4 Tips for Planning and Holding Successful Hybrid Meetings and Events

As businesses slowly start to make their way back into the office, there are many people still working from home, and so meetings and events will need to accommodate for both on-site as well as remote attendants in order to maximize their reach and revenue in the short and medium terms. 

Hybrid meetings and events solve this issue by making it possible for in-person and virtual attendees to share the same experience thanks to the technology available for this purpose. 

A hybrid event can be a trade show, seminar, conference, workshop, or meeting where some of the participants are together in the same room, and other participants can connect to the same event virtually. This virtual connection may be via an audio only phone conference, or it could be via a full HD video livestream. 

In order to plan and hold successful hybrid meetings and events it is important that you follow the following tips:

1. Determine what you will require for the event

First you need to think about what kind of event you will be holding. If you are planning a hybrid meeting then you will most likely need to book a meeting room that is equipped with the technology required. Things such as big screens, a strong and reliable internet connection, video conference capabilities, are some of the things you will need to run a successful meeting. 

For more complex events such as a multi-day conference, a hybrid trade show, or a product presentation, it is important that you take into account both what kind of space you will need (a big conference room, an entire convention center, etc) as well as what sort of virtual infrastructure you need to make it a valuable experience for both in-person and virtual attendees. 

2. Required technology

There are many options of both hardware and software when it comes to technology available for hybrid events. Your best bet is to choose solutions that adapt to the needs of your hybrid event. You should be thinking about how easy it is to implement this tech, what limitations you will be working with (maximum number of connections for example), how easy is it to use by everybody involved (presenters, keynote speakers, in-person and virtual attendees), what kind of support can you count on, etc. 

3. Make it engaging

A successful event has to keep everybody engaged and interested, this is true for both traditional and is even much more important in hybrid events because virtual attendees can get distracted much more easily than in-person attendees. So it is very important that you think about ways to make your hybrid event as engaging as possible. This can be done via surveys, live polls, adding storytelling elements, preparing powerful visuals, adding gamification elements such as leaderboards, discussing feedback live, Q&As, etc. 

4. Take advantage of the virtual aspect of the event

After the event is over you will want to make the most out of the virtual element. This means recording the entire event and uploading it to your website so that people can replay it at their convenience. This way your event may reach people who were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts as well as helping those who did participate feel more comfortable knowing that if they missed anything they can always head over to the replay. 

By following these simple tips your hybrid event or meeting will surely be a success!

About Andrés Sanjose

Andrés Sanjose is a writer and editor based in Guatemala. He previously lived in Berlin for 10 years where he witnessed the birth and amazing evolution of the Virtual Office phenomenon, while working as a freelancer in the german capital. He is very interested in what the future holds for this exciting industry and loves to write about it.