Table of Contents
Hybrid events have become more popular since the evolution of the pandemic. People are no longer hosting events at only brick and mortar buildings, but doing both virtual and face-to-face events that reach more people, expose your company’s brand and products to a targeted audience, and create an experience for both types of audiences and marketing. Read on in this article to discover how to host a hybrid event that will be an amazing experience for all of your guests.
What Is A Hybrid Event?
A hybrid event is a physical meeting where an online audience participates. A hybrid event removes the place and time factors as it can be broadcast with the ability to be viewed later. It gives a person the opportunity to attend virtually without the complexity or inconvenience of having to drive to the event and be there in person.
There are three types of hybrid events. A light hybrid event is one where the event is happening at a physical venue in parallel with a virtual audience. A sequential hybrid event is when the physical event happens at a different time than the virtual event. A complex hybrid is considered the future of hybrid events and involves many diverse events with multiple live streams, thousands of participants, and interactive face to face and virtual networking sessions.
Preparation
One of the most important things to know about being a great host for a hybrid event is preparation. People do not often have wide attention spans when it comes to listening to repetitive information. Make sure that your slides and materials are aligned with the topic for discussion. Give audiences a way to interact with you during your presentation. Preparation will keep your audience engaged, listening and learning from the beginning to the end of your hybrid event. Remember that practice makes perfect. You should practice your presentation until you can give it with confidence.
Interesting Content
The content must be interesting to your hybrid audience. If it is something they have heard before, you will easily lose your audience. Give your face to face and virtual audience something they can talk about even after leaving the event. Make sure and be as simple as possible so that a young child would understand your content. Use bold and bright colors that will keep virtual and face to face audiences attentive. Divide your content into segments with the most important information at the top so that it will be the first thing your audiences see.
Keep It Simple
Keep your messaging simple so that the youngest person in the room can enjoy it. This ensures that all of your audience will get the messaging you are trying to provide as the host of your hybrid event. You may want to add something comical to keep people entertained. Audiences love funny information that has been added to what you want them to learn from your presentation. Adding a variety of information that involves serious messaging, comedy and inspiration is usually better received by an overall face to face and virtual audience.
Get To Your Point Quickly
There is nothing worse for an online and face to face audience than a host who is going on and on about something that does not relate to your presentation or is not relevant. Get to your points quickly and keep your audience engaged.
No Dead Air
The best presentations flow from one segment to the next without any dead air. Your audience has come to receive information that will help them in their homes or other important places in their life and do not want to hear a deafening silence in the room. Keep your audience interested and move effortlessly from one idea to the next.
Introduce Soft Relatable Music
Music is always a great way to bring a presentation together. If you have engaging artwork or information for your physical audience, playing soft music will make the event feel more festive than serious. Give your audience something to read and listen to as they walk about your exhibit. You may want to play soft music for your exhibit before doing your major hybrid presentation for both audiences.
Flexibility With Speakers For The Event
A hybrid event is one that looks very different from a face to face event. Flexibility with speakers is important to making sure that everyone is on the same page with regards to subject matter, scheduled time to speak, length of presentation, and overall understanding of the hybrid event. As a host, you are the manager of each speaker for the entire presentation. Both audiences will be tuned into each speaker to see how engaging and informative they are. Check with each speaker to make sure they have everything needed to do their best.
Give Your Face To Face And Virtual Audience The Ability To Interact
Giving your face to face and virtual audience the ability to interact with one another will be huge in gaining your audience’s approval for the hybrid event. As a host, it is your job to give them more than just a presentation. Your audience must feel they have experienced something like never before. Use live streaming and other ways for audience engagement.
Positive And Charismatic Attitude
The host for a hybrid event must have a positive and charismatic attitude from beginning to end. Your audience will judge you on how well the entire event was handled. Practice in front of a mirror for facial expressions that may or may not come across well to your audience. Practice bringing that great charisma of yours out before the public. You may want to add a few jokes just to lighten up the room. Remember that it is your job to make your face to face and virtual audience feel comfortable and well entertained.
These are some of the best ways to host a hybrid event. Remember that you are in charge of the flow of the hybrid event. People will talk about the information, activities, interaction and how well the host engaged and informed the audience. Stick to your talking points about subject matter and do not ramble on and on about irrelevant information. This will make you the best host ever for face to face and virtual guests who are listening.
