Hybrid events are not new – if you think about it, you have likely participated in many hybrid events in the past. Most live TV programs, for instance, are part face-to-face and part virtual: they may have an in-person audience and most definitely they have a remote audience watching through their screens. 

Some conferences were already offering hybrid formats prior to the pandemic. The main program would be in-person;  those who couldn’t commit (or afford) to travel and multi-day stays would watch the conference program online through a more affordable ticket option.

But as we speak more about hybrid as a normal evolution of events in a scenario of pandemic and recovery, this buzzword is causing discomfort among planners who are unsure about how to put their best foot forward as in-person events start to slowly make a comeback. 

If you are still not sure about how to put together your hybrid event, ask yourself these four questions.

For those who were not managing hybrid events pre-pandemic, being forced to pivot into this format can be scary. But going hybrid is not a must – it’s just an option, if and when it makes sense. Before jumping on the bandwagon and hosting hybrid events, the real question you need to answer is: do you actually need to host a hybrid event?

In our latest Ask Me Anything session with industry experts, panelists seem to agree that hybrid is not the right answer for every single type of event. 

Howard Givner, CEO and Founder of the Event Leadership Institute, shared that “Thinking about hybrid, it shouldn’t be that you have to go in-person and virtual for every event. It might make sense in some, or it might make sense to do just an in-person event. And it might make sense for other situations just to do a virtual event, There’s not going to be a single playbook that gets you forward. And this is where there’s an opportunity for event professionals to be able to command a series of vehicles that they can tap depending on the goal of the organization, depending on who the audience is and how they want to reach them, and how that content and experiences are delivered.” 

Consider the objective of your event. Then choose the best format to use to achieve those objectives. 

If you decide that hybrid is the right format, then you may run into another challenge: getting buy-in. Because hybrid formats will likely be more costly to produce than a straight-up virtual event, it creates yet another barrier for event professionals to solve when hosting meetings and events in 2021 and beyond.

To Howard Givner, the deeper question is around how to get buy-in for a hybrid event and how to make it feasible. It’s all about how you position the benefits of running a hybrid event. For instance:

“Although hybrid events are going to be more expensive, I also think they open up a lot more monetization opportunities. We’re seeing that conferences that used to be for 250 people now have an audience of 2,000 people online. If you can do that very well and monetize that, you can make a lot more money in your ticket sales and in your sponsorship sales,” says Givner. 

Showing these benefits to key stakeholders will be key to successfully get support to go ahead with a well-produced hybrid event. 

Managing a hybrid event is like managing two events in one: you have the virtual and the in-person components, but they have intersecting points. Having a technology that can connect these two points is essential both for planning the event and providing a cohesive, engaging experience for your audience.

Choosing a versatile event management solution, like Attendease, will be a smart decision to support event planners in managing a portfolio of varied events, whether in-person, virtual or hybrid – without having to switch tech depending on the event format. This will also be key to keep your efficiencies up while lowering overall costs. 

With a hybrid event, your event team may need to broaden as well. As Sarah Eaton, Senior Account Director at Crawford Group, shared at our Ask Me Anything panel: “Hybrid needs to be supported by a much bigger team, because you’re going to have a team that’s managing that live, programmatic piece, and then another team that’s managing that virtual piece. So in terms of resourcing, there’s going to be a lot of challenges in determining who’s going to support each side of that event, and working in both a collaborative manner as well as an independent manner to make those two events work together.”

Contracting an external workforce may be a good solution to find skilled professionals that can support your events team when needed, rather than hiring permanent employees.

Planning a hybrid event can be a challenge for most planners who were used to the in-person or virtual event formats. Before you take on what are essentially two concurrent events, make sure you are set up for success. Deciding if this format is appropriate to achieve your goals is the most important question you can ask. If the answer is yes, clearly communicate the benefits of this event format to stakeholders, and make sure you have the technology and team to put on a great show!

Find out how an award-winning event management platform can raise your game in any format – virtual, in-person or hybrid.

