With the rising popularity and acceptance of remote work, companies across the globe are adopting new work cultures. Employees are doing their jobs from a location of their choice and not from the central office where the employer is operating. Therefore in many ways, remote work has changed the way companies across the globe operate and how employees communicate with their team members.
Despite the benefits and the ease of work that virtual offices and meetings offer, research says in-person interactions are 34 times more effective than digital interactions like emails.
Hybrid events offer the benefits of in-person as well as virtual events. The virtual attendees can join the event from any part of the world while the in-person attendees can enjoy more fruitful physical interactions. That’s why companies must encourage hybrid events to maximize participation and boost productivity.
If you are still skeptical about hybrid sessions, here are four reasons why your company must try them.
1. Improved Engagement in the Event
According to Markletic, 46% of hybrid event organizers think speakers struggle to simultaneously engage in-person and virtual audiences. Moreover, most event organizers also experience a drop in engagement during the event. However, hybrid event platforms offer numerous features for organizers to keep attendees engaged s throughout the session.
Here is how hybrid platforms increase engagement.
Polls: Polls are an effective and straightforward way to engage event attendees. The speaker can run a poll during a session to collect feedback from attendees and solicit their opinions. Polls can be multiple choice questions, rating bars, star ratings, open text questions that the audience can engage with during the live session.
Q&A: Questions and answer sessions help connect the audience and the speaker on a deeper level. The attendees initiate the Q&A session, and the speaker can gauge the audience’s understanding of the topic.
Surveys: Surveys are an insightful way to collect audience feedback. This feedback helps you to make modifications to retain the existing audience and draw more for the subsequent events. These surveys are taken before and after the event to understand their experience throughout the event.
2. Improved Event Reach
Offline events get limited reach due to their physical nature as not many participants can afford to travel to another country for a single-day event. But hybrid sessions overcome the hurdles of geographical boundaries. With the use of a virtual event platform, virtual attendees can tune into the live event from anywhere. That’s how hybrid sessions are successful in increasing the participant reach exponentially.
3. The Best of Both Worlds
Offline and online events both have distinct benefits to offer. In offline events, in-person conversations drive faster outcomes and generate meaningful relationships for attendees. On the other hand, online events significantly increase your reach, improve user engagement, and allow people worldwide to attend the sessions from the comfort of their homes. You can experience the advantages of both formats in hybrid platforms.
4. Higher Flexibility for Speakers and Exhibitors
One of the significant benefits of hybrid sessions is flexibility. As attendees can attend the event from any part of the world, similarly, the event’s speakers can also participate remotely. The speakers don’t have to travel to a physical venue to lead the sessions. They can host the session remotely from their location.
Large enterprises often host industry-wide events like seminars, conferences and workshop to project themselves as thought leaders. If the exhibitors cannot attend these event due to physical constraints, they can set up their virtual booth to promote their products and services. The exhibitors can promote their offering to online and offline attendees through digital screens and live telecast.
Hybrid events are undoubtedly the future of events. With the rising acceptance of remote working, every company must consider hosting hybrid sessions to cater to their team members and participants from all parts of the world.
