With businesses moving to the digital realm, the webinar and video conferencing prospects seem very promising. However, until organizations feel safe to resume face-to-face interactions, the next best thing is hybrid events. A wide range of platforms, such as webinar.net, Spot Me, and Aventri, let businesses hold events using both virtual and in-person elements. This makes it possible to have the best of both worlds.
Hybrid events help reach a larger audience, with better engagement and invaluable networking opportunities characteristic of face-to-face interactions. If you’re planning to host a hybrid event, here are five important things to consider.
- Budget
Ideally, hybrid events involve participants gathering at a hub location. However, those who aren’t physically available to join the event can do so through a webinar platform.
While drawing up a budget, consider capping the number of in-person attendees as this could help save on travel costs. Also, consider other event-related expenses, such as catering, venue costs, equipment, etc.
Digital elements, such as the webinar platform, camera, and audio, also make up a sizeable chunk of your budget. Platforms, such as webinar.net, help reach a large audience through a superior webinar experience at excellent value for money.
- Format and Production Options
While planning your hybrid event, identify your production options. Depending on the number of people attending in-person and those streaming virtually, you’ll need to format your session. For example, if you have 100 people attending in-person and 500 people streaming online, you’ll need multiple cameras and speakers.
Remember, you need to engage your in-person and virtual audience equally. For added effect, find a venue that has a studio with cameras and a green screen.
- Quality Content
While both kinds of audiences in a hybrid event experience the same session, certain parts of the session, such as meal times and transition between sessions, vary.
Ensure that your content is consistently engaging and interactive. For your virtual audience, the experience has to be seamless, and any fillers used need to be relevant and useful.
- Efficient Time Management
Those with any experience in hosting virtual events will agree that burnout is a real thing. While a part of your audience can handle an entire day of being online, most people can’t handle more than a few hours at a time.
To keep both your live and virtual audience captivated, keep your content crisp, relevant, and interactive. Effectively managing time is not just about prioritizing better. It also makes the best use of your audience members’ time, and they’ll thank you for that.
- Engaging Your Online Audience
When it comes to networking or interpersonal interactions, remember your virtual audience members’ physical absence greatly limits them. So, keep them in mind and get creative about the perks you can dish out. For example, webinar.net features in-webinar polling complete with live results and automatically forwards questions to your e-mail.
Give your virtual audience members something they would love as part of the event. This could include unique gift boxes and meal kits. For example, if you treat your live participants to a post-session cocktail party, consider sending something to your virtual participants. One example could be a prepacked, organization-branded cocktail order. Of course, a nice set of meal vouchers work just as well.
Key Aspects
With the dynamic, ever-changing nature of interactions around us, hybrid events offer a perfect middle ground. If used well, they can bring some sustainable targets to the table while still cashing in on the benefits of direct interaction.
