Covid-19 pandemic brought numerous changes in most departments. Event or conference planning was one of the hard-hit sectors in the economy, as most organisers called off their physical events or conferences, leading to numerous losses. However, some office work, events, and conferences are resuming, while most workers are still working away from the office, probably at home or in remote locations.
With some organisations or businesses having workers working from home or in remote areas, it’ll be imperative to incorporate the hybrid event or conference. These are meetings that include the virtual and physical audience to enhance the communication between the team. Nevertheless, individuals find it challenging to choose to host a successful hybrid event or conference due to the numerous things to consider. This post will take you through the 5 best practises for hosting a hybrid conference or event.
Table of Contents
1. Have a Proper Preparation before the Event
When hosting your hybrid conference or event, preparation is a critical factor in enhancing the success of your event. Importantly, organise all the content materials you’ll use for your event ahead of time. You can consider printing or uploading your desired content material like videos, speeches, or presentations on the streaming portal. Additionally, from the various virtual event platforms available, it’ll be imperative to choose the appropriate hybrid event platform suitable for your needs.
In addition, ensure you rehearse with the on-site staff and presenters after uploading the content material. Ensure all the participants are familiar with the layout and technology you will use. You should also include your attendees in the preparations by stating your agenda and the type of audience. Lastly, ensure that you allow the attendees to switch to a virtual one if the covid-19 restriction increases, limiting the live audiences in the physical location or area.
2. Engaging both Live and virtual Audience
It’s one of the vital factors when looking at the 5 best practises for hosting a hybrid conference or event. Generating an engaging and coherent message to engage the audience during a hybrid conference is usually a significant challenge among most individuals. Most times, the digital audience will have numerous distractions than the live audience due to various factors like the network.
Nonetheless, to achieve satisfactory results, you’ll need to engage all the audiences. You can accomplish this by creating two moderators for the event or meeting, one for those online, while the other moderates the on-site attendees. It offers a perfect way of blending your audience by incorporating all their views and questions while having both remote and live presentations.
Additionally, you can incorporate breakout rooms and networking areas for the interaction between the group, including speakers or sponsors. You can also set up screens to allow more interaction between the audiences. Alternative, incorporate live chats, on-screen comments, social media, or gamification to keep your audiences engaged to the meeting or conference.
3. Create Captivating Content
The content you choose for your hybrid meeting will be one of the determining factors for its success. Nobody will want to attend an event with poor presentation or low-quality content. Thus, it’s imperative to consider generating top-quality and captivating content to enhance your audience’s experience.
Importantly, create content that you can easily translate from physical to video or slides to suit your audience. Experts also advise choosing the specific content that’ll suit your particular audience. For instance, you can enhance the audience experience by having quality in-person and virtual panel discussions with keynote sponsors or speakers.
Choosing captivating content will be the best way to engage the remote audience who may get tired or bored sitting for hours during the presentations. The presentation mechanism should also suit all the groups to enhance the success of your meeting. These content generation and presentation mechanisms will be effective for ensuring you engage all the audience during the session.
4. Work Closely with your Venue
Having a closer working relationship with your venue will be the appropriate strategy to enhance results. When hosting the hybrid meeting or event, it’ll be imperative to team up with members or venue organisers to ensure that all the event’s necessities are in order. Having the essentials like high internet speed, the A/V technical, team, and others will enhance a digital experience.
When working on the venue, it’s good to have different equipment and screens spread throughout your venue. Spreading the screen and other essential equipment will be the best way to create the most immersive experience for your audience, especially the virtual one. Additionally, it makes them feel part of the physical event or conference and easily access all the meeting resources and content.
Despite the numerous challenges that come with hosting the conferences or events, it’ll be essential to ensure you include all the audience comfortably. Having the proper features for both the on-site and the remote audience will create a positive and memorable experience for your event or conference. Experts advise that the most appropriate way to enhance the results of your hybrid event is to look for meaningful and exciting ways to keep your digital audience engaged.
5. Make the Attendees’ Option Clear
When having your hybrid event, it’s essential to consider making the attendee’s option clear. After receiving the invitation, most individuals would turn it down because they may think the event or conference is only an in-person event. It’s devastating to arrange for the hybrid meeting or conference only to end up with very few individuals.
Importantly, have clear communication on the invitation outlining the attending option, where you’ll have both an in-site and a digital audience. Allow your attendees to choose the option that suits their needs. You can use conference pages, invitations, or social promotion, to point out that they can attend the event virtually or live. Ensure you capture the attendance options on the registration forms to help you create a balance between the audiences.
Summing Up
A hybrid event is the most appropriate way to incorporate your remote and in-site audience when having your events or conference. However, to achieve an incredible experience for your attendees, it’ll be vital to consider the best practises while hosting the event or meeting. Above are 5 best practises for hosting a hybrid conference or event you can incorporate into your plans.
