As we continue to recover from the pandemic, many companies are adding an in-person option to their virtual events to create a hybrid event. But what is it really like to for the in-person attendees, the virtual attendees and the exhibitors to attend in this new format?
The Huddle Team are attending our very first in-person industry convention for 2021! Cvent Connect is a flagship annual convention for event professionals and it’s being held in hybrid format for the first time in 2021. For many of us, this the first large hybrid event we have attended, so we wanted to share what we learned from the experience.
It’’s all in the numbers
Some Huddle Team Members are attending in-person at the brand new Caesar’s Forum in Las Vegas, while some are logging in virtually via the cvent Attendee Hub, giving us the full hybrid experience. Initial numbers shared by Cvent from day 1 indicate that about 1500 people attended in-person this year which, is well down on their usual attendance numbers – for obvious reasons. But in a great example of the increased reach of hybrid events, there are reportedly around 12,000 people attending online from around the world, including our own team from Huddle Australia!
One event, two experiences
One of the biggest traps event planners can fall into is trying to replicate the in-person experience for the virtual attendee. You want to give them the ‘feels’ the in-person attendees get when they walk through the doors into the event space, but this is a near impossible task! What we have learned is that the virtual experience needs to be exactly that – its own experience. It needs its own identity so it doesn’t feel like a side dish to the main meal. Cvent did a good job with this and managed to create two separate experiences – one for in-person and one for virtual attendees and then weave them together into one event.
Tv style recording studio on the trade show flow at this hybrid event.
A true hybrid experience!
Having attended this event for several years now, it is interesting to see the changes that have taken place in this event industry mainstay to offer attendees a true hybrid experience. Attending sessions in person feels a bit like being in the studio audience for a TV show. They have clearly invested a lot of time and resources in delivering a quality experience for both in-person and virtual attendees.
We are going to ‘stream stages’ instead of ballrooms, attending sessions which have been a mixture of live and pre-recorded content, carefully woven together. There is also a full TV studio in the middle of the trade show floor where additional content is being recorded for virtual attendees.
The verdict?
Exhibitors at the event had much smaller ‘socially distanced’ booths this year. Although they enjoyed the benefits of Cvent’s appointment scheduling and lead capture tools, there are definitely some challenges that remain to be solved for exhibitors in hybrid events as they continue to form a crucial part of ongoing strategy.
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“It is tough for those with a trade show booth to get the same return from the event when the in-person numbers are so much lower. It seems like there is more work to be done to perfect the trade show element of hybrid events. ”
In-person attendees enjoying virtual content in a live session.
The word on the event floor and from our virtual attendees about this new hybrid format has overall been very positive. In-person attendees we spoke to were really enjoying being able to go back to their room for an hour and catch up on emails while live streaming sessions so they didn’t miss anything. They were also loving the fact that they didn’t need to take notes in sessions because they know the content will be available on demand. And if there are two sessions that you really want to attend that are on at the same time, no problem! You can now just watch one of them on demand. Easy!
Rod Vowell, our production specialist was one of our team members who was attending virtually. He’s tough to impress when it comes to virtual event production, so we were keen to get his feedback. Here’s what he ad to say:
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“The opening session was a 2am wake up for us because of our time zone, so it was important that it was an easy process to log into the Attendee Hub and that the content was interesting enough to keep us awake! Logging on was easy, watching was engaging and following our own virtual journey made us feel like we were part of the main event and not just an afterthought. Nice Job, cvent!”
Hybrid events – Cvent Connect Las Vegas General Session
Production value
The production value of any event is important for all attendees, but is especially key in maintaining the attention of those who are tuning in virtually. The simplicity of the large LED screens as a backdrop to the plenary presentations translated really well to the virtual screen and allowed us to experience the ‘cool’ visual elements that the on-site audience were seeing. The attendee hub, was very easy to navigate, so we could bounce from room to room in the comfort of our slippers without feeling lost or confused. The content transitions within each presentation were simple and effective, the audio was very clear, and the quality of vision was 10/10. Very impressed with the overall output.
Susan Fitzgerald and Hayley Contegiacomo attending their first in-person event for 2021.
That’s a wrap!
So as cvent Connect 2021 comes to a close, we have learned a lot from attending this flagship conference for the meetings and events industry. Congratulations to cvent on accepting the challenge and delivering a quality event in the midst of so much uncertainty and change. We predict that when we are all here again in 2022, the industry will have continued to evolve rapidly and that hybrid events like this one will have become the norm. We can’t wait to see the progress we can make as an industry in the next 12 months. See you next year, everyone!
Work with us to produce incredible virtual, in-person and hybrid events!
