Hybrid Events

Next up Hybrid Events. Events, whether in person or online have always been a great way to create brand awareness and build strong relationships with customers. Now, due to the pandemic in-person events were replaced by online events like webinars. As in-person events begin to happen more regularly, we’ve seen a big growth in hybrid events. Hybrid events are a mix of live and in-person events happening at the same time. You take your live event, complete with an audience content and more, and you add a virtual component to it so your online audience can participate and engage with your event no matter where they are.

Now, 73% of event marketers say they expect hybrid events to be more prevalent than ever in 2022. The main reason for the rise of hybrid events is that it helps cater to everyone. With online events, becoming the norm during 2020 and 2021 many people now prefer virtual events over in person. And in the same way, there are many people who miss the hands on interaction that in person events provide. That’s why many businesses now plan on hosting hybrid events. They provide the best of both worlds.

A great benefit to hybrid events is that an event can have higher numbers of attendees through having both a live audience, as well as a virtual audience. It also opens events up to global attendees. So what should you do about this trend? Consider taking advantage of this growing trend by hosting your own hybrid event. For example, if you were to host a product launch and a demonstration, you can have an audience live at the event, and then you could stream the event to an online audience at the same time. By assigning staff to monitor the online discussions and interactions you can include both audiences in the event. For instance, in a Q and A session, you can have questions that be taken from the audience members online, or in-person. It’s important to always remember that your hybrid event has two audiences, one in person and one virtual. So make sure to address them equally in your marketing communications and during the event. An example of a hybrid event that took place last year in London was the London EV show. It’s a networking and business event focused on electric cars and the EV industry. The event featured both in-person and virtual events. The in-person expo and conference took place at the business design center in London. While those who wished to attend virtually could participate remotely through their virtual platform. One extra benefit of the event being a hybrid is that they were able to have sponsors for both the in person event and the online.