What is a hybrid event platform?A hybrid event platform is a technology that enables event organizers to converge their online and offline event experiences for audiences. Hybrid event platforms unlock limitations such as the number of attendees and type of speakers, typically associated with in-person events. It also gives access to features that allow professionals to leverage the benefits of both in-person and online events. Here are 10 reasons why a hybrid event platform is a valuable investment for brands that organize events at scale. 1. Wider audience reachHybrid event platforms provide attendees with the flexibility to be part of events irrespective of where they are. This facilitates higher registration and attendance to the event since location is not a constraint anymore. 2. Improved networking opportunitiesA hybrid event software presents attendees with an array of networking features such as 1-1 messaging, virtual rooms, Q&As, and an event-specific social feed. 3. Improved gamification featuresApart from features that enable networking, hybrid event software also provides gamification features to attendees engaged. Polls, voting, and contests are a few of the gamification features that they come equipped with. 4. Powerful sponsorship opportunitiesThe increased audience reach is a great motivation for corporate sponsors to participate. More attendees translate to more leads, 1:1 communication, and higher rates of attendee interactions. Also, as an event organizer, you can have both in-person and virtual sponsors at hybrid events. 5. Flexible space utilizationAdding virtual components to the event helps to scale up participation while not exceeding the allocated venue budget. The utilization of space at venues can be prioritized based on aspects such as the requirement, sponsorships, speakers, or highlight sessions. 6. Reduced costs and expenditureThe adoption of a hybrid event platform significantly brings down event spends. Many administrative and logistic expenditures such as food, venue, travel, volunteering crew are reduced or eliminated. An upside of this is the saved budget can be utilized to improve event experience elsewhere. 7. Decrease In Carbon FootprintHybrid events bring down travel and consumption of a host of utilities associated with an in-person event. This contributes towards a reduction in emissions and consequently the carbon footprint. This can be a small yet meaningful start towards building an environmentally conscious brand image. 8. Ammunition for your marketing pipelineAs against in-person events, recording and saving sessions is straightforward in a hybrid conference software. These recordings are a powerful marketing asset and can be repurposed to get continued mileage. Recordings can be shared with people who registered but didn’t attend, prospective customers, and on social media. 9. Collection of valuable insightsUsing a hybrid event software activates a stream of insightful data for event organizers. Metrics on the number of attendees, drop-off rate, engagement, attendee interests, booth traffic, and event content can now be tracked and utilized while making decisions in the future. These are insights that are difficult to track at in-person events. 10. Return on investmentHybrid events achieve enormous reach and scalability that offer a valuable return on investment and it is possible with the power of a reliable hybrid conference software. More attendance translates into good views for sponsors and attendee insights at scale. Learnings and insights from previous events can be used as a starting point to ensure successful events and improved ROI in the future. While in-person events have been the norm, this is changing soon. A post-COVID world has prepared teams to be agile and has brought technology to the forefront. Hybrid events are a practical solution and quickly becoming popular amongst event professionals
Take the plunge with Hubilo’s hybrid event platform - designed for engagement and a seamless extension of your in-person events into the virtual world.
