Whether its an activation, brand experience, board meeting or international conference more and more organizations are seeing the advantages hybrid events can provide. Here are the top 8 reasons our clients are choosing to go hybrid:

Wait, what is a hybrid event? We’re SO glad you asked! Find out here!

1. Increased Attendance

A hybrid event is so much more scalable than a purely in-person event, letting you reach a much larger audience. A virtual event opens up new marketing opportunities, letting you target regions that might not have made sense before, build new lines of communication to virtual attendees and grow your audience and analytics database at the same time. In-person venues can be large, but even they have limits on attendee numbers. Virtual attendees, on the other hand, can come in as great a number as your event technology platform can support. This can result in an huge increase in attendees and an incredible return on investment. Travel and accommodation costs also lower the practical physical audience for your event. And in the current context, many potential attendees simply cannot reach the physical location due to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements. Some studies have found that as many as 98% of virtual attendees would not have attended the event if in-person attendance was the only option.

2. Enhanced Engagement

Adding virtual to the mix opens up several new avenues for engagement for this larger audience, such as live Q&A, virtual networking areas and interactive features like quizzes or message boards. Keeping virtual attendees engaged is a vital part of a successful hybrid event. Rod Vowell, Huddle Agency’s Director of Operations is a seasoned event production specialist who has a produced whole host of successful hybrid events for companies of all sizes and across many industries. Check out this blog post for more on how to make your virtual and hybrid events highly engaging.

3. Better bang for your buck

Is your objective to build brand awareness? Generate leads? Deliver information? Adding a virtual component and taking your event hybrid can enhance return on investment for event organizers and sponsors alike. Many organizations have realized that having employees attend events virtually, they are better able to manage resources. Without all that travel time, employees are able to get the benefit of attending the event while taking less time away form their core responsibilities.

4. Lower Carbon Footprint

Less travel, less transportation, less waste generated. All this translates into a more efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable event which is great for the environment, your corporate sustainability goals, and bottom line!

5. Safety

Keeping people safe as they attend your event is obviously easier when they don’t have to leave the comfort of their own homes or offices. Fewer people attending in-person means simpler compliance with social distancing measures . As much as travel can be exciting, it also comes with inherent risks for every traveler and in every destination. While the benefits of travel often outweigh the risks, hybrid events give attendees the flexibility to decide when attending in person makes sense for them and when they would prefer to attend virtually.

6. Increased Sponsorship Value

Adding virtual attendees lets you offer sponsors a much larger audience, making partnership more attractive and giving you access to new opportunities. You can also offer a more diverse range of sponsorship options by adding virtual options to your sponsorship packages such as mobile banner-ads and video advertisements before or between content.

7. Flexibility

With all the changes to travel regulations we have seen recently it has never been clearer that we need an adaptable event structure that responds to change. A hybrid event gives you the option to transition to a fully virtual event if you have to, while still proceeding with your live event program and all the benefits only in-person interaction can bring. No matter what, the show can go on! Find out more about how to transition an event to virtual.

8. Reduced travel costs

Hosting a hybrid event with a quality virtual attendee experience means you can save on travel costs for people who can attend remotely. For many businesses, the need to keep some staff in place to maintain service levels can create fragmentation of messaging and compromise the goals of the program. Letting them attend virtually instead improves messaging quality, reduces travel costs and increases productivity.

Despite the many benefits of virtual, nothing beats attending an event in person and meeting people face-to-face. This is why we believe the hybrid event is here to stay. It’s the best of both worlds, it gives people options and it gives event organizers comfort that the show will always go on.

To learn more, contact the Huddle Team below to start planning your hybrid event!