Top Tips to Make Sure Your Hybrid Event Goes Smoothly
I have been helping several clients recently with the setup of hybrid events by:
-creating the event ticket sales page on platforms such as on Eventbrite
-helping with the registration on the day
or helping in the background with the online communication if it's streamed live.
In the same way that having a workforce that is working partly from home and partly online is tricky, delivering a successful hybrid event is tricky but it is manageable.
Here are my top tips to make sure your hybrid event goes smoothly. I've also included some tips from Ashleigh Watson who recently organised the very successful Social Media Savvy conference at the Titanic Hotel in Belfast which had capacity for 70 face to face and was streamed online simultaneously.
1. Agree limit of numbers for venue/online event
Make sure to liaise with your event venue and have a very clear idea of capacity in the room, how many people per table and what the space regulations are.
Make sure to research the best way to stream your event and hI have been helping several clients recently with the setup of hybrid events by:
-creating the event ticket sales page on platforms such as on Eventbrite
-helping with the registration on the day
or helping in the background with the online communication if it's streamed live.
In the same way that having a workforce that is working partly from home and partly online is tricky, delivering a successful hybrid event is tricky but it is manageable.
Here are my top tips to make sure your hybrid event goes smoothly. I've also included some tips from Ashleigh Watson who recently organised the very successful Social Media Savvy conference at the Titanic Hotel in Belfast which had capacity for 70 face to face and was streamed online simultaneously.
1. Agree limit of numbers for venue/online event
Make sure to liaise with your event venue and have a very clear idea of capacity in the room, how many people per table and what the Covid regulations are.
Make sure to research the best way to stream your event and how you will broadcast it simultaneously (via StreamYard/Vimeo/Microsoft Teams) so that your online audience can see and hear everything.
2. Set up different Ticket Types
Remember to set up ticket types for online and face to face sales. This is especially important for catering purposes and if you have agreed with your venue a set capacity.
3. Provide Flexibility
Give attendees the flexibility that if they choose a ticket which is in-person that they can change to online if they have a last minute issue (transport/COVID etc). Clearly communicate what people should do/who they should contact if they want to change their ticket type (Attendees swapping from face to face ticket to online and vice versa can of course create a cost impact with your venue).
4. Think about information you need to gather
For the venue you will need an exact number of attendees and their dietary requirements so remember to include that as a question for an in-person ticket type.
For the online participants its also good to have an idea of how many will attend live so you can manage that or hire someone like a virtual assistant to.
5. Tailor communication to attendees
In your reminder communication to go out to attendees, make sure to tailor the information to the ticket type that they purchased.
For in person attendees, remember to communicate to them:
-what time they should come to the venue to register
-the prompt starting time
-closest parking to the location (remember the parking struggles!) and where they should go to register
- if there will be tea coffee and food available
-what they should bring and if there are any specific health and safety regulations in place
For online attendees, remember to communicate to them:
-what time they should login
-the link they should logon to watch the live event
-the prompt starting time
-how any questions they address while watching live will be addressed
-if they need to bring anything (digital workbook).
6. Engage both those in the room and watching online
One of the trickiest things to do with a hybrid event is to create a running order for the day which is as engaging for those in the room as those watching from a distance online. Think about your communication with everyone on the day. Those present in a room will feel the energy, hear the vibration of laughter, and engage with others at a table around them. It is much harder to create an atmosphere for those watching online so make sure when planning your running order that both audiences can participate:
-is there a physical and digital running order and workbook available to everyone?
-if you have planned exercises or team events can those watching online also participate?
-do you have someone who is monitoring all the online chat and questions and building that atmosphere?
-have you made goodie bags available to everyone or some different kind of digital gift to your online audience?
7. Support on the day
Whether it is face to face or an online event or a hybrid event its also useful to have support on the day:
Face to face
To register guests and be a friendly first point of contact.
To help pack goodie bags if you have them.
To direct speakers and guests.
As a run-around with the mic or to liaise with venue staff.
Online
To let people into virtual rooms and be a friendly first point of contact.
To answer any questions guests may have.
To act as a running commentary of what is happening (especially important if the camera streaming the event is only pointing in one direction for example to the stage but isn’t panning the room)
To put into the chat any relevant URLs/tags/mentions live as they happen.
8. Streaming of the event
Make sure you choose a company who are experts in their field (like Sparq who livestreamed the Social Media Savvy event) and can brief you in advance of all the technicalities required to stream a live event. Agree with the company how afterwards you can easily extract snippets of the event or pull off the transcript of the event so you can re-purpose (with the speakers’ consent) and use it as highlights of your event and for promotion for future events.
9. Follow up
Have an email prepared to send out with a feedback form tailored to both type of attendees.
10. Sharing resources after the event
Whether an attendee came physically to your event or attended online sharing the video link of the event afterwards is useful especially if your event was several hours long as it enables all attendees to 1) recap on points they may have missed 2) simply relisten to points they really enjoyed.
11. Learn from anything that didn’t go well
Review and record how everything went immediately after the event, and make sure to follow up on any issues raised and learn lessons for future events.
If you need any help organising your next event just reach out to me at alison@virtuali.uk