5 trends that are transforming events in a pandemic world

We have now reached the one-year anniversary of the global COVID-19 pandemic: one year since the world and the events industry has turned upside down. During this time, we have seen the entire industry pivot from in-person to virtual events while event professionals scrambled to find footing on unstable grounds. 

The industry got hit with massive layoffs, budget restrictions, and event cancellations. Meanwhile, virtual programs expanded,  leaving event professionals overwhelmed as they figured out a new way to manage events and how to do more with less. 

But with crisis rises opportunities. We can see a shift in event management processes that may persevere longer than the pandemic itself. And that may not all be bad news. 

Here are 5 trends that are transforming – and enhancing – meetings and events.

As we change the way we host events, out of necessity, we have learned new ways to innovate. Being creative with how we put our events together and how we use our resources is an essential skill as we continue to navigate this new era for events. 

Some would argue it’s about time. Event strategist Liz King nails it when she said in a recent panel that “Thinking outside the box is going to be critical, because the events industry has, sadly, very much lacked a level of creativity that we’re known for. We’re a creative industry. And yet, if you look at a lot of what existed in the industry, pre-2020, it wasn’t that innovative and creative. So I think we got to rev that creativity up.”. 

That includes going back to the basics – event design – and thinking of your audience first. “The events that have been the most successful are the ones that have made it more about design over platform,” said event expert Tahira Endean in a recent interview. We couldn’t agree more. 

In terms of technology, there’s a temptation among planners (like almost every industry) to adopt the latest tech without determining if that’s what they really need. Can you manage all event types (virtual and in-person) from that platform? Being creative and innovative doesn’t always need to involve a shiny new technology. It’s more about how you can put the best experience to your attendees, supported by the right technology. 

Virtual events are not going anywhere. While planners continue to explore solutions to host virtual events, they also need to be ready for the future of events. And the future is hybrid. That large meeting scheduled for next November might be in person; more likely, it will be a combination of face-to-face and virtual. 

We’ve discovered many advantages to meeting virtually (cost savings being a key benefit). It makes no sense to go back to “business as usual”. At the same time, committing to virtual event platforms now can look like a mistake in a few months, once events start to shift once again. Planning for versatility will be key to future-proof your event technology for what’s yet to come.

Onboarding a team to learn new technology takes time, and the process alone to shop for a tech provider is already a ride on its own. Choosing a versatile event management solution will be a smart decision to support event planners in managing a portfolio of varied events. That means finding technology that can support all your event types, whether virtual, in-person, or hybrid.  

Chances are, your events team is smaller than it was a year ago. With the wave of layoffs caused by the pandemic, having strategic partners working with you has never been so crucial. With smaller event teams managing more complex events, we need to learn how to leverage all the resources at hand.

Event technology companies may have a team available to help you put your event together, whether by actually setting up the event for you, or just providing you with the resources you need to get up and running faster. Easy-to-use solutions will also save you time in the long run.

Another place to look for help is at schools and associations. With the pandemic, a number of recent grads found themselves with no place to go. This could be a good opportunity to provide internship opportunities, offer contract work, or hire entry-level planners that can help you as required.

We used to think about engagement at events in terms of live discussions, networking opportunities, and informal hallway conversations. That all disappeared when events went virtual. Event planners were challenged with how to get people to feel involved, join a conversation, and share their thoughts. 

Experimentation started with real-time polls and virtual breakout rooms. Teams and groups started to engage in remote events such as online cooking classes and games. Events incorporated virtual concerts and performances. We started to have fun in ways we didn’t imagine prior to 2020. This focus on engagement was important in reinforcing the value of events.

Working smarter has become part of your job description. With fewer people to support your event efforts, any systems and processes that can be implemented and help to save time will generate a huge impact for the entire organization. Take stock: think of the daily tasks that you perform and how they could be streamlined.

