All Events are Hybrid: A Planning Workbook
Learn how to plan out your next hybird event.
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Take Your Event to the Next Level
As the hybrid event era dawns, don’t make decisions that leave big segments of your audience out in the cold. Your job is to create intersections of connectivity where more members can connect, learn and grow their businesses.
All Events are Hybrid
It can feel overwhelming, so let’s break it down.
All Events are Hybrid: A Planning Workbook
As the hybrid event era dawns, don’t make decisions that leave big segments of your audience out in the cold. Your job is to create intersections of connectivity where more members can connect, learn and grow their businesses. Your audience needs to connect, learn and grow!
Members are seeking to connect in different ways. Brands are trying to connect in new, impactful ways. Last month, a broad SurveyMonkey poll showed 56% of workers say they would prefer to attend large meetings virtually from home. A Deloitte study showed 61% of executives are focusing on Reimagining Work: Achieving new or different work outcomes with new combinations of technology and people.
When the stats are coming in between 40% to 60%, it shows there are solid groups on both sides of the answer. When work goes hybrid, business events must go hybrid. That leaves organizers with two audiences (virtual and in-person) and three environments: virtual, in-person and hybrid. Add in the ubiquitousness of social media tools and phone apps that allow any and all participants to stream out content, consume content and make connections within an event organization’s universe and all of a sudden…All events are hybrid.It can feel overwhelming, so let’s break it down.
A Strategic Foundation
- Who are your Audiences?
- Why do participants turn to you?
- What is your goal for this event?
- How do you invision the future of your events?
A Companion App for Shared Experiences
For years, in events, the second screen was a way for attendees to connect deeper with content while onsite, and Ipads would be passed out for audience response, or a QR code would point people toward apps where they could ask questions, download slides and comment. Now we know the second screen is often the first, and the digital migration of society will play out at events as well.
Remember we talked about two audiences, three environments? Well, those environments are simultaneous. Whether you plan it that way or not, participants are going to pay attention to their mobile devices. When you can create a cohesive experience in those mobile devices, that’s when the second screen mentality becomes cross-channel opportunity. That’s when seemingly silo-ed participants fully enmesh themselves in the experience you designed.
The first screen is everything the eyes focus toward, whether you are an in-person attendee physically sitting in front of a speaker or whether you are a virtual attendee in front of a laptop or desktop. The second screen is the the phone, or other technology device that is in people’s hands, supporting supplemental activities, which could be in your universe, such as checking to see who the next 1:1 appointment is, or outside it on social media, email or the ESPN app.
You want physical attendees paying attention, of course. Will they? No. They are going to be on their phone anyway. Almost 90% of TV watchers are also on their mobile devices, many times for activities that enhance their viewing experience.
Know that whether or not participants are in-person or virtual, they will use their digital, mobile devices, their companion apps!
All events are hybrid. Use digital experiences to:
- Offer MORE content, year-round
- Create DEEPER engagement
- Enable CROSS-CHANNEL networking
- Boost ROI for everyone
Ask Your Tech Partner:
- Does your digital platform allow for interaction between onsite and online?
- Do you support sponsor engagement?
- Does your platform create exhibitor matches?
- Does it offer digital poster halls?
- Does your companion app help those onsite find better matches?
- Does your second screen engage introverted learners?
- Does your solution support future needs in our digital strategy?
In-Person Bridges:
- Tech should enable human-to-human matchmaking, access to livestream and stored content, online text chat and speaker Q&A, registration ticketing and check-in
Digital Bridges:
- Tech enables access to live and on-demand content and experiences 365 days a year, including learning and connecting sessions, human-to-human online networking, video and text chat
Hybrid Cross Channel Bridges:
- These bridges content people to humans, content and experiences across digital and in-person environments. One-to-one connections can be made across channels, with teams and games to boost engagement plus onsite/online meet-and-greet lounges. Extend to 365 days.
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Take Your Event to the Next Level
