Hybrid events allow audiences to participate in-person or virtually. This flexibility has made them quite popular across industries. Organizations hosting conferences, trade shows, and workshops, in a bid to maximize reach, are adopting the hybrid approach.
However, pulling off a successful hybrid event can be challenging.
For instance, virtual attendees might feel detached from the live atmosphere or experience technical disruptions. Similarly, live audiences might get overwhelmed as they have to process too much information quickly.
These issues often lead to disengagement, which reduces event satisfaction. As a result, brands will struggle to get the desired ROI.
In this article, let’s look at how companies can deliver a truly inclusive hybrid event experience to keep their audiences engaged throughout.
1. Create a Unified Experience Design
A unified hybrid event experience ensures a consistent and seamless experience for both in-person and virtual attendees. This is essential to uphold the perceived value of each modality for the participants.
If the audience feels they are getting a different experience due to their choice of participation mode, they may not fully engage in the conversations. A unified event mobile app bridges the gap by including all attendees equally.
Here are some tips that’ll help do that:
- Harmonize the agenda to align the timing, topics, session duration, and flow of the event for both kinds of attendees
- Leverage a dedicated event mobile app to create a central hub where all the participants can access the schedule, session details, and other information
- Provide interactivity features, such as live polls, Q&A, and breakout sessions, to remote and onsite attendees alike
- Facilitate networking across both modes to enable virtual participants to interact with their live counterparts
- Provide technical support and orientation for all participants to help them get the most out of their time during the event
Note that technology plays a pivotal role in unifying the experience. So, make sure to test the tools and software thoroughly beforehand. It is also advantageous to have backups in place to support the technical infrastructure in case of unexpected failures.
2. Enable Real-Time Interaction
Events, whether they are hybrid, virtual, or in-person, happen once. Hence, facilitating real-time interactions is critical to drive engagement during the sessions and brand recall afterward. It encourages participation among the audiences while motivating the presenters and speakers.
Additionally, real-time interaction in hybrid events boosts the value of each meeting, conference, or keynote speech by attracting different perspectives and insights from the participants.
Organizers can empower the attendees to engage in real-time by:
- Integrating live polling and Q&A tools in the event’s digital hub, where everyone can share contextual opinions and ask questions
- Broadcast live chat streams alongside presentations that are displayed on large screens at the venue for in-person attendees
- Plan hybrid breakout sessions with professional video conferencing equipment that captures a healthy mix of virtual and in-person participants
- Encourage real-time interaction through gamification, prizes, and goodies that reward attendees for qualitative and quantitative engagement
- Make it easy for both types of participants to communicate with one another via matchmaking tools and social media integration
Apart from technical reliability, hybrid event organizers need to personalize the interactive experiences. For example, virtual attendees should get notifications for their replies and comments, rather than all of the event updates.
3. Design Content for Hybrid Attention Spans
Live and remote attendees have different engagement behaviours, leading to varied attention spans. Live audiences can be more immersed in the experience as they aren’t distracted by the outside world at the venue.
On the other hand, remote participants are more likely to drop in and out because consuming high-level content from experts in a digital format can be tiresome.
When the nuance isn’t considered for both types of attendees, it can decrease engagement volume and depth.
Hybrid event managers can design the content of each session to strike a balance by:
- Begin the days with high-impact sessions with high knowledge density for both live and in-person attendees, featuring strong visuals and dynamic presenters
- Diversify the day’s agenda with keynotes, panel discussions, and fireside chats to avoid monotony and sustain attention
- During live, hands-on sessions, such as workshops, include virtual participants through digital collaboration, where they can engage with in-person attendees
- Repurpose content and make it available on demand for both kinds of participants to maximize learning
When planning the sessions and setting the itinerary, it’s key to conduct in-depth research on the participants’ preferences. This will eliminate guesswork and allow the organizers to deliver engaging content experiences for attendees in either modality.
4. Use Gamification and Engagement Mechanics
During hybrid events, as the sessions roll by, the level of engagement might deplete due to fatigue. This is where the event organizers need to leverage gamification and engagement mechanics to encourage active involvement.
Gamification uses game-like elements, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, to nudge attendees to participate in sessions. These encourage friendly competition and networking, even in the closing hours of the event.
Apart from this, engagement mechanics, such as speed networking rounds, shared digital whiteboards, live reaction walls, and virtual lounges and tables, can facilitate interaction among the participants.
It is pivotal to incorporate real-time progress tracking and instant feedback. Responsiveness drives participation, whether it is through gamification or engagement mechanics. The time lag between someone’s question or initial message and its reply can negatively affect the experience.
Another key consideration here is not to overdo it. Too many nudges and notifications to request engagement can make participation feel forced. This can overwhelm attendees to fatigue them quickly, leading to the opposite result of these initiatives.
5. Value and Nurture the Community Throughout
The community around a brand drives event success. It is essential to treat the attendees as long-term members of the ecosystem rather than one-time participants. This is critical for building loyalty by making them feel valued, amplifying the brand’s event beyond the event.
Organizers can take steps at various phases of the hybrid event to ensure this.
- Before the event
- Create online spaces in social media, Slack, etc., where attendees can introduce themselves and share expectations
- Host AMAs to learn about the preferences and desires of the participants
- Encourage the speakers and presenters to be active in these digital spaces to generate interest
- During the event
- Encourage networking through breakout rooms, topical lounges, and virtual meet-and-greets
- Leverage features like live chat, attendee matchmaking, and social walls to facilitate interaction between both kinds of attendees
- Reward active participants through tangible and experiential rewards, such as free subscriptions or branded merchandise
- After the event
- Share key takeaways, recordings, and curated discussions in public and owned channels
- Follow up with the attendees, thanking them for their time and requesting feedback
- Dive into the analytics to find areas of improvement for the upcoming hybrid events
Wrapping Up
Keeping attendees connected and engaged in hybrid events is foundational for a successful experience. When audiences are split between physical and virtual spaces, organizers must ensure that everyone feels equally valued and involved.
There are several ways in which it can be done.
First, it’s essential to create a unified experience for both kinds of attendees. Then, facilitating real-time interaction can help foster instant connections.
Third, consider the nuances of a hybrid audience when designing content for each session. Fourth, leverage gamification and other engagement techniques to initiate purposeful engagement.
Finally, value the community throughout the event to ensure the event’s success from a marketing perspective.