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The COVID-19 crisis has been looming for almost a year now. In the beginning, it had shifted us completely online, but now that the world is coming back to normal and things are opening up, our options for in-person meetings are getting reinstated. What we foresee is an amalgamation of virtual and live, where digital tools complement in-person events. With the shift taking place eventually, a hybrid event platform is something event planners and managers are on the lookout for. A hybrid event management software works as a sweet spot between virtual and real-world events. Here are 4 reasons why a hybrid proposition is essential in the COVID era: 1) Gives Better Returns The coronavirus has made people realize that going out may not always be the best option. They are now looking for ways to replicate physical event experiences, virtually. The fact that there is no limitation to the number of attendees in a hybrid event owing to the virtual aspect of it, forms a compelling factor to measure the ROI of the event. A virtual audience clearly indicates that costs will not have to be borne for things like lodging, travelling, food etc. Moreover, virtual gives the audience the flexibility to attend the event from any part of the world, shooting up registrations and hence the overall reach of your event. 2) Is Environment Friendly A good hybrid event platform will provide high quality audio/visual room-to-room experiences, thereby reducing the need for physical travel, and in turn lowering the carbon footprint of the event. To read more about sustainable hybrid events and how they are extremely necessary for a greener future, read this article on sustainability at events. 3) Opens Up Untapped Markets The COVID scenario has unraveled unseen potential from worldwide. The relative ease that comes with attending an event through a hybrid event management software gives people an opportunity to attend it from anywhere in the world. These are people who would not have been able to be a part of the event had it been purely physical. With an increased audience base, the opportunity to learn and share knowledge does not stay limited to a specific area but rather spreads to all the continents. Be it academia, business or any other, a large untapped market is uncovered via a hybrid event. 4) Gives Access to More Industry Data COVID may come or go, but virtual events and the usage of a hybrid conference software for meetings, business events and the like, is here to stay. With reach expanding across the globe, the scope for obtaining data for future purposes becomes very rich. Given that many people would be logging in to the hybrid event platform virtually, you will get a decent idea about their place of stay, profession, interests, etc. This will help you identify new markets that may be relevant to your interest.
Make technology your friend. Make you and your business digitally advanced. The future is all digital and the events are going to be hybrid. What’s hybrid you ask? Hybrid is the baby of live events and virtual events. The wider reach that businesses have received in the past few months is unbelievable. Hence, the growth of virtual is unstoppable. But this raises quite an important question: How to engage both virtual and in-person audiences? Here are 3 bulletproof ways in which hybrid events can elevate attendee experiences using a hybrid event platform. 1. Design content thoughtfully Content is and always will rule the event. Engagement and networking features will come and go, fade in fade out but the content is evergreen. Think for both the audiences carefully while designing the agenda for the hybrid event. Use the on-demand content feature on hybrid event software and make it available for people who are in different time zones or for some reason couldn’t attend your session. Make it live with an exceptional UI powered with some live interactions such as live polls and QnA. 2. AV is essential Is AV just the need for an in-person event? That’s not true. With the rise of virtual, AV companies also pivoted to the virtual and now power up hybrid events well. Get an event AV production company to partner up & integrate with your virtual conference platform to enhance the quality of the video, backgrounds, music, etc. To the in-person audience maybe it won’t matter much, but to keep both audiences engaged, the camera, speaker’s readiness, their video background, audio connection are valuable. 3. Addressing both the audiencesWhat’s the 2 major things attendees come to an event for? One is content and the other is networking. Planning event engagement strategy using a hybrid conference software in mind can amplify things up. Live surveys, polls, QnA, live collab, and much more not just for your live in-person audience but also for remote attendees. Using gamification practices, adding a leader board, etc can help you achieve maximum engagement. With the engagement being taken care of, do not forget to calculate the metrics and improve those numbers in your next upcoming event. Get your analytics from a hybrid event platform and make the most out of it.
3 Ways to Enhance Speaker Experience [Apart From Selecting the Best Virtual Event Platform]10/15/2020 Once you have chosen the best virtual event platform for your upcoming conference, it is important that you take some fundamental actions to support your virtual speakers. This will ensure they get a seamless experience and are able to deliver good quality sessions at your event. Here are 3 things that you can do: 1. Prepare a speaker kit In the speaker kit, include a platform demo link and a step-by-step guide on how to enter the virtual stage and take the subsequent steps – starting from how to access the virtual conference platform, to how to view the speaker profiles, how to start and join sessions, how to connect audio and video and also how to screen share. Similarly, include another document with suggestions on how to set up for the event. This can include pointers on lighting, camera positioning, microphone setting, network testing, document preparedness, attire tips and also clearing up the background, so that they are clearly visible on screen. You can also share presentation templates and branded virtual conference backgrounds that they can use when presenting. 2. Include session moderators Moderators are critical for the success of your event. They are the main link between speakers and attendees, on the online conference platform. Other than ensuring presentations remain relevant and engaging, they provide a huge support to speakers. They are responsible for setting the stage for them (such as lining up the presentation decks and giving speaker introductions), coordinating the order of presentations, keeping track of presentation timings, ensuring discussions do not go off topic and also giving them the right exposure by selecting relevant questions from attendees, for them to answer. 3. Market your speakers Take a moment to consider what value do speakers seek from events.
