Hybrid Events Provide Flexibility.

You might think that creating a hybrid event, by definition, means compromising. Surely you’ll have to sacrifice a few things to make an in-person event work virtually as well, right? Wrong. In fact, if you hope to make a true human connection, you can’t compromise. But don’t worry, it’s not as demanding as it sounds. The biggest requirement is a change of mindset.

Rather than trying to force the in-person portion to perfectly mirror the virtual portion, think of the two as distinct experiences. They’re part of the same event, but they’re different situations and they need to be treated as such. Why? Because the best ways to engage an in-person audience are not necessarily the best ways to engage a virtual audience, and vice versa.

For example, consider moving cameras to provide better angles and bring the virtual audience closer to the action. Also consider a virtual host who can guide viewers through the event, answer questions and provide alternative content for any live show gaps.  Most importantly, focus on unique experiences for in person and virtual attendees to achieve maximum engagement and message retention.

There’s a marketing principle that goes like this: when you try to appeal to everyone, you wind up appealing to no one. The same holds true when creating a hybrid event. If you try to only use methods that simultaneously engage both audiences, you’ll wind up engaging neither audience.

When you treat the in-person and the virtual as two different experiences, you can leverage the strengths of each platform to create an event that truly engages everyone. That is the guiding principle to creating an excellent hybrid event: create an excellent in-person event and an excellent virtual event.