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With the rise in popularity of virtual events, we’ve also seen a huge demand for hybrid events. By combining digital audiences with physical audiences, we can reach larger audiences and get the best of both worlds,f allowing audiences at home to be a part of live events in real-time. However, organisers need to think about the dynamic between in-person and virtual audiences and consider how to keep both audiences engaged throughout the event.
In this article, we outline the key considerations to keep in mind when planning a hybrid event.
It’s important to remember that whilst your attendees might be technically attending the same event, your live audience and your digital audience will have different experiences. When planning your hybrid event, you’ll need to make sure that you think about both audiences equally and how you will deliver the event differently to suit them.
For example, the networking opportunities that you create for your live and online audiences will be completely different. You’ll need to create dedicated networking spaces for your online audiences and invite your speakers to spend time with virtual attendees, whilst your live audience will have the opportunity to speak to them in person.
You could also think about creating a content hub for your digital audiences, with exclusive online content, press releases and videos to give your audiences at home a unique perspective.
Maintaining interactivity is key to keeping your digital audience engaged. Event organisers will need to think about how to make audiences at home feel like they’re playing an active role in hybrid events. This can be done through a number of different ways, such as immersive interactive experience, gifting, networking rooms and chat streams.
Make sure that your speakers and hosts at your live venue also interact with the online audiences. Encourage them to invite questions from the online audiences and include them in the discussion. This will help to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital experience for all your attendees.
Creating gifting experiences for both your physical and virtual audiences is a fantastic way to bring your two different audiences together. In particular, think about ways that you can give sensory experiences to your remote audiences. For example, you can gift your virtual audiences food and drink to bring the live experience to their homes. By providing your virtual audience with the same memorabilia as your live audience, you can bring them closer to the event and give them a more immersive experience.
With hybrid events, you have the opportunity to build and engage your community all year round. Whereas live events encourage networking on the day, technology allows you to connect with your audience and community continuously. You can bring your community together with a mix of real-life and online initiatives, creating online spaces for people to stay connected.
Think about creating touchpoints for your community before, during and after your event. Pre-event, you can engage your audience through interactive online content; during your event, you’ll be able to create opportunities for both your physical and virtual audience; and after your event, you can keep the conversation going and build your community in digital spaces.
Technology has also changed the way that attendees network with each other. With online events, networking can become much more intentional. Attendees have the opportunity to engage with each other for much longer, through chat streams, individual one-on-one conversations and longer networking sessions throughout the day. As an organiser, you can also encourage conversations to continue after your event. If networking is an important component of your event, think about how you can utilise this new technology to encourage more valuable networking.
A really important element to ensure that digital audiences feel immersed in your live event is high production values. At Bombora, we pride ourselves on broadcast-quality production for our virtual events, making sure that audiences at home have the best possible experience, and it is no different for hybrid events.
Even though you’ll be dealing with more event production in a physical location, it’s important to give your online audiences the same experience. Try giving your online audiences an immersive experience with multiple camera angles of your venue and stages, and even think about using a roaming camera. This roaming camera will help to bring your audience at home into the fold, emulating the experience of exploring the event themselves.