Everyone in the industry has hybrid events on their lips right now and why not? If you’re still on the fence about it, here are yet another 3 ways hybrid events are well worth the investment, set up, and (minor) learning curve. 

ONE. REDUCED COST. While there’s an argument to be had that doing hybrid events add to your budget because of the additional virtual platform, it’s also important to point out that in the grand scheme of things, you’ll end up saving more money with its returns as hybrid events REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT AND COSTS. We’ve already seen it starting with the events of 2020, with reduced travel… streets were empty in previously gridlocked cities and emissions have plummeted. With live events back in the thick of things, going hybrid is still a great way to accommodate attendees who might be more conscious about their personal carbon footprint. It may also reduce your in-person headcount, meaning there is less need for catering or disposable accessories. Continuing with the same trend, hybrid events can significantly decrease travel costs across the board for everyone involved. While attendees saving money is obvious, hybrid events can also allow for decreased travel costs for your sponsors and crew. When budgets are tight, hybrid events are excellent for bridging the gap between cost and results, for attendees and sponsors alike. 

TWO. IMPROVED EFFICIENCY. With their increased reach and attendance, hybrid events can improve your event efficiency on many different fronts. For instance, adding a virtual element to your live event opens it up to more effective engagement opportunities both during and post-event. This is because your virtual audience is actively participating from their mobile devices or desktop computer, meaning they can talk, share, like, comment, and much more. On top of that, according to a recent study, 72% of corporate sponsors are interested in participating in a hybrid event, as long as they can effectively reach both audiences. That’s because hybrid events are incredibly valuable for sponsors, for a couple of reasons. Reason one is the increased reach. More attendees at your event mean a larger lead pool for them, which is the #1 reason for sponsorship. Reason two is the increased opportunities for sponsorship.

Instead of sponsoring strictly live collateral, they can sponsor live streams, event apps, and more. This also offers you more flexibility in your sponsorship prospects – you can have live sponsors, virtual sponsors, or both. Another thing hybrid events are really effective at… getting valuable data. We can’t stress this enough, an enormous benefit of hybrid events comes from the data and the insights it shows. For example, at a live event, you can do a head count and estimate how many viewers participated in a session. But with hybrid events, you know the participation numbers, plus how they engaged and when they dropped out of the session. You also gain information on your attendees’ interests through matchmaking data and session participation, which can help you improve your future content. Which brings us to… 

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THREE. RAISED AWARENESS. Going for a hybrid format helps to raise even more awareness towards your event, your brand, and your partners. Instead of keeping your event exclusive, you can easily repurpose and reshare digital content to keep a steady stream flowing to your audience. For example, you can share the entire livestream (or certain pieces of it) to promote your future event. Sharing your livestream also ensures constant visibility for sponsors who are a part of the stream as streaming has the added benefit of ensuring you don’t forget to record anything.

With the high focus on broadcasting, you can rest easy knowing all your content is recorded for later use! You can also determine future marketing campaigns from your previous content. Was there a session that attracted a lot of attendees? Maybe you can expand on it.