A Hybrid Event is being considered the future of event hosting nowadays. In a recent survey conducted by some international organizations, 70% of the respondents have agreed to the same. A Hybrid Event can be defined as a combination event which is tailored for optimal experience of both types of crowd i.e. the one present on site and the one attending it online. These events conglomerate digital as well as in-person elements to make them interesting.
Why host a Hybrid Event?
The hybrid events help you expand your reach to the participants globally, they are a great aid in building a community that connects both in-person and remote audience in a single event, these events are also economically viable for the organizers as many of the participants join online itself, so it helps them save big on commuting and accommodation expenses and last but not the least we can become nature crusaders too by going paperless as you can share digital resources with everyone, which can be downloaded and used as per convenience. The Hybrid Events have become a major milestone in the event industry and will continue to be its integral part.
Requirements to host a Hybrid Event
There are a few points that must be taken into account while organizing a hybrid event because it requires extensive preparations as you have to inculcate the interest of both onsite and offsite audiences. Some of these are as follows:
A clear visionary plan
This is the basic step to initiate your preparations for conducting any event. The organizing committee needs to sit down and carve out an outline of the whole event from pre-event sessions to post event feedback. You have to keep in mind the target audience, facilities the venue can offer, your offerings to the participants, how to make the event intriguing, and suitable time for its execution etc.
The organizers have to draw a detailed budget which should cover all the expenses that need to be incurred at the venue or on the web platform or marketing and all the other areas.
Selection of the venue and web platform
The choice of both the venue and the web platform are equally crucial for the smooth and successful execution of the event. First of all talking about the venue, the place should be able to seat the expected no. of audience comfortably and safely, the security of the area should be in place, it should fulfill all the demands of the host of the events like decor, catering, anchoring, guest speakers, audio visual requisites etc. The internet signal should also be quite strong and uninterrupted for carrying out the event in online mode. Next, in the pipeline is the choice of a perfect web platform. Some of the popular Hybrid Event Platforms are Eventdex, Expertshare, Hubilo, Socio, Swapcard, vFairs, DREAMCAST, InEvent, Bizzabo, SpotMe, Cvent, Hopin and many more. DREAMCAST offers a complete 100% customized web platform as per the client’s requirements. The team at DREAMCAST is thoroughly efficient and ensures a pleasant experience for their clientele.
Creation of engaging content
It is vital to create a content that satiates the demands of both the groups. For instance, the virtual audience will be comfortable with attending more sessions with fewer breaks whilst it would be entirely the opposite for the live audience. It is quite pivotal to design the right hybrid conference platform to meet the needs of your live and digital audience. You can organize sessions like talk shows, Q&A sessions, video-on-demand etc. to keep your audience engaged throughout. It’s difficult to meet everyone’s expectations; hence it is always good to find a middle ground i.e. to arrange sessions that would pique the interest of everyone.
Marketing Strategy
A well laid out marketing plan is one of the key factors that decide the success of the event. It is very-very important to channelize all the modes of marketing and to start working on them well in advance. You have to take in consideration your budget too planning all this. In the current scenario, one needs to cover all the bases from print media to social media, e-marketing, search engine optimization to run your advertisements and many more.
Designing a user friendly Interface
While designing an interface, you should keep it very simple for your audience to register for the hybrid event with a straightforward and brisk registration process. Fabricate an eye catching home page for the event and also design customizable forms to collect all the requisite data. Web platforms like DREAMCAST come in handy here that can help you with creating a 2D/3D/DIY platform as per your choice and make it efficiently user friendly. Dreamcast also delivers services like Live Streaming, AWS Server Management etc. They are one of the pioneers in their stream.
Looking for sponsors
If you are able to arrange some sponsorships for the event, that would add another feather to your hat. Sponsorships and collaborations are an added advantage as they can help you in various ways. You can approach sponsors as per the demand of the event. You can rope in companies which can broaden your virtual reach, provide some giveaways for attendees, help you with event strategy etc. One should always look out for sponsors whose work is in tandem with your event topic. You should make complete arrangements in advance to give your sponsors a good visibility in all event related communications.
Concluding remarks:
The Hybrid Events are the call of the hour, they will become the most popular ones in the times ahead. Although these events require intricate planning, once executed in accordance with the plan can prove to be much more successful than either the digital ones or only the live ones. They are more economic if one wishes to cover a huge number of global audiences. They are also beneficial in terms of sharing the knowledge nuggets worldwide over a common platform. The bottom line while planning a hybrid event is to ensure that despite different formats, the online as well as the onsite audience have a similar experience and receive the same amount of knowledge and information. It is supremely mandatory to strike the balance.
