What was the best hybrid gathering you went to? Did you know you were at a hybrid gathering or were you just connecting with the main speakers and the others who were sharing the same space as you? Everyone made the pivot to online meetings and events in the pandemic because we had to. We didn’t necessarily choose this, but it might not surprise you to learn hybrid meetings are not going anywhere. So let’s explore how to create productive hybrid events…
If you need to understand more about what hybrid events are, have a look at our previous blog post Hybrid events – what you need to know which includes our 6 top tips for hybrid event planning.
Hybrid events are here to stay. The benefits are clear:
- Accessibility
Dr Zoe Ayres says: “We’ve got to protect remote working and hybrid conferences and events. All of these have increased over the last few years and are steps forward, not something to regress back on as soon as we see it as “convenient” to do so. Accessibility isn’t negotiable or inconvenient. “
@ZJAyres on Twitter 10 January 2023
- Sustainability
Removing the need to travel to be in person at an event reduces the event’s carbon footprint, reduces delegates materials and impacts on food waste.
- Increased reach and capacity of audience
With hybrid you are no longer limited by the capacity of your venue, you could have 150 people in the room in person and 500 joining online. A hybrid option increases the reach of your event without drastically increasing your costs (although be aware the tech and delivery team costs will be higher).
- Increased diversity of global audience
Hybrid makes your event accessible across the globe. There is a consideration for time zone planning to make the most useful / popular part of the conference appeal to the most time zones.
Planning for hybrid events
At Autumn Live we think very cleverly about how to create productive hybrid events creatively. There is an art to creating a productive hybrid gathering. Careful planning by the event curators in advance can ensure attendees gain the maximum value from the event.
Essentially, a hybrid gathering is really 3 events in one
- The event people in the room experience
- The event people online experience
- Attendees connecting across the room and online
As an event curator, you can decide if you are going to do all three for the whole event or if you are going to connect people across the room and online at certain times.
Our suggestion would be connecting people in the room and online at certain times would give you the maximum impact. You have spent lots of time programming the speakers and developing the content, you might as well maximise the reach of what they are saying.
An in person and online audience is the biggest audience you could reach. A local event delivered on a global scale. You have to consider how you’d like people to gather in person and online and what roles they will play at the event.
Clear Comms
People connecting both in the room and online during a hybrid event needs a lot of clear comms ahead of the event. This ensures everyone buys into the concept and connects on the day. Clear instructions of what you need to do (such as download the app) alongside when you need to do this, and what tech to bring i.e. headphones, helps attendees to prepare ahead of the event.
Connect via the app and ensure everyone is on the same platform
It is easiest to connect all attendees across an app. Delegates are often looking at their phones when at an event anyway, taking pictures or notes and sharing online. Everyone can be simultaneously connecting with other attendees via an event app.
Using Polls, Q&A and Whiteboards at hybrid events
Interacting with others over the Q&A, polls, interactive whiteboards, social media is totally normal now. It doesn’t have to be serious, but it’s good to position people within the two event spaces. An opening chat question does this well, something like:
“What can you hear? See? Feel in the space where you are?”
Each attendee then has a unique descriptor:
Birdsong, clouds, carpet.
Event chatter, stage, parquet floor.
Motorway traffic, autumn leaves, the radio.
All the attendees start to get a feel and understanding where people are and how they are experiencing the event.
Feedback
Make sure your event host, curator or MC are able to step across both online and in-person aspects of the event and connect both audiences as they are speaking or introducing what’s up next. If it’s a big event, you can even have two dedicated hosts, one for each audience.
Language
This is always important! Remind speakers and hosts not to make one group feel excluded by using language that only includes the people in the room. If they are addressing everyone, make sure everyone gets a mention, not just half the participants.
Connection between online and in person attendees
Can you curate an experience for the in-person attendees whilst the online attendees are having a different connecting experience?
Everyone online could jump into one to one networking however this isn’t going to work for all the in-person attendees, can you imagine the noise?! Similarly, could the people in the room be participating in a connected experience?
You could create a physical space, such as a booth, tent or side room where in person attendees can connect online with the other virtual participants. In the space, they can meet and connect with each other, or answer a question together, or even problem solve together.
Consider where the centre of gravity for this event is. Is it online or in the room?
Often we can go to hybrid events as the online participants and we can feel like we’re the kids sat together at the camping table in the kitchen at the family Christmas get together! Or have the feeling of being sat on table 9 (the singles table…) at the wedding. Behind the columns, without a view of the top table!
Creating hybrid events – your ideas
There’s plenty to consider about how to create productive hybrid events. If you need to bounce some ideas around or want us to help you curate a hybrid event – drop Jan a line. We can help you maximise the experience for everyone.
