The Client Barometer on the 2023 challenges of event communication * conducted in January 2023 shows that 52% of professionals surveyed plan to run their event production in hybrid mode. However, many hybrid events held in 2021 and 2022 fell far short of expectations.
The hybrid event is often seen as a compromise where online participants are relegated to a secondary position, rather than being offered a full experience. This often leads to disappointment for online participants, who don't get the same experience as those attending in person. The hybrid experience often turns out to be tedious, because it doesn't account for "digital time," which moves faster than "physical time," and it can also be frustrating, because it's often one-directional.
Digital actually makes it possible to get much richer, more precise, and more detailed feedback from the audience than in person. However, to make use of this qualified and valuable feedback, it's essential to set up the right digital offerings. This requires designing specific event formats to capture this richness and give online participants real value.
The staggered hybrid format
The challenge
Preparing a major in-person event can mean having too much content (speakers, messages, debates) for the time available, and it's impossible to add an extra day to the program. Organizers need to find creative solutions to manage the volume of content while maintaining the quality of the event.
THE SOLUTION
Offer a digital prologue and/or epilogue before and/or after the event to gauge participants' expectations, prepare minds by providing relevant food for thought, gather feedback, and share results. This setup has the advantage of optimizing the limited time of the in-person event while offering a richer, more interactive experience for participants.
The setup
Present online sessions a week or a month before/after the big day, integrated into the overall program. To guarantee audience participation, invitations should offer exclusive benefits, such as the chance to influence the content of the in-person event during the prologue and privileged access to event follow-ups during the epilogue. This teasing builds positive anticipation and encourages guests to take an active part.
Keys to success
Allow enough time to prepare the sessions upstream and downstream, as well as to incorporate participant feedback. This makes it possible to be even more relevant during the in-person event or the next one. Planning ahead is therefore a key factor in the success of this hybrid format.
The inspiration
Sunday night football, with a prologue and an epilogue to enrich the viewers' experience. BEFORE: an analysis of the stakes gives viewers the keys to understanding the match. DURING: viewers follow the match live. AFTER: a debrief session looks back at the match's highlights and digs deeper into the analysis.
The multi-audience hybrid format
The challenge
Being able to reach different types of audience during the same event, knowing that some people can't or don't want to attend in person.
THE SOLUTION
Offer a single in-person event, supported by digital sessions that benefit from the on-site presence of key speakers, in order to reach a specific audience on a specific topic (for example, a product launch at a trade show, an exclusive offer, or a talk given by a well-known speaker)...
The setup
Create an event website that highlights the digital sessions offered alongside the in-person event. The event website should explain the benefits offered to participants, even if they can't attend in person, and should make it easy to sign up for the digital sessions considered most interesting.
Keys to success
Produce dedicated sessions on site for remote participants rather than simply filming the in-person event. This ensures the hosting, pace, and interactivity are suited to these sessions (quizzes, polls, word clouds, etc.). Production can be light and cost-effective thanks to the short length of the sessions (30 to 45 minutes).
The inspiration
The Paris Air Show illustrates how an event can be both a public event and a B2B professional gathering with diametrically opposed expectations, even while remaining within the same vertical. On one side, there's the importance of confidentiality and business discussions; on the other, the spectacular side and discovery.
The multi-site hybrid format
The challenge
The goal of the event is to bring together an audience spread across a wide geography; however, for environmental and economic reasons, it's neither possible nor desirable to gather all participants in a single location. Even so, it's essential to preserve the event's festive, friendly atmosphere.
THE SOLUTION
Hold simultaneous in-person events at different physical locations. Participants gather at the location closest to them. Digital ensures overall consistency through multi-site broadcasts of the plenary session (for example) and allows interactions to be pooled together.
The setup
Setting this up requires centrally managed logistics and a digital tool that lets participants interact via their mobile devices, while live content can be broadcast on giant screens at the event's different physical locations.
Keys to success
To succeed, it's important to have a dedicated organizer at each site who can run local sessions, along with solid project management. In return, the event will be experienced as a festive, shared, powerful moment, without the financial and environmental impact of bringing all participants to a single location.
The inspiration
The election night multiplex. This format example involves organizing live broadcasts from the different political party headquarters, rather than gathering them all in one physical location.
The insert hybrid format
The challenge
Organize an in-person event and make it accessible to a wider audience, but without being able to hold that audience's attention for a long time or bring them on site.
THE SOLUTION
Offer a digital experience in the form of a short session inserted into a longer in-person event. This insert, lasting 30 minutes for example, is entirely dedicated to remote participants. The in-person audience can also be filmed, adding to the exceptional feel of this digital sequence. THE SETUP The digital part should be short but carefully prepared, with an experienced host who engages remote participants. They need to feel that the session was designed specifically for them and that their opinion counts, perhaps through polls whose results are used for the rest of the event.
Keys to success
Participants need to feel included despite their physical absence. Giving them a short but valuable amount of time, with personalized, interactive content, helps them feel involved and understand that their reactions will have an impact on the event.
The inspiration
Comedian Verino's show, in which he created an innovative YouTube segment called "Hey Internet." Each week, during his show, he humorously covers recent news in a video series aimed only at his online audience. For 4 to 8 minutes, he turns his back to the live audience to address the camera directly.
The ALTERNATING hybrid format
The challenge
Organize recurring events such as "Town Hall Meetings," "Product Increment," sales seminars, etc., whose costs rise faster than the available budget.
THE SOLUTION
Run some occurrences of the recurring events 100% digitally to limit costs, while maintaining the perceived quality of each in-person event that remains.
The setup
Set up a mini-site centralizing all the planned in-person and digital events to build a consistent hybrid program for the whole year. To do this, use the same hosts and sequences for both formats, while offering exclusive activities for each one. For example, more interactivity for digital events and more networking for in-person events.
Keys to success
It's important that participants aren't left unclear about the economic reason behind this alternative setup. If they notice that digital events are carefully prepared and give them better control over their time, and that in-person events remain rich, they'll feel like they're winning either way.
The inspiration
Remote work is an example of hybridization in how work is organized, where employees can enjoy the benefits offered by both modes. Flexibility and the freedom to choose between the two are crucial elements.
