Hybrid events are conducted to include an online presence of clients or partners while some stakeholders are present physically together on the location. This combination of virtual and in-person presenters, sponsors, and participants is the choice of many companies as these events effectively push sales and engagement propositions.
Addressing the biggest challenges of hosting hybrid events by Harvard Business Review, reports that almost “50% of corporate event attendees consider hybrid events the ideal format for the future”. This is in comparison to in-person or virtual-only events.
As industries adjust and respond to the post-pandemic recovery phase, more companies than before are switching to virtual events, with a considerable 64% of businesses planning to increase their virtual events. How many would want to go hybrid instead of exclusively virtual-only? HBR’s aforementioned article reports that 58% of companies surveyed are planning for a mix of virtual and in-person events.
With that established, this guide will put on the table, top 10 hybrid meetings best practices. This article will also discuss the services that match the best practices by Oreed - a hybrid event management company delivering events to the US, UK, MENA regions and Canada.
How to launch hybrid events that stand out
The event marketers noticing a major pipeline gap at the onset of cancellations of in-person events, can get their numbers back on track with hybrid event strategy. Similarly, those can benefit who need to explore newer ways to multiply sales leads and not just receive “bad leads” that don’t translate into solid data.
The damaged pipeline during COVID-19 was restored with the prompt launches of virtual and hybrid events; however, there are some challenges that must be understood before we can benefit from hybrid events with 360 degree vision in 2022.
1- Single platform challenge
A hybrid luncheon, VP unrolling new policies, or a farewell to a longstanding partner are just a few things you can do with a hybrid setup. Challenge is to find a platform that supports events of any size and format. Small scale webinar is not the same as a large-scale corporate conference of partners.
2- Engagement challenge
If you are arranging a hybrid event, you have to be well aware of the audience engagement innovations. You have to stay up to date to deploy next-gen platform delivery that stands out for transcription, translation, gamification, integrated and live feeds from social platforms, and all things interesting.
3- The networking challenge
It is possible to hold a dazzling and glitch-fee hybrid event without generating any opportunities for networking and leads - a situation no one wants. Therefore, the networking process and face-to-face interactions during these hybrid events are very critical to the success metrics.
A great hybrid event is not just a show - it is a show that will produce results to show and includes planning at all stages of the event starting with the pre-event phase.
4- The data challenge
The secret ingredient to any successful hybrid event strategy: generate the pipeline and go till the bottom- funnel. Several companies do this by digging data of their attendees and invitees, by measuring the response and future business opportunities, and by conversions of leads.
The real challenge here is to have a dedicated team or event management company that helps you define KPIs, lays out the metrics, and forecasts an ROI.
Hybrid events best practices
1- Manage costs
Organizations can successfully cut their costs and increase customer reception by streamlining the entire event using one platform. Instead of limited feature webinar or streaming platforms, presenters need to consider one platform for screen sharing, streaming, client registration, payment gateways, analytics, and reporting.
Hybrid events specifically can get a little glitchy because there is a team or audience present in-person at an office or a conference room, and there is an additional team joining the event remotely. The team sizes and requirements vary as well. To prevent glitches and avoid any complexities, a thoughtful investment in a scalable event management is the way forward.
According to Metrigy Research 2021, companies spend on average $11,860 per event, including licensing, staffing, event operations on webinar platforms. Virtual/hybrid event management cost around $16,000 with an overhead of features not available in webinar platforms.
Therefore, companies need to consider a way to lower their costs while increasing ROI, that’s better done with a hybrid event management company.
2- Manage complexities
By the end of COVID-19 restrictions, most of the companies were still using webinar/streaming platforms for small scale events (Zoom, MS teams, Cisco Webex). These platforms are good for streaming content not designed to get analytics, generate pipelines, or interaction.
According to Metrigy Research 2021, 65% of the companies surveyed are adopting a go-further approach by evaluating and purchasing an event management service that mimics a real in-person event environment offering attendee social features, feedback/polling, event floors etc.
What does it mean to the big, fastest growing companies? Julie Hogan, Global Face-to-Face Marketing Director at Facebook and Instagram says, "Face-to-face interactions at these events are incredibly important and powerful, and create very meaningful connections for us." Time to think: What are your hybrid events best practices?
