While most individuals and event planners had been eagerly waiting for in-person events to eventually return, we all know that adopting virtual events or including a virtual aspect can fetch several advantages. With the advancements in technologies and digital tools, the event industry has shifted to a new norm- hybrid events.
Certainly, things might get a little more intricate. But hybrid events hold an immense scope in the future. By offering several options for in-person and virtual attendees, you can maximize your reach and promote your brand globally.
But, the tricky part is how do you deliver winning hybrid event experiences to your attendees? So, let us walk you through some prominent ideas that can help you conduct remarkable hybrid events.
- Promote engagement among your audiences
Including a virtual aspect in your event creates room for added engagement opportunities both during and post the event. Consider including Q&A sessions, live polls, or surveys for both virtual and in-person attendees to achieve event objectives and broaden discussions in several ways. Event organizers should make sure that both segments of attendees’ questions are given equal weightage and attention throughout the hybrid event. Hence, this is why it is important to pick an ideal virtual event software that can address questions from both virtual and on-site attendees seamlessly.
We understand that it is simpler for physical attendees to interact and begin meaningful connections, so focus on the networking perspective of virtual attendees. Try to facilitate features like virtual networking tables, B2B meetings scheduler, business card exchanges, and AI matchmaking tools to let the online audience communicate and interact with each other.
2. Prepare a balanced agenda
The most important aspect of hybrid events is to smoothly integrate in-person and virtual attendees to make your event a success. Therefore, it is vital to create a balanced agenda that will cater to the need of the event and create remarkable experiences for each attendee. Consider keeping a mutual solution for both audiences. You can record some of your sessions or make them available as on-demand content. This way, you can avoid the necessity of virtual attendees visiting each session that physical participants are attending.
3. Create event buzz
With any event, be it physical, virtual, or hybrid, it is vital to generate buzz among your audience. Consider creating compelling landing pages, promoting on the official brand website & different social media handles to spread awareness. Make sure to mention the date, timing, and the fact that you’ll be welcoming both in-person and virtual attendees to your event. Post relevant pictures, videos, boomerangs, or stories with event-specific hashtags to promote your hybrid event. People who feel excited about attending your event will spread the word through their own social media channels. It could drive more prospects interested in visiting your hybrid event. Event buzz is considered an essential user-generated strategy that can cater to the needs of your marketing efforts.
4. Consider keeping on-site speakers
While conducting a hybrid event, you can choose to keep your speakers either on-site or remote. The best way to make your hybrid event more successful is by having your speakers, panels, or some other important sessions live along with your in-person attendees. It will enhance the professional aspect of your brand. Speakers performing on a live stage with the organization or event logo in the framework gives more reliability to your speakers. There’s comparatively much more enthusiasm and liveliness when speakers are on stage, it allows virtual participants to feel more connected. Seeing the energy of the in-person crowd, the virtual attendees too will feel lively and excited.
5. Try to connect your virtual and in-person attendees
It is a challenging and crucial aspect of any hybrid event. To obtain profitable results for a hybrid event, you have to look for ways to connect both audiences seamlessly. Networking is an important reason why several people attend events. Therefore, when we talk about events where we wish to include both virtual and in-person aspects, ensure to incorporate features and functionalities that will keep everyone hooked and involved throughout the event.
To do this better, make sure to choose an ideal hybrid event platform that has brushed its skillset to provide multiple tools for engagement to connect both in-person and virtual attendees. We can take the example of one of the leading hybrid event platforms like Dreamcast. The platform has the ability to conduct quizzes, surveys, live polls, exciting games, leaderboard challenges, and many more to encourage both audiences to connect and interact conveniently.
6. Strategize and market your hybrid event
Since you are expecting participation of both in-person and virtual attendees, it is important to keep the marketing pipeline furnished with strategic content to lure more people. Think of repurposing and re sharing the digital content to arouse excitement among the attendees.
Consider sharing some segments of your previous live-streaming or virtual event to market your future events more effectively.
Many hybrid event venues enable you to build a space to share and store your resources, videos, or content. Hence, this is why it is important to keep these points in mind before you determine your event venue.
7. Collect feedback and take a follow-up
It is one of the crucial steps to gauge the progress of your hybrid event. Make sure to collect the valuable feedback of both audiences to understand the success score of your event. Conduct a post-event survey for your attendees. It will allow you to get insightful data on the significant improvements that you should make to conduct even better hybrid events in the future.
Final Word
Today hybrid events are becoming a popular choice so if you haven’t conducted a hybrid event yet, go for it. It is the best time to understand the changing needs of your audiences and tune your events and strategies accordingly.
With the apt tools and software, you can not just organize hybrid events but can convert them into a lucrative affair. Therefore, outline your objectives, choose your hybrid venue, strategize your event, find your target audience and leverage the right event technology to deliver remarkable experiences to both online and in-person attendees.
Looking to host a lucrative hybrid event? Book a demo with Dreamcast today!
