Hybrid Events are the talk of the town. It’s like running way ahead in the future. Due to the current pandemic, there was an uproar on virtual events, but with ease in lockdown, we have seen a rise in hybrid events. These are grand events that are easier to organize and execute. It may sound like pulling off hybrid events will involve tons of technology and human force; rather, it is governed effectively through a virtual events platform. In fact, hybrid events are simpler and do not require years of experience or expertise. We just need to follow a set of hybrid event success factors.
Let’s first explore what hybrid events are and the essential factors in running a successful event.
What are Hybrid Events?
Hybrid events are a blend of traditional in-person events and virtual events. In order to avoid the physical gathering of people at a venue, hybrid events ease the process of gathering a global audience in a safe environment. For instance, you take your live physical event, put more content and broadcast the event to audiences residing in different parts of the world. That is how you allow them to participate and engage in your event no matter the distance.
Global engagement and networking are considered the most important aspect of hybrid events. You take your live audience and engage them with online audiences to experience the future.
However, there are certain hybrid event success factors to be considered when hosting a hybrid event. These determine the success or downfall of your business event. So, let’s explore how these essential factors incorporate into running a successful hybrid event.
Hybrid Event Success Factors
1- Begin with a Solid Event Plan
Prior to the event, a strong backing objective and plan is necessary. With a clear event mission, you leave a lasting impression on the attendees and watch them talk about your event for a long while. Whether you are organizing an official conference, a recruitment event, a trade show, or a product launch event, event marketing and branding is the foremost objective. Your message should reach the target audience they may be residing anywhere in the world. From marketing to global reach, your hybrid event shall earn you maximized ROIs and leads.
In short, create a captivating virtual environment for your online audiences and an appealing live venue for in-person audiences. Introduce giveaways, gamification, and goodie bag features to make your event memorable and appealing.
2- Look for a Leading Hybrid Events Supplier
Once you have decided on the event you wish to organize, look for a hybrid events supplier. They are the ones who are typically responsible for planning and organizing your hybrid event. In addition, an event supplier comes with a virtual events platform backup to help you execute the event. Still, wondering what makes your event a success?
Event suppliers are mainly responsible for promoting the show, looking for an impactful platform for hosting virtual attendees. In addition, they need to cover expenses, technology, organize rehearsal, supervise the event, secure the final agenda, or analyze ROIs. Thus hosting an entire event can be challenging. However, working alongside a professional show management team helps meet the event goals to manage your event metrics. Thus following hybrid event success factors is a win-win.
3- Prepare Well for Pre-event Marketing
The hype and uproar can anticipate an event’s success it creates prior to the event. Social media has now eased the process of marketing and promotion, with internet and mobile devices being accessible at all times. However, virtual events receive the most hype and attention on the actual event day. But for sure, how well word of mouth spreads determines its success.
Just when you share the teasers and ads on a website or social media profiles, the potential attendees get excited and explore the details. They estimate what’s in store for them. It is, however, the event organizer’s job to indulge in strategic pre-event marketing.
4- Work on Effective Event Content
The big day is around the corner, and you are to present in front of hundreds of in-person audiences and worldwide online audiences. Do you think you are ready to deliver an impactful event? You can do this by setting up effective event content.
Now it all depends on the content. How engaging and interactive is your virtual space. How impactful is the content for your presentation? For example, did your keynote speakers prepare an effective speech or rehearsed? Did they create a dynamic presentation with 3D animations, graphics, and videos?
Research has proved that audiences will respond to 95% of the visual content compared to some texts. Therefore it is important to set up immersive virtual environments for attendees to experience once in a lifetime online events. Moreover, make sure your team is well prepared for meetings, as engagement is a critical aspect of your hybrid event.
5- Prepare for Audience Interaction and Engagement
The best thing about hybrid events is that it caters to live and online engagement among attendees. In fact, audience engagement is crucial to the success of your event. However, hybrid events are at their best when the online and live audiences merge and connect seamlessly. You can create an epic online experience, but if your local audience cannot interact with them globally, it is a failure.
Your idea of investing in a hybrid event is that you wish to bring industry peers together at one platform. So, you can mark an event successful when your online and live audiences both claim they had an incredible experience at the event. For instance, make your event a success with live chat, simultaneous Q&A, and gamification, allowing audiences to engage and respond.
6- Use Social Media Platform to Your Best
Social media is a valuable marketing tool when organizing hybrid events. These platforms allow easy exchange of information, posting of ads and interacting with a global audience. Therefore, there is an efficient exchange between the brand and event attendees.
Another easy tactic working nowadays is to get an event hashtag and promote the hybrid conference or virtual summit over at social media channels. This is how you can partner with influencers and sponsors to boost your event message.
7- Practice Well before the Event goes Live
Remember when you had to appear for an exam? You spent days and nights preparing for it. Similarly, an event is a huge responsibility, with your time and money involved. It is a greater risk when it involves a global pool of audiences, keynote speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, and industry professionals. So, can you risk delivering a haphazard hybrid event?
Certainly not! So rehearsals are indeed the best approach to prepare well for the event. In this way, your speakers get a good chance to prepare and rehearse the content for the presentation, familiarize themselves with the team and get comfortable with the platform. In addition, these rehearsals will put everyone on the same page. Everyone will know the schedule, respond to transitions, and be confident about the goals and aims of the event.
8- Create an Impactful Opening and Ending
An impactful opening and closing define the overall success of your event. At the start, you begin with briefing the audience about the purpose of gathering and what programs lie ahead. Then, you can open with a keynote speech or informative speech to get everyone excited for what is to come. Next, open live and broadcast online or get your remote speakers to open the event before an online and live audience.
While concluding, be clear about the purpose of the event and the sort of hybrid event you are running. Before getting into anything, just focus on the type of audience as it might be sufficient to end the event with a keynote speech or a presentation. In some cases, it is good to conclude the event with some entertainment such as a party or game. You can also get your event supplier to assist you with the event.
9- Post Event Hype and Marketing
Lastly, it is time to share the success story of your event over the internet, press media or TV. It is an effective post-event strategy to celebrate and farewell everyone involved.
- Thank everyone for visiting or attending the event
- Send over the event clips to people who could not make it
- Create a webpage with everything about the event for people who missed
- Get attendees to fill out post-event surveys to gauge event success
- Follow up with speakers and exhibitors on the success of the event
- Let social media play its role (Post videos or pictures from the event for people to talk)
- Create an event portfolio at the website to save it forever
10- Wrap up the Successful Hybrid Event
Virtual events efficiently record the overall success of your event. However, in the case of a hybrid event, an in-person event record is kept by a hybrid events platform. For instance, chat, log in, registration, views, download, shares, and booth engagement records are all recorded. These statistics allow easy follow-up with attendees and help record how the event was a hit.
In Conclusion
The above-mentioned hybrid event success factors are essential to consider when hosting a hybrid event. Hopefully, these tips were helpful and would aid you in hosting a successful hybrid event. Virtual Days is an expert hybrid events platform. So join us today and watch us design a remarkable business event.
