual attendees can be seen and heard, performances are live-streamed…make space for video participants and in-person attendees alike.

When all else fails, provide all attendees with on-demand recordings of presentations or workshops so they can catch up on what they missed during the day. We like to make meetings that should have been meetings, not emails (as the saying goes), but you’re going to make the content anyway, so keep it and make it sharable.

Conclusion

Hybrid in-person and virtual events are revolutionizing the way we connect, offering a range of advantages that allow us to bring people together in innovative and engaging ways. By combining the best of both worlds, these events can provide unique and personalized experiences that cater to all attendees, whether they are joining in person or remotely.

To ensure the success of hybrid events, you must prioritize best practices, such as investing in high-quality technology, creating interactive elements, and ensuring equal access and opportunities for in-person and virtual attendees. By doing so, you can create a seamless and immersive experience that maximizes attendee engagement and participation.

The future of hybrid events looks promising as the world has accelerated the adoption of remote work and virtual communication. As more people embrace the flexibility and convenience of virtual events, we can expect hybrid events to become more common and more sophisticated, with advanced technology and innovative features. Take advantage of the unique opportunities they provide to connect with people from all over the world and start planning your dynamic, inclusive, engaging, and unforgettable hybrid event right now!

Frequently Asked Questions