Speakers attend conferences to share knowledge and ideas, network, develop connections and build their profiles. Therefore, you must make sure you address the visibility factor through interesting ways. Publicize your speakers on your event website and social media accounts, and give them a chance to showcase their experience through individual speaker profiles that attendees can view (and send chat messages and meeting requests to). Also send out timely push notifications to inform attendees about upcoming sessions and who will be speaking at them. Don’t forget, speakers are the backbone of your event! The best virtual event platform will provide you the right tools to deliver value to your virtual speakers. How to spike up networking at your virtual conferences using virtual event management software7/22/2020 Virtual conferences and events have become super fascinating to attendees with virtual event management software over the last 3-4 months. Attendees and experts are admiring virtual events rather than criticizing them - and that is a great sign of success. This may be because going virtual with your events is the only way to save everybody’s butt. Online events deliver the goods as event planners and professionals anticipate and expect. However, one of the most important questions is this: How do you as event managers, professionals ensure that networking is still as similar as in-person events? Especially when your attendees are not at the venue, but online. I would like to give a concrete answer to this question with reasonably detailed explanations. Using the right virtual event management software If you want to add an eager want and excitement for your virtual trade shows, events and conferences and put fire in your attendees’ belly, you must use the right virtual event management software. A good virtual event software provider will help you provide all different types of networking opportunities to your attendees. Simple webcasting/webinar tools are no longer going to be helpful. You need that extraordinary networking oomph. Facilitating 1-1 video meetings between attendees People love to chat with others in private. 1-1 video meetings between attendees to discuss what they are looking for and networking is arguably the best way to spice up virtual event networking. Hosting virtual conferences should also have a component of 1-1 video meetings for attendees. Your attendees can event network with exhibitors and sponsors too with the same 1-1 video meeting technique being provided by a virtual event management software company. Allowing discussions at networking lounge Networking lounge is a fresh concept for online networking. When you host virtual conferences and events, you also need to consider small group discussions and break-out sessions that could take place across 4-20 people. Networking lounge could create a real talks-on-table experience for your attendees. Allowing your attendees and sponsors to use the networking lounge to meet and talk is a terrific way of sparking vigor to conversations. Event organizers can decide on how many tables of what seating arrangements they need to use and take networking to a whole new level. Good virtual event software provides this key feature to you on their platform. Signing up for match-making Let your attendees capitalize on the match-making feature of the virtual event platform you are going to use for your online events The match-making feature allows your attendees to do 1-1 meetings and chants based on their similar profiles and interests. Attendees should also get recommendations for who they should meet or connect with. Leveraging social media networking Before, during and after your virtual events, you should go with all guns blazing and use your social media platforms for networking. Create groups and invite people. Share competitions and encourage participation. Share relevant and useful content for them to engage and learn. After event networking Keep in touch with your audiences even after your event is over. Engage with them and network. Ask them to share their feedback with you on the event hosted. Give them the information/stats gleaned from your event attendance, networking and engagement. Final word Networking opportunities is one of the top most reasons your attendees pay for your event tickets. They expect to cash in networking with their fellow event attendees and professionals. Networking is the key tool for establishing and strengthening relationships between attendees.
Hence it is all the more important to create and use solid networking strategies that could benefit your audience in a meaningful way. |
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Hubilo's all-in-one online Event Management Software takes the hassle out of event management with its suite of event tech features. Archives
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