For example, going leaner with your technology stack could actually save you time (and money). With fewer tools to manage, you can better control all moving parts of your event without being overwhelmed by switching from one platform to another. Finding technology that integrates with your stack can also support this effort since the data will flow more easily from one tool to another.

Creating processes can also be a time saver. Try to batch tasks that are similar and do them together. Write several versions of marketing content at the same time. Set aside time to update your agenda and manage speakers so your attention isn’t bouncing between individual emails.The goal is to focus on the tasks less often, and for longer, so you can save time, prevent distraction, and work more efficiently. Similarly, working with a single tech platform can save you time and money. 

While we weren’t looking for a cataclysmic industry shake-up, it’s not hard to see the silver lining from the past year. This is a good time to identify lessons learned. Events planners are more diligent about creativity in event design. We’re using meeting technology in interesting and different ways. We’ve discovered new ways to engage virtually. 

There are great meeting moments ahead if we make room for innovation and creative thinking.

Event trends and shifts are…well…ever evolving. A trend is a passing fancy, like the Pantone Color of the Year. In the last five years Pantone has made this interesting, including ‘ultraviolet’ and ‘greenery’ and for the complexities of the 2020 and 2021 they addressed it with two colors. Ultimate Grey with Illuminating (yellow) “Practical and rock solid but at the same time warming and optimistic, the union of PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray + PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating is one of strength and positivity. It is a story of color that encapsulates deeper feelings of thoughtfulness with the promise of something sunny and friendly.” 

This eloquently sums up what 2021 needed as we returned to live events. When we emerged from our government-imposed cocoons, we were less likely to find participants content with trends that met pop culture standards but rather shifted and sought those that tied into the deeper values they had put to the test over those cray past year. How will we need to respond?

To consider attending a live event in 2021, we will need to understand how we will remain safe across the entire journey, whether a 3-hour or a 3-day event. Communication from the first touchpoint must answer the questions every experienced traveler will have. From the website to the app, emails to clear signage pathways on-site, clarity is key for all participants. 

Our Duty of Care may well require an on-site health screening, arriving with results showing a negative Covid test, proof of vaccination or showing our digital health passport as step one, with many airlines, countries and counties having these requirements in place. Next is the Social Contract, the new Code of Conduct with the event where we agree to maintain safe distancing, wear masks and to not participate if we are feeling unwell. There are a number of resources including the CDC who offer guidance – understand this is critical and will require time to plan and communicate.

In 2021 the only thing we are touching is our own device. From airport and hotel check-in, security lines and event registration will be enabled with automatic doors, mobile ticket scans and facial recognition and on-site services will continue in this fashion, from collecting information and exchanging e-business cards while networking. As we enter public event spaces, we will be temperature scanned, logged in for both our learning CEUs and contact tracing, reminded to wear our masks. From here we follow the directional information to our socially distanced seating, meeting and eating spaces. Food and beverage service will evolve from lines and buffets to service in individual containers or plates and offered with minimal contact points. 

We will greet friends without hugs and colleagues without handshakes. This is the one touch we will crave and celebrate the return to. As we gain herd immunity through a global vaccination program and decrease physical distancing among humans, we will have set up the systems to ease our way through many hospitality and travel functions. Technology will remove friction points and forge touchless access everywhere we go.

One of the greatest challenges leaders face is managing and inspiring individuals when the rug has been pulled out from under the organizational structures we all knew. Traditional reward and recognition systems have changed. Every layer, every role, every individual has been affected in some way. Those who remain employed are working harder than ever, often with less constraints (ie. I am able to work from home) and more challenges in the multiple roles that we face at home.

We are also without the rewards we typically receive from work that are beyond a salary. This ranges from treats shared in a kitchen, the opportunity to glance across the meeting table when someone offers up a particularly fabulous idea that gets you siting up straighter or someone walking past your desk and giving you a high five or a verbal ‘well done’ continuing through more formal celebrations, merchandise or the ultimate reward, a travel incentive. Whether your meetings now take place in a boardroom or a zoom room, finding ways to show appreciation to individuals and our teams visibly remains critical. 

