Events are sole for any industry or brands that make it reach millions of people and generate business revenues. The unforeseen circumstances that arose last year with the sudden outbreak of the global pandemic affected the event landscape miserably.
With social distancing practices prevalent in every area of life, bringing people together became nearly impossible. Physical events with face-to-face networking and engagement activities came to a complete stop with the havoc of the coronavirus pandemic.
Even after struggling with all adversity caused due to the pandemic, the event industry was the quickest to bounce back. With all ingenuity, event planners and digital marketers soon leveraged the power of virtual event technology and pivoted virtual events. Soon, it became the part of new normal as organizations around the world transformed their live physical events into a virtual landscape. Virtual meetings, conferences, virtual town halls, and much more became a part of our daily lives.
Virtual events offered many more benefits when compared to physical events. Right from extended outreach without any geographical constraints to substantial ROI, virtual events offer a lot more. The essence of face-to-face interactions can’t be replicated and we all agree on the fact. But, virtual events offered enormous opportunities to forge connections with global audiences. Thus, resulting in generating more qualified leads and business revenues.
How Hybrid events become popular?
As the pandemic in various countries started easing with ongoing vaccination drives, event marketers are focussed on event future, post-pandemic.
In-person events are being thoroughly missed and the world is waiting to bounce back to the same. But, the lesson learned during the pandemic era and benefits leveraged from virtual events, organizations around the globe are just not ready to give up on it. Here hybrid events came into existence.
A mix of the best components of physical as well as virtual events is known as hybrid events. It offers flexibility to attendees either to attend an event by visiting an event venue or remotely right from the home comforts. Hybrid events are nothing new and were organized by many large-scale organizations even before the pandemic came into the picture. With the change in scenario and global pandemic being prevalent, a sudden jump in the percentage of hybrid events has been recorded.
However today, hybrid events have become a new model for hosting events and gaining maximum benefits out of it. We have listed a few reasons below stating why hybrid events will be the future of the event industry. To know more, read on:
Reasons Why Hybrid is the Future of the Event Industry
1. Hybrid events offer greater outreach and visibility
The biggest reason why hybrid seems like the future of the event industry is its enhanced reach. The hybrid event formats allow organizers to add a virtual component to in-person events and host events at scale effortlessly.
Attracting a large number of attendees to an event location is a challenging task. However, physical events have certain restrictions in terms of attendee count or venue capacity that result in lowering the attendance of interested attendees. Additionally, various other factors are involved such as travel expenses and time, ticket costs, and much more. It results in dropping the attendance at the event.
However, hybrid events unlock all the barriers associated with a complete physical event setup. It offers flexibility to attendees either to attend physically by visiting an event location or they can simply catch the event virtually right from remote locations. It overcomes the barrier of limited space capacity and attendee count. Hybrid events can welcome as many attendees as possible right from their home comforts. It helps in reaching a diverse set of audiences across the globe.
In-person events will bounce back once the situation eases. It will never be out of robust event management practices. By simply adding a layer of a virtual component to in-person events you can reach your extended audience around the globe effortlessly while making your brand visible. Hybrid events simply 10x the number of attendees at your event when compared to physical events. Additionally, it offers opportunities for brand awareness, monetization, increased website traffic, lead generation, and revenues.
2. Hybrid events offer more event participation and engagements
Engagement is one of the crucial aspects of the event. It is responsible for the success and fall of the event. Hybrid events have witnessed a much higher percentage in terms of event attendance and engagements. As hybrid events are flexible, an enormous number of participants become part of the event virtually.
Additionally, as a virtual component is associated with in-person events various engagement activities are also integrated. A comprehensive virtual event platform enables you to gamify the entire event experience by embedding games like spin the wheel, crossword, trivia, and much more. It helps in boosting attendee engagement while keeping them engaged in the event throughout. Additionally, photo booths embedded in hybrid events add an element of fun allowing attendees to get clicked with branded images. Thus, keeping them interested in the event. A perfect virtual event platform bridges the gap between both the set of attendees. It elevates the entire event experience by upscaling event participation and engagements effortlessly.
3. Hybrid events result in substantial ROI
An increase in event ROI is another merit of hybrid events. This event format makes your event reach a wider segment of global attendees at reduced costs compared to a large-scale physical event.
Virtual events escalate many costs involved with live physical events. Right from the large capacity event venues, traveling costs, accommodation expenses, food, and beverages, hiring technical staff for the event, and many other costs involved get completely resolved. However, it results in offering more opportunities and attracting attendees around the globe effortlessly. Simply adding an online element to physical events results in increasing our audience size at reduced marginal cost when compared to 100% large-scale physical events. Hybrid events enable organizers to monetize their event experiences and generate a greater ROI.
4. Hybrid events offer real-time event analytics
Tracking real-time event data is one of the most powerful aspects of hybrid events. Keeping complete track of event data right from registration till the event concludes is nearly impossible with physical events. Key performance indicators during In-person events are limited to the number of registrations and attendance to measure event success. Thanks to advancements in technology, the virtual event platform keeps a track of every digital attendee move from start to finish. Whom they interacted with, how they navigated, what they shared, downloaded and more, each and every digital attendee move is tracked. A large percentage of attendees in hybrid events are attending an event virtually. Tracking the small number of in-person attendees becomes relatively easy with registrations. However, a virtual event platform tracks virtual attendees and generates real-time event analytics reports. It helps in measuring event metrics and finding the impediments to work upon for upcoming events.
5. Hybrid events upgrade your content engine
Content created for hybrid events works well for future marketing campaigns as it can be recorded. It fuels the content engine with the utmost speed. The hybrid event allows organizers to record all the sessions, keynote or panel discussions, and much more. They can offer the recording to attendees on-demand or can utilize it for promoting upcoming events. It helps in attracting attendees who were not part of the event. Thus, resulting in attracting new leads. Additionally, it helps in building an online event community allowing people to have open discussions about the event. Hybrid event content makes your event reach across various parts of the globe and attracts new audiences effortlessly.
Wrapping It Up
Everyone around the world is excited to bounce back to in-person events as soon as the circumstances ease. But, things will not be the same just like in the pre-COVID era. The benefits offered by virtual events have made event organizers realize their value. An amalgamation of physical as well as virtual events undeniably looks like the future of the event industry. In the above-mentioned article, we have highlighted some of the core benefits of hybrid events and why it looks like the future of the event industry. If you have not yet thought about it, start thinking and create an effective hybrid event strategy to reap maximum benefits out of it!
Create an Extraordinary Event Experience
Across All Event Formats
