4 Tips on How to Plan and Host Your First Hybrid Event

By Muhammad Younas

It’s no secret that hybrid events, which are simply events that combine live and virtual experiences, are this year's biggest event trend. In fact, 73% of event planners expect hybrid events to be more common in the future. Even if you have experience planning both in-person and virtual events, it may seem overwhelming to host your first hybrid event. In order for your event to run smoothly and to truly integrate the two event types, extra considerations are required in the planning process.

To get you started with your first hybrid event, we’ve pulled together some of our best tips as you plan.

Tips on hosting successful hybrid events

Tip #1: Be thoughtful when sourcing suppliers

Though many suppliers will claim they can support your hybrid event needs, you’ll need to be sure that both your in-person and online event providers are aligned in their process and delivery. It’s up to you to understand exactly what you need from all of your suppliers as you’re researching.

Spend extra time planning your event upfront, so that you can review your detailed list of needs with vendors on both sides, and understand what their capabilities are and what their process is. If possible, make sure to ask about any additional costs associated with setup for features you plan to include at the event. If you’re unsure about the specific details you’d like to include, at least have well-defined event goals ready so that your potential suppliers can offer various tools and strategies that will support those goals.

Once you’ve shortlisted some in-person and virtual event companies, ask to set up a call between your top choices to make sure their services are compatible. You should feel confident that your suppliers can work together to help you hit your goals.

Tip #2: Tier your hybrid event tickets

Hybrid events unlock many opportunities for your attendees and sponsors. Start thinking about which of those opportunities you’re willing to offer and at which price level. Just as with your in-person event, admissions tickets and sponsorship levels should be tiered and allow each level more and more access to exclusive offers or brand visibility.

With hybrid events, you can offer tiered ticket options that give access to:

• Just the in-person aspects of the event
• Just the online aspects of the event
• Aspects of both in-person and online
• Access to everything

Additionally, you can offer tiered sponsorship packages that provide:

• Visibility within the in-person event
• Visibility within the online platform
• Visibility both in-person and online

Within each of these options you can continue dividing up what’s exclusive and what’s available to create an infinite number of ticket and sponsorship options. Being mindful of what your target audience and sponsors value will help you determine exactly what you offer with each ticket and sponsorship level.

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Tip #3: Create a two-pronged marketing campaign

If you’ve pivoted from physical to virtual events due to the Covid-19 pandemic, you should understand that marketing the two types of events aren’t the same. In-person events are much more likely to create localized messaging, leveraging event boards and groups that are highly targeted to a specific geography. Virtual events, on the other hand, are a great way for organizations to reach new markets, and, as such, their marketing seeks to attract new, global audiences.

Be conscious of your messaging in order to attract both groups. Create a marketing campaign that’s split into your target audience for the live portion of your event and the target audience for your virtual portion.

Your target audience for an in-person event should be generally close in proximity—if not within your city or country, usually within your continent. Additionally, content can include specific benefits to attending live, and relevant localized or cultural references. The messaging and strategy will be based on an understanding that would-be attendees know how your organization fits within the local industry. Additionally, you should leverage tools such as email marketing and include placement on online event boards for a specific city or country.

Your target audience for a virtual event should be geared toward a wider global audience. Content may focus much more on the value attendees will derive from your event, with more general messaging. This is based on the understanding that they may not have as much knowledge about your organization and some references may not resonate with them in the same way. To attract a larger crowd to your virtual event, you should leverage platforms such as social media and paid advertising to increase visibility.

To further individualize the experience, create a unique landing page for each of your target audiences. These pages can offer the same event information—especially highlighting that it is a hybrid event—but feature more prominently the unique benefits and ticket options that each group would be more interested in.

Tip #4: Offer seamless integration

Ideally, your hybrid event will create an experience where both online and in-person attendees feel immersed in both aspects of the event. Incorporate features that blur the lines between the two, and foster cross-channel connection.

Social media walls are an excellent way to let people share in their experiences. You can publish a social wall within your event environment and project it live at your event so people can see an ongoing feed with attendees and sponsors’ experiences as the event runs. Additionally, you can make virtual event features, such as live chat rooms, available to all your attendees so that they can connect with any exhibitor or other attendees even if they’re not in-person at the event.

You can also offer gamification features that help lead attendees around the physical or virtual event floor. Scavenger hunts, leaderboards, and other interactive features not only help make the event fun, they also give you—the host—valuable insights about your attendees’ participation and engagement at the event.

Your virtual event provider can offer suggestions about how to more seamlessly integrate the virtual into an in-person event. Once again, this is important to discuss with potential providers as you’re shopping around. Not only will it help you plan and budget better, it will also help inform conversations you have with your in-person event vendor so they can support your needs.

Are you ready to host your first hybrid event?

Hybrid events are just starting to catch hold in the event industry, and it’s easy to get swept up in the hype. Hybrid events feel novel, and offer new opportunities by merging something comfortable (in-person events) with something new and exciting (virtual events).

However, it’s not unexpected that organizations will experience a steep learning curve when planning and executing their first hybrid event. Although many organizations are still finding their footing with the concept of hybrid events, knowing what you want to accomplish and who you’re targeting will always help set you up for event success.

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