There are still ways to connect now, replacing a live teambuilding day where you all go out in new matching shirts to a digital shared experience from a cooking class to an escape room as examples. We are gifting with items ranging from a new mug with a favorite beverage and snack to celebration boxes including everything from champagne to streamers and whatever else can be imagined. We have seen experiences from fabulous speakers to 24-hour extravaganzas bringing global teams to shared moments. 

The ultimate reward of incentive travel has been mainly on hold through 2020 and stalled for much of 2021. Some organizations have hosted smaller groups or ‘bubble travel’ for individuals to benefit from an earned getaway. Reports including the Joint Industry Incentive Index indicates travel remains desired and will return through 2022 and beyond with can’t buy experiences rising again and delivering inspired, transformative moments for the individuals that travel with you will be the currency that delivers retention.

For several years we have seen a technology enabled shift to inclusive hiring, facing down unconscious bias and creating more diverse teams with a recognition this leads to more innovative design across any product or service offering. We recognize who we are is much more than what is seen, from how we look, our gender, mobility, orientation, the job we have or our age; we are linked by our values. With values alignment we become great contributors and are more engaged. As we all navigate from digital events to live events, we have much to consider, starting with inclusion at internal events. 

Event professionals are the designers of the environments that support the social architecture created by organization’s leaders. We must design content and express it in a way that represents the culture of our organization and brings together divergent viewpoints. It is welcoming diverse voices that allows us to build stronger communities and this will be necessary for survival in a global marketplace. How we move forward is a responsibility we all share, and with a return to live events we must craft experiences and content to have maximum positive impact.

Yes, it is like planning two events in one timeframe. It requires resources to do it well. It also leads to the next Shift, the Content Candy Store and becomes an where you need to plan how your organization will stand out. As we rebuild teams for the return to events, having specialists on your team who understand digital and hybrid integrations will become the new imperative. Hybrid is a tool that has been used to build FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) in the past for the “cool” events and is now a way we can continue to grow audience share, educate your participants and build connects across borders. It requires the strength of the platform with the marvelous work of the event designer to deliver on its promises now and in the future.

We have a plethora of content available to us in a wide range of price points from free, to member-only to widely available, covering any specialty interest. To stand out you must be able to micro-target your content to the specific audience that will derive the most value from it. Time is a resource that even for those between roles, remains a commodity so be clear about the relevant take-aways available. 

Sustainability is not a buzzword and climate change is real. Event professionals have an opportunity to lead the way in how we return to travel, manage our groups of any size in destinations anywhere and come out with a net-positive people-planet-profit result. Now is the time to dig into how you can do this and there are many great resources, including the Global Destination Sustainability Movement and the Sustainable Event Alliance. The reality – the organizations you work for and with likely all have a sustainability policy and baking good practices into your events is simply good business.

From bringing side hustles to life, to starting new ventures and reinventing offerings, organizations from solopreneur to our largest event agencies, associations and corporations have been deeply impacted in a multitude of ways. This has caused us to dig deep, to ask for help, to find ways to connect when we cannot connect live, to prove our resilience, sometimes needed on a daily basis. Both organizations and individuals have responded with creativity because this is ultimately who we are, individuals that seek to serve, to collaborate, to create and to transform.  

Do we have a lot to think about going forward? We sure do, but back to being creative, resilient powerhouses – you got this!

As the world of events continues to pivot, we see a rush of technology solutions popping with the promise of seamless virtual events. But most of the conversation is being driven by marketers who have an agenda, not actual event experts. We want to change the conversation by amplifying the voice of industry leaders who are on the battlefield, confronting the real challenges event planners are facing daily.

