To answer the question, “What is a hybrid event?” We must head back to the time when there was no COVID-19. In those times, most events were in-person, in other words, offline. The pandemic forced us to create a ‘social distance,’ and that’s when the virtual became a thing. And that was what helped us get through the quarantine time.
Even though the COVID situation is better nowadays, people have already adopted the new normal lifestyle. The hybrid became the main focus of event industries because it brought the PROs of both in-person and virtual together to deliver more comfortable and engaging events.
The most exciting point of the hybrid event is how it comforts both the event host and their attendees by bringing the tech solution to the table. Those peers can choose whether to attend the event or participate through the online channel. That’s just one perk among many things we are going to talk about today.
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An In-depth Introduction to the Hybrid Event
A hybrid event is an event that hosts both on-site and online at the same time. The event host let their audience choose how they want to participate. This kind of event is not just an in-person event with live streaming to watch online. But it delivers the experience to both groups of attendees equally. Here are some significant selling points briefly:
In general, the hybrid event will open both on-site and online simultaneously, and the hybrid meeting lets participants join from any side. Here are some factors you can tell if it’s a hybrid event.
Hybrid, An Alternative Kind of Event: The PROs
The perk of the hybrid event is its availability to communicate with a mass group of people. The numbers are higher than the standalone in-person or virtual events. It can also reach people from anywhere worldwide, so your event can build higher engagement and sales. Another advantage of a hybrid event is some groups of people don’t have to travel to the event site. So it’s easier to deliver your content to people from far away (for example, the hybrid meeting where people in Sweden’s event room can talk with Thailand’s staff in real-time).
How the host presents their event is also essential. Prioritizing both groups of attendees is a must; for example, if your event has a lucky draw activity, marketplace, or Q&A session, both in-person and online attendees should be able to participate equally.
4 Good Things About the Hybrid Event
The Difference Between the Hybrid Event and Other Kinds of Events
If you only choose between in-person or virtual event, you only got one amount of attendees. But if you go hybrid, you take all. Combining both groups of attendees makes your event more dimensional. As we said before, when the audience can choose how they want to participate, they’ll get a different experience but still the same benefits.
You can communicate wider if you can bring together the good things of in-person and virtual events. So, we can say hosting a hybrid event is precisely the answer for event hosts/organizers nowadays.
What You Should Know Before Hosting an Effective Hybrid Event
To ensure that your upcoming hybrid event will be effective and flawless. As a host and organizer, you should understand what it is and how it works. Here are some tips for better preparation:
A Step-by-Step Introduction to Hybrid Event
Hosting the hybrid event is presenting your agenda both in-person and virtually simultaneously. There are tons of good things awaiting but also more preparation too. You have to prepare both sides of your event parallelly. Each part has both the same and different factors. We mainly focus on these three things:
The In-person Part
On-site Registration: First, you need an event website to let the registration begins. The data you get from this step will be a database used for the whole event period. Whether from creating the QR codes and sending them to each attendee’s email. Broadcasting or checking themselves in.
On-site Check-in: Let your attendees bring their QR codes from the registration process to the event site check-in counter, scan it and get inside without signing or writing any papers again. As a hybrid event is an event that hosts both offline and online at the same time, using a digital feature like a QR code will help sync the on-site information with the online part too.
On-site Event Activities Examples:
The Virtual Part
Registration: Same as the offline one, everyone needs to register their account through the website and get the email with instructions to access the virtual event platform.
Check-in: Access the event’s website URL, go to the login page, and put the username/password on it to get inside the virtual event.
Virtual Event Activities Examples:
Conclusion
Hybrid Event is an event that helps event organizers to connect people more conveniently. It’s somehow cost-saving but getting more interest and marketing valuable throughout the years. It also suits various categories like press conferences, seminars, trade shows, concerts, or even hybrid meetings that let the people outside the meeting room be virtually in.
Happenn comes up with tools to help comfort you at any event, from offline to online. And, of course, the hybrid too. Please visit our products page or contact us by heading here for more information.