When the world started to get comfortable with the newest technology of hosting events over the internet, another concept came into existence - Hybrid Events. In no time, they became popular, and several organizations started to host them. The reason behind their popularity was the set of advantages they come with. Also, since things have started to go back to normal, people have accepted them with open arms.
When you count the advantages of Hybrid Events, you will notice that they outnumber both in-person and online events. But, they come with several challenges as well; it is not that easy to host a hybrid event. In addition, you need to have control over in-person and online events simultaneously. Nevertheless, organizations host hybrid events to attract more audiences even after numerous challenges. This is because the audience gets to choose the format they would like to attend the event. Even statistics prove that the Hybrid format of the events is the most popular among all other versions.
In this guide, let us look at the meaning and tips you can use to make your
What are Hybrid Events?
Unlike the widely accepted belief, the concept of hybrid events is relatively simple and less complicated. In layman language, hybrid events are the combination of virtual and physical events. Therefore, these events come with significant ease for the attendees as they can choose how they want to be a part of the event, virtually or physically. Due to this reason or characteristic of hybrid events, people find these events exciting, and the organizations are seeing a surge in the audience engagement rates.
Following are the advantages of hybrid events:
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Since a hybrid event is the combination of virtual and physical events, they allow the organizers to target larger audiences that are more than the number of attendees in virtual and physical events, respectively.
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Since hybrid event components are virtual, they come easy on the environment.
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Hybrid events provide efficient networking opportunities to the attendees, building long-lasting connections with fellow attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, and even the hosts.
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Hybrid events allow the organizers to track the activity of their attendees and collect real-time event data. These statistics will enable them to analyze their strategies and measure the success of their event.
How to Make Your Hybrid Event Stand Out from Others?
Now that you have understood the meaning of hybrid events, let us take you through some tips and tricks to help you host an immersive hybrid event. Have a look-
Outline a Theme for the Event
The first and most crucial step in order to make your event stand out from the crowd is to select a theme for your event. It will help you decide several things, right from your target audience, to the guests you would like to invite for your event. Also, this will allow you to get a direction you need to invest your energy into.
Define Your Objectives
Now that you have decided the subject of your event move ahead and define the objectives you want to achieve through your hybrid event. It can be anything, ranging from expanding your brand recognition to getting more customers aboard. In addition to this, you can also
Consider Your Budget
Before moving on to the next step, we suggest you consider a particular amount of money that you would like to spend on the entire event. Having a predetermined budget will help you have an idea of the elements of the event, stay within your financial limits, and save money.
Look Out for Virtual and Physical Venues
Another crucial step to make sure your hybrid event is not like the rest is getting your hands on suitable physical and virtual event venues. While looking for the respective platforms, ensure you take into consideration several factors and then get your hands on the best option available. A few of them are audience capacity, budget, and accessibility. There are a few more factors that an organizer should consider while picking up a virtual event platform which includes-
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Audience engagement tools
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Networking Options
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Simple and user-friendly interface.
Having all these features in a hybrid platform will add value to the attendees' overall experience and expand your audience engagement rates and brand popularity. However, while choosing the venue, ensure you take your own time, compare a few options, and then land on a decision. Going with any name in a hurry can easily ruin your entire hybrid event. It can lead to a wrong impression on the attendees and ruin your brand image.
Keep the audience Engaged
If you want the audience to talk about your brand, and drive audience engagement rates to your virtual event, keep the audience engaged to the event. One way to do this is by making the event as immersive as possible, and you can achieve that by introducing audience interaction tools. While it is easier to keep the attendees hooked to the event in a physical event, maintaining the audience engagement rate in its virtual equivalent comes with several challenges. It is why virtual event platforms come with tools to keep the audience hooked to their screens throughout the proceedings. Some of them are:
- Audio/video chat option
- Virtual Meeting Schedulers
- Gamification Features
- Live Polls
- Q&A Sessions, etc.
Include these features, and ensure a constant audience engagement rate in your hybrid event.
Provide Enough Branding Opportunities to Your Sponsors
If you wish your brand to be a popular name in the market, join hands with different brands and get them aboard in your event as sponsors. Offer them lucrative virtual and physical branding options. Again, doing this is accessible in the case of physical events; virtual layouts demand you to be technically advanced and that you can do with immersive 3D virtual booths.
Given that the circumstances are getting back to normal during the pre-pandemic era, statistics suggest that people have widely accepted the concept of hybrid events. Moreover, such events are constantly rising and compel global organizations to get the hang of these events as early as possible. Use this guide to host your hybrid event unforgettably.