We had the opportunity to talk recently with Tahira Endean, CITP, CMP,DES,CED, Head of Events at SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence), about the future of events. Tahira describes herself as the world’s biggest event nerd. Her experience, enthusiasm and expertise are matched only by her creativity. She has worked in the meetings and events space for over 25 years. A certified Event Designer and Digital Strategist, Tahira holds a Diploma in Event Management and a Bachelor of Hospitality Management. She is a Certified Incentive Travel Professional and a CMP Certified Meeting Professional. She is also the author of “Intentional Event Design”, a book about creating events based on seven distinct intentions in order to drive stronger, better results.

As we approach the end of a challenging and transformational year, we chatted with Tahira about the state of the events industry, what innovations have appeared and what’s to come.

Everybody’s job [in the event’s industry] has been shifted in some way. It could be that they’re doing more with less resources. It could be that they don’t have a job anymore, that they’ve been laid off or they’ve been furloughed. Some event professionals may have found new jobs; some haven’t. Some have pivoted to doing virtual and digital events, and some are still just trying to figure out how they’re going to do events next year.

The biggest lesson has been that there’s just no easy way to all of a sudden change everything that you’re doing and to not know what exactly is going to happen next. People have had to really dig deep for courage and resilience, and to really look at what they want to do, what they’re energized by, and how we can help our organizations at a time that’s really difficult. There is a lot of opportunity, but there’s also a lot of pressure.

The events that have been the most successful are the ones that have made it more about design over platform. One of the events I’ve enjoyed the most was one that SITE produced in September, our Young Leaders Conference. They are generally between 25 and 35 years old with less than five years specifically in incentives. But we had people from a broader range than that attended the event.

What I loved about it was that the committee planned it. They were all in. Everybody participated in making sure that it was successful. And we did it all in Zoom, which was a choice driven by economy. We said “Well, if we’re going to just have it in Zoom and not use a cool platform, then how are we going to make it awesome?”. We set the expectation: if you’re going to attend, be prepared to participate. Because we’re creating an agenda that will benefit from your participation. Everyone had their cameras on.

Being new in their career, many of those people have lost their jobs. So, they were doing something different, or looking for new things, or trying new things. This was their opportunity to ask questions, get interesting answers and look at things in different ways. The event was over three short days (2.5 hours per day), and a lot of people stayed for the three days.

A few elements that worked well:

I watched an interview the other day with Microsoft who pivoted $200 million worth of events into digital. I loved it, because what he was saying was all of the things that we had learned along the way, which was “make mistakes, go into this with your team knowing that you’re going to make mistakes and blame is not going to be late”. We’re all going to learn together how to do this better. We are definitely seeing digital fatigue, so we have to figure out ways to make things interesting and finding ways for people to connect, not just listen.

I just did a series of micro webinars. It’s exhausting to continually listen to one-hour webinars, so we did a series of 12-minute talks. David Allison works with Valuegraphics and has this amazing data about how people think and approach things and what kind of core values our participants are showing up with. We did this 12×12 series on YouTube that was really good fun.

I think that what we will see will be much like what we saw after the recessions. The events that we do might be smaller, but the people who are attending them have more reasons for being there. Events will become much more purpose driven and  much more people centric. These are the two things that I think are the most important in what we do.

Whether it’s doing safer air travel or having a better hotel experience, or having a meaningful event experience. It’s all about taking the things that we’re learning, and the things that we already know but don’t always apply. Good learning design principles – make people learn in 10 minute chunks; don’t make people sit down for 60 minutes and watch something.

Think about the reality that we are in, not just putting content out there. What people are craving now more than ever is ways to connect. It’s about finding ways that you can have those genuine connections with people and build our community around that. And that’s going to be the next piece of the puzzle that we really need to overcome in the next year.

There’s a lot of good stuff happening out there – really great quizzes, team building, virtual escape rooms, and all different ways that people can interact digitally. And it just goes back to what’s the purpose of your meeting. Figure out what the purpose is.

Let’s use IBM Think as an example. It’s a super well produced event. It would usually happen around March in Las Vegas, and they would have around 30,000 attendees. Well, March this year happened to be when you couldn’t have a 30,000 people event in Vegas. So, they crafted a very well executed digital event, and 100,000 people showed up.