3- Curate experiences
There is a “stuffing” type of hybrid event where the presenters and the attendees simply don’t get a breather and everything seems to be fast paced, usually to give an impression that there is so much to do and say! Another type of event is the one that “curates” an experience, thoughtfully and in line with the KPIs.
There are metrics available in hybrid event management that will measure attendees’ level of interest. Many of whom are listening - and many aren’t. If the attendees’ attention is dropping and you can see simultaneous people leaving the show, then it is likely that the content being presented is not consumable (poorly presented content) or there is a technical error (audio/visual)
Metrigy Research suggests that a platform that supports live metrics showing active or turned off listeners can help organizers figure out the issue in time. If the content isn’t curated or is not consumable, or there is a technical issue, then it can be addressed in real-time during the event. And the data collected can be brainstormed through for better results next time.
4- Superimpose the presenter
Harvard Business Review tops its list of must-haves with the flexibility to project the presenter with the content. Hybrid events are displayed on medium to large screens in front of the in-person attendees. The event management company that offers you the option to superimpose the presenter is giving you an advanced presentation platform and is a critical ingredient to keeping the audience engaged.
5- Analyze the audience
These metrics enable the hosts and event organizers to gauge the audience engagement levels. These tools can help you identify a registration trend that you may project demographically or however you need. You may also discover a pipeline gap by noticing drop offs at the payment phase, if you have one.
Audience analytics make your hybrid events more effective for future happenings and convert statistics into real sales. Ed Keller of Navigant Consulting, says that at Navigant, every single attendee from every company is tracked down, with their previous purchase data of 12-24 months as well.
This data helps Navigant “estimate how likely we would have been to win that project if we hadn’t held the event. We can demonstrate that we generate revenue 10 times our investment, so we know that event is very profitable”.
How can audience analytics help you increase your profits? You may just be looking for the right event management company, such as Oreed. At Oreed, event analytics are part of the management platform that will help you decide the best possible way forward.
6- Ensure interaction
Virtual interaction can be the critical factor that takes your audience from top-funnel to bottom-funnel. If you are hosting hybrid events but are still struggling to engage your clients or team sitting another place, then ensure the leaks are patched up due to lack of interaction.
Metrigy Research indicates that 58% of participants on virtual events consider interaction to be a must-have; 37% consider it to be nice-to-have; only 5% of participants consider it an unnecessary feature. These numbers also indicate the participants’ willingness to pay for an event, if this feature is offered.
7- Integrate team collaboration
Team collaboration capabilities enable seamless collaboration with other event managers based on real-time event performance data. This capability shares internal webinars into relevant collaboration channels (source: Addressing the biggest challenges of hosting hybrid events, Harvard Business Review)
An application of this feature is when the top digital marketing executives at a company have a hybrid event, the relevant webinar on strategies and projections of a specific area is shared with the local sales team. This collaboration is the key to real change in any channel.
65% of virtual event participants consider this capability to be a must-have, whereas 30% consider it nice-to-have. (Metrigy Research)
8- Provide on-demand archive
This feature allows participants to view or playback the recorded event after the event. It is of considerable importance and gives critical end-user insight. The companies can make use of the data of how many participants wanted to watch the event and whether their return led to any sales or not, if it is an external event.
In case of internal events, on-demand archives can make things easy for those on leave or for smaller teams who need to pause, review, and brainstorm strategies. Over 90% of participants of virtual events would want to have this feature in the events they attend and are willing to pay for it.
9- Allow consumer integration
Consumer integration is to allow the broadcast live events on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube. If you are looking at top-funnel engagement and brand awareness,
social amplification may be an important part of your hybrid event strategy. In addition to this, you may look at CRM and marketing automation integration as well.
10- Allow breakout rooms
You may want to consider breakout rooms that allow smaller, focused groups from thousands of attendees to discuss or brainstorm ideas. Larger audiences mean that a hybrid event has to be optimized for network performance, as well as be ready for meaningful discussions and real interactions made possible by breakout rooms. Over 87% of attendees would be willing to pay for this feature!
If you enjoyed reading this, you may want to check out how Oreed incorporates all of the hybrid meetings best practices strategies that create a successful, data driven event for your needs.
