The era of hosting virtual and hybrid events is here. The pandemic made it extremely difficult to hold significant corporate conferences. However, the hybrid event solutions are here to redefine the concept of holding events like Hybrid Conference, hybrid events, virtual events.
Let’s explore the top steps to run an effective Hybrid Conference:
1) Predefine Your Goals
By predetermining your goals and purpose behind organizing the hybrid conference, you can gain a clear insight into your need and requirements. It also helps you with the execution process and eases the planning of different aspects of your conference. It will also facilitate you with assistance while determining the efficacy of your event strategies as well as the success prospects of your event. Ask yourself the following questions to get a better understanding of your goals:
- Who is your target audience?
- What do you wish to achieve as an outcome of this event?
- How will you promote the hybrid conference?
- What are the different aspects you wish to include in the event?
- How will you keep your attendees engaged?
- What is the theme and topics of your conference sessions?
2) Choose a Suitable Hybrid Conference Platform
Opting for the most efficient and suitable hybrid conference or event platform is one of the most important steps to ensure the success of your hybrid conference. Dreamcast is one of the best hybrid conference platforms that comes well-equipped with advantageous tools and features, assuring the productiveness of your event.
Once you have defined your goals and planned the conference, it gets easy to look for specific features in a platform. The best platform for your hybrid meeting is the one that renders high scalability and personalization features to enhance your hybrid event.
3) Bridge the Gap Between Physical and Online Event
To ensure a matchless and successful hybrid conference, you need to make sure that both your physical and remote attendees are engaged in the event. Most importantly, ensure that you render a similar experience to your audience at both ends.
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You can use various features of a hybrid conference platform to make sure that all your participants are having a collective and common hybrid event experience. While you will have to deliver the content differently, you can still bridge the gap by providing similar interactive activities to both the attendees. Also, make sure that the content you are sharing at the conference is relevant to both the audiences.
4) Create Engaging Content
As we talk about content, it is a whole different point to ensure that the content you discuss at the event is engaging and captivates your attendees’ attention. Content plays an even more important role when it comes to hosting a hybrid event. More importantly, it is significant to keep your attendees engaged by providing them more value for the time they are investing in the event.
5) Provide Interactive Opportunities
By providing excellent interactive features at the hybrid conference, you can efficiently keep your attendees engaged at the event. Reports show that interactivity plays a huge role in any form of virtual or hybrid meeting. It is so because your remote attendees are just a click away from leaving the meeting if they don’t find it valuable or feel engaged. Therefore, it is significant to enhance your hybrid event by incorporating excellent interactive tools like live polls, Q&A sessions, contests, trivia, etc.
6) Organize Common Activities
To make your remote attendees have a life-like experience while ensuring that your on-site attendees are aware of their presence, you can host collective activities. For example, you can provide the on-site attendees with the business details of remote attendees, create hybrid networking lounges, common social walls, and a lot more to render a common event experience. Another idea is to organize a hybrid meal session where your virtual attendees can be sent food coupons beforehand so they do not feel overlooked.
7) Hire a Professional Moderator
At times, it can get difficult to manage between the two formats of a hybrid conference. Although it’s two different experiences, the event must feel like one to all. By hiring a professional moderator, you can ensure the smooth flow of your event. A moderator can efficiently maintain the balance between the two formats of your conference. A professional speaker is well-aware of the importance of maintaining eye contact and addressing the attendees to maintain engagement.
8) Accumulate Feedbacks
You can run feedback rounds throughout the event to ensure that your attendees are having a positive event experience. It can be easy to show popups on the screens of your remote attendees. However, asking for feedback, again and again, can lead to your attendees getting bored. Hence, make sure you think and plan the process through. The best option is to share a feedback form or activity by the end of the event.
9) Shorten the Sessions
Although the concept of organizing hybrid events has become prevalent and is happening all across the world, it is still difficult for people to sit through a long meeting. Known as virtual meeting or zoom fatigue, the feeling of being bored and lazy while attending a long meeting actually exists. Hence, make sure your hybrid conference sessions are short. Also, remember to provide mini-breaks in between the sessions to give your attendees a break to freshen up.
10) Ensure High-Quality Resources
High-quality resources play a major role in ensuring the success of your hybrid event. You need to arrange the best logistics as well as other vital resources like cameras and mics. Also, ensure the network quality so that your remote attendees have the same event experience as on-site attendees.
11) Test the Event Technology
Any technological aspect of an event comes with the possibility of glitches and errors. Therefore, make sure you test the event technology before your event goes live.
12) Analyze the Event Reports
A Hybrid conference platform comes well-equipped with the tool of event analytics and reports. So after your hybrid event ends, you can use this tool to analyze the efficacy of your event strategies and elements.
Go on and organize a memorable Hybrid Meeting. To ensure the success of your event, contact Dreamcast and book a demo today!