Hosting Hybrid Events:  Why You Should Do It and Best Practices

Virtual events have been on the rise since the onset of the pandemic. With millions of people still working from home, the era of digital and hybrid events just keeps getting longer and better. While virtual and in-person events will still have their place, hybrid events are also now an essential part of reaching your audience and generating new leads.

According to Markelitc, 71.1% of event organizers say that connecting the in-person and virtual audience is their biggest challenge. 47% of event organizers say that hybrid events are a solution to this problem because they help to connect these dispersed audiences.

But where do you start? How do you host a successful event? How can a virtual event platform help to take off your event? Here is everything you need to know about hybrid events.

Common Hybrid Event Questions

Best Practices for Hosting Hybrid Events

Event professionals always have best practices in their back pocket. Here are some of the best practices to consider when planning your hybrid event.

Work with a Hybrid Event  Technology Partner

Especially if this is one of your first attempts at a hybrid event, you should consider working with a hybrid event platform. Both event organizers and event attendees will benefit from having everything in one place in a great event management platform.

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However, you shouldn’t use just any hybrid event platform. You should make sure that you’re working with an experienced partner who’s platform has proven to be successful. Make sure you ask each partner:

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Does your hybrid events platform allow for interaction between onsite and online participants?
Does your platform create exhibitor matches across environments?
How are digital poster halls structured and displayed online and onsite?
Does your companion app help those onsite find better matches?
Can cohorts or teams be set up to perform challenges across in-person and virtual?
Will your app support introverted learners onsite with chat and Q&A?
Does your solution support future needs in our organization-wide digital strategy?

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All of these considerations are important factors to consider when choosing a partner or platform.

Create Your Hybrid Event

Make Registration Easy and Send Notifications

Making sure your event is accessible is a very important in your event marketing strategy. You should have an website that makes it event registration easy. You should also ensure that your attendees receive notifications about the event frequently, but not excessively. Send out occasional reminders leading up to the event, and increase the frequency to generate excitement as you get closer to the event. This should also include using social media and emails in your event marketing strategy to promote hybrid events. According to Thirve My Way, 60% of virtual event organizers use social media to drive registrations, and 76% of marketers say email is the most effective way to drive registrations.

Use a Mobile Event App

One of the best ways to connect with your audience is to engage with them on multiple channels. 83% of other event planners are using an event app to interact with their audience, and they’re having a lot of success. 91% of event planners have recorded a positive increase in their ROI when they chose to use event apps and software.

Event organizers should use a hybrid event platform that has solutions for event apps. It can be complicated and time consuming to create mobile apps - using a platform solutions for it will save so much time and effort. This can work well for in-person events as well, but using an app for hybrid events is especially effective since it lets an even wider, remote audience become more engaged.

Incorporate a Learning Aspect

You want to give your audience a reason to attend your hybrid event - you should be focusing on the “why” of the event. Most hybrid event attendees indicate that they want to go to more event to learn something. 72.5% of virtual event attendees said that the major purpose of the online events they attend is to learn. Only about 10% say attendee networking was a priority.

Event organziers should be using hybrid event platforms that help build a learning experience. Share information about your platform or service, reveal results of a recent study your team conducted, or host a session on a hot industry topic. The possibilities of incorporating a learning experience into your hybrid event are endless.

Keep Engagement Going After the Event

Brand Your Event

An online event is more impressive when it is unique and branded. When you host a hybrid event, you should use an event management platform that has customizable and interactive features. Everything about your hybrid event, from the event registration to the event app to the social media marketing, should be recognizable.

Takeaways

Hybrid events can be very effective when using customizable and interactive features. Using a hybrid event platform that helps you do everything all in one platform.

Learn more about JUNO

JUNO is an all-in-one platform for all virtual and hybrid events. This event management software solution is embraced by innovative event professionals ready to make the digital transformation necessary for future success in hybrid events.

JUNO has helped thousands of users across five continents with event management, post-event analytics, interactive presentations, virtual conferences, attendee networking, live streaming, and so much more.

Tour our platform or contact us to set up a personalized demo to learn more about what JUNO has to offer. Your team will never want to use another community engagement platform. Learn more at www.junolive.com.

"We spent a lot of time looking at conference platforms which had plug and play approaches to virtual meetings. JUNO was the first company who approached our conference needs with customization and creativity. The entire JUNO team has infectious positivity which helped us tackle our first-ever virtual event with confidence."

‍- Jodi Talia, Chief Development Officer, ACEP

"With JUNO, because we have a lot of things that we wanted to do and knew it had to be done differently, JUNO was willing to work together and figure out the best way to accomplish what we are trying to do.”
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- Lukrecija LeLong, Meeting Planner and Event Program Manager

"We have wanted a central hub for our community for years prior, but couldn’t figure out how to do that until it was dropped in our lap due to the pandemic. Once it all comes together, you’ll start to see it organically grow. What’s really cool about the design of this platform is it’s so customizable. As your vision and needs change, the platform can change with you."
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- Diane Kovats, CEO, ISCB

"The JUNO Team is knowledgeable, organized, professional, VERY dependable no matter what time and day. They confirm with you, document it, then solve it, and communicate back."

-Hugh Lee, Digital Now 2020, Founder & President

Build your community with JUNO

Tour our platform or contact us to set up a personalized demo to learn more about what JUNO has to offer. Your team will never want to use another community engagement platform. Learn more at www.junolive.com.