Because they are a technology platform, they’re using their own great skills they already have from a production and technology perspective, and they’re working with experienced experts in event design and creating a beautiful flow of an event that’s well executed and people will stay and watch it. It was new and fresh. It’s about creating the purpose and telling a story. And they told that story really well.

If your purpose is to share a message with tens of thousands of people, you have to be really clear on crafting that messaging and then create digitally engaging, well-produced content to do that. If your purpose, like ours with the SITE event, was to connect 100-200 people who are newer in their careers and looking to get some inspiration, connection and ideas for how they can move their careers forward, you’re going to design that event in a totally different way.

I don’t think I’ve seen a quarter of what’s available out there to connect people online. There’s lots of great platforms out there. I think it’s about exploring what the opportunities are, because there are some different networking platforms that are really great.

Who would ever thought that people would go to escape rooms? Ten years ago, there were very few escape rooms in the world. Now there are 15,000 escape rooms in the world. And more, now that there are digital escape rooms. They’re a terrific way to get people to work together in small groups to solve problems and to come out on the other side stronger as a team. That’s their purpose.

Another example: using trivia as a way to get salespeople to connect to the information that you’ve given them about your product. That’s still effective. You’ve given them some information and you want to test that information with some kind of a digital game right away. Do you want to take that digital game into a mobile app and connect it to your learning management system? It all depends on what the need is, but there are lots of different and amazing ways to connect people.

It’s going to take a while before we get to any kind of herd immunity that’s going to take us back to a pre-pandemic sort of state. And we’re far away from this reality right now. We’re going to have to rethink everything that we’re doing and how we’re approaching a duty of care.

When you go into a hotel and everything is behind plexiglass and people are wearing masks – that’s going to be around for a while. It’s very different to facilitate a conversation between people who can stand in an open bar with a drink in their hand and have a networking conversation and I can see you across the room. For example, if I bring somebody over to meet you at an event, there’s a good chance we’ll be wearing a mask and that we still need to have some kind of physical distancing. That fundamentally changes events where we’ve relied on at face-to-face meetings.

How we design moving groups through our space, how we design seating, how we feed attendees, and how we get them to have dialogue – these have all fundamentally changed. I’m going to say for the foreseeable future, we’ll get past it. But not for a while. We just have to start at the beginning basically and continue to rethink events.

There’s a great whitepaper from IMEX about how we need to go back into events thinking about creating it regeneratively. I think that’s really important. It’s not just thinking about sustainability but thinking end-to-end, cradle-to-grave circular economy.

We need to step back and not just return to events as they were. Not back to that place of non-sustainable tourism meetings and events. We need to think about people’s safety and about the land that we’re on and the way we’re using it. We need to think about the people who are there to create things that are going to have a positive impact for the destinations that we’re in, and a positive impact for the organizations that we work with.

We’re at a great time of experimentation. Do we need to get slightly slicker at it? Possibly. We still need to keep it really human. That’s probably going to become even more important than when this started back in March. There is no possible way that we imagined that eight months later we would still be going back into lockdowns. There was a lot of optimism back in March. We thought we’d be meeting by August and in August we would be meeting by December, and by December… maybe we are meeting next June.

A lot of big companies have said that they won’t be doing live meetings for 2021 or at least until summer 2021. And maybe not just until 2022. That’s a massive impact on the 12 million people that are employed in the meeting industry and another 10 million people that are employed in the hospitality industry. All of these industries were impacted since we paused in-person events across the spectrum. We can keep doing digital events, but we also need to get back to safe travel and smart, regenerative, thoughtful meetings and events.

Anything that helps to understand how organizations think is going to be useful, whether that’s Simon Sinek, Jim Collins or other resources.

Some great podcasts that I listen to regularly:

We thank Tahira Endean for her time sharing her insights with us! 

You can connect with Tahira here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahira-endean-citp-cmp-des-ced-918a868/