How to Host Hybrid Events?
The 3 Keys to Make It Successful
What is a hybrid event? How can it be used for the goals of my company? What are the advantages of hybrid events over other types of events? There are several questions that arise when the idea of hosting a virtual event for our company is presented to us, so here we present the three keys to make a successful hybrid event.
Firstly, we must start by identifying what a hybrid event is. It is defined as an experience that combines the advantages of a physical event with the interactivity of a virtual event. Therefore, it is an event that takes place in a physical location with a parallel virtual access through a platform with digital spaces. This allows for double audience attendance, including those who only attend the physical location of the event, or those who join the virtual experience, or both.
What are the advantages of hybrid events? There are many that can be pointed out, but among the most important are:
- Greater audience reach
- Ability to connect with speakers from anywhere in the world without incurring travel costs
- Interactivity and 360° experience for attendees
- Opportunities for interaction between on-site and virtual attendees
Now, what are the keys to making a successful hybrid event? Here are the three keys:
Registration Channels: It is important to create personalized registration channels for both virtual and physical attendees, as this will allow you to measure the volume of users for each platform and know how to direct your outreach efforts. A registration landing page for an event should include data that allows us to have important information about the attendee, such as contact information, geographic location, and a disclaimer for the use of data for communication purposes.
Plan Attractive Virtual Content: When hosting events where we will have a physical location, it is very important to create, in parallel, a virtual environment with attractive content. Many times, we forget that the digital space must be enjoyable for attendees, as priority is given to the physical event. This is where we are not hosting a successful hybrid event.
We must ensure that we have an intuitive, secure, and easily accessible virtual platform, with audiovisual content, videos, photos, brochures, networking rooms, real-time video chat, and permanent technical support for attendees.
Create Networking to Connect Physical and Virtual Attendees: We should not see the physical event space and the virtual space as separate events. On the contrary, it is advisable and necessary that we create activities that unite both users and invite them to participate in both experiences. We can create networking rooms where attendees can join to converse and exchange ideas, online forums with topics of interest, live conferences, among others.
These are the main keys to host successful hybrid events that meet the needs of attendees.
