How To Run a Hybrid Event

Ever since 2020, there has been a significant increase in the adoption of hybrid events. Whether it’s for conferences, award ceremonies, team meetings, training sessions, workshops or launch events, hybrid events are great to ensure accessibility for everyone attending, regardless of their geographical location.

But running a hybrid event isn’t as easy as it sounds – there’s more to it than you might think. If you’re in the process of planning your next hybrid event but would like a bit of guidance, we’re here to help!

But before we dive into the process of running a hybrid event, let’s ensure we fully understand what they are and what they look like exactly.

What Does a Hybrid Event Look Like?

In short – a hybrid event is a combination of an in-person event and virtual event, consisting of speakers, panellists, venues and an audience. Everyone involved is at the same event, but are spread out across a physical and online space – the best of both worlds.

The main goal of a hybrid event is to provide a flexible and inclusive event experience that’s accessible to all attendees, no matter the location. For those who may face physical challenges or disruptions at the time of the event – perhaps for natural, geographical, financial or physical reasons – hosting a hybrid event significantly decreases your chances of losing them or having to cancel altogether.

Now we’re all clued up, here are 6 key steps to consider when running a hybrid event:

1. Identify your goals and plan the agenda
2. Decide which technology platform you want to use
3. Develop an easy-to-use registration process
4. Conduct rehearsals
5. Capture and analyse data for future improvements
6. Consider hiring a hybrid event agency

1. Identify Your Goals and Plan The Agenda

Before you do anything, you want to ensure you have a full understanding of the purpose of your event and set specific goals and objectives in line with those. Whether your event centres around an award ceremony, a conference, a team meeting, a product launch or anything else, you need to determine what you want to achieve from the hybrid format.

Once your goals and objectives have been identified, you can move onto the fun part – planning the agenda and content of the event! Start by creating an event agenda that works for both live and online attendees. Think about how you’ll integrate virtual sessions, live streaming, interactive features, networking opportunities, and discussion sessions at the end.

When planning the content, it goes without saying that the content should be engaging, informative, and relevant to everyone involved.

2. Decide Which Technology Platform You Want To Use

This is an important part of the planning process – choosing the right technology platform. Look for a platform that’s reliable, user-friendly and will be able to seamlessly support both live and online components of your event. Think about which features you’ll need and opt for a platform that can facilitate these, for example virtual networking, interactive chat and session recording.

Once you’ve chosen and set up the platform, test it thoroughly to ensure it meets the needs of your event.

3. Develop an Easy-To-Use Registration Process

This is a pretty crucial step when it comes to attracting attendees to your event. You want to develop an easy-to-use registration system that allows event attendees to register and choose their preferred way of attending – either physically or virtually. Make sure that the registration process provides clear instructions and communicates information about the event format, technology requirements, and any necessary preparations.

4. Conduct Rehearsals

This step isn’t compulsory, but it’s a good idea to conduct rehearsals for speakers, moderators, and technical teams prior to the event to familiarise them with the technology and fix any potential issue and ensure everything runs smoothly.

You can also offer technical support for virtual attendees prior to the event to ensure they have a smooth experience accessing and navigating the virtual platform. The last thing you want is attendees unable to get on the event, causing them stress and ultimately losing an attendee.

5. Capture and Analyse Data for Future Improvements

No event is perfect and there will always be something that can be improved on, even if it’s super minor. This is why collecting data and analytics from both in-person and virtual attendees is a great way to gain insights into things like engagement levels, feedback, and overall event experience, to make improvements for future events.

Optimise and improve your events using data.

6. Consider Working with a Hybrid Event Production Agency

To ensure your hybrid events are carried out to the highest quality, why not hire a professional media production team with a hybrid event service? By working with the professionals, your speakers, attendees and everyone else involved will have access to a HD stream and all other functionalities (i.e. multiple cameras and callers) at the click of a button.

If you decide to work with Buffoon Media, you can even bypass a poor connection at the physical location of your event with world-class LiveU tech, which allows you to stream from even the most remote locations. In short, you can sit back, relax and enjoy the event, without worrying about the technicalities.

Here are some more key features you can benefit from with our hybrid event service:

• We can stream to a wide range of platforms including YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, Zoom, Hopin and Teams
• Interaction with the audience via using Q&As, polls, Zoom Rooms and social media feeds.
• You can have access to analytics such as the number of viewers, demographics, locations and average view time.
• We can record the live stream in HD for you to upload post-event or edit into shorter videos.

We’re Buffoon Media: a bilingual media production company based in Port Talbot and London, producing and live streaming content across the globe. Learn more about our hybrid events and other services on our website.