The Covid-19 pandemic and changed social thinking require a new perspective on future event formats. Hybrid events, which have been on the rise for several years, are becoming increasingly popular with their potential and are in tune with the present time like hardly any other format.
An event format like this creates a connection between the guests in the studio or in an event location and other participants on the screen. In this way, the range of a real event can be increased regardless of location and without significant additional effort.
Benefits of Hybrid Events
But there are also challenges. Keywords and emotionalization, communication, interaction and motivation. What seems challenging at first, can be mastered with detailed planning and implementation as well as sophisticated technology. As a result, one can generate measurable and tangible added value for hosts and guests.
The journey into the new world of events brings with it both opportunities and advantages for participants and visitors as well as for organizers. With regards to costs, they are significantly lower, seeing as there are minimal expenses for travel and accommodation.
The time required also decreases dramatically. For the organizer, the costs for presentation space and room rental will also decrease.
Events can be implemented in high quality with sustainable information anchoring without the physical presence of all participants required. The environment can also breathe a sigh of relief, with fewer trips to and from the event improving the CO2 balance.
Extensive Planning Necessary
While travel, room and hospitality costs decrease with hybrid events, the effort for planning and implementation can be equated with those of a regular event.
Successful events focus on staging, suspense and emotionalizing the live and online audience. For this, depending on the event format and the content, clips, gamification, voting and other interactive elements must be brought together with the necessary components of live events such as stage design with the appropriate technical equipment.
According to experts, it is usually not enough to switch from a regular event to a hybrid version as if there were no differences and neglect the requirements of both groups of participants on-site and on the screen.
Many details have to be considered for hybrid events. This includes a camera-compatible lighting design that also works on the screen, as well as data security, the user-friendliness of the online platform, the transmission capacity for streaming or the integration of the stream on the organizer’s homepage.
To sum up, a hybrid event is only successful if a similar experience is created for live and online participants, in which they can interact, ask questions, provide answers and get in touch with other participants.