It’s no question that Covid-19 has completely shaken up the event industry. With weddings, conferences, and even corporate team building activities and games moving online to the safety and comfort of people’s homes, it’s hard to imagine a time when there will ever be another live event.
Just like many other industries that rely on large groups of people gathering together, events are forced to adapt.
The event industry has now become the event tech industry.
Event planner? No, the virtual event planner is the new title!
And events? They have now become hybrid events!
We know it’s a confusing time for anyone thinking about planning an event so that’s why we at Best Venues New York have put together this hybrid event guide to help answer any of your post-COVID-19 event questions:
What Are Hybrid Events?
A simple definition of hybrid events is an event that combines an in-person experience with virtual programming.
For example, a conference hosts in-person networking events (with the proper social distancing of course!) while live-streaming general sessions or just its breakout sessions and keynote speakers to a virtual audience.
We’re certain hybrid events will be the path going forward as the future of events. According to EventManagerBlog.com, 62% of event planners believe that they will keep their virtual audience once events go live again. While a hybrid event is a new concept for the event industry, the concept has been around a long time in the sports world. Event planners across the world have been adjusting to the new reality and getting used to incorporating a much larger AV (Audiovisual) budget into their planning.
What Are The Best Virtual Event Platforms?
There are quite a few virtual event platforms. Here’s a look at the 3 of the best platforms for any virtual events you may host:
ConnexMe: With built-in collaborative features such as video streaming and live slide sharing, ConnexMe allows your event to come to life online. The platform allows participants to get involved by responding to polls put out by speakers and networking with fellow guests through Connexme’s business card scanning feature. Overall, ConnexMe is a premium virtual event tool that gives your participants a one of a kind online experience.
Virtway Events: It’s time to make participants feel as if they are on the tradeshow floor! That’s exactly what Virtway Events wanted to do with their one of kind virtual conference tool. Virtway’s 3D virtual event technology gives users a lifelike and captivating experience that is the perfect tool to host your corporate events, summits, and meetings. Virtual hopes to save time, money, and the planet with their virtual event software.
Trippus Event Solutions: The most engaging virtual conference software capitalizes on the fact that each attendee can have a fully customized experience. Trippus makes engagement easy with personalized text messages that speakers can send to viewers during the talk. Virtual audiences can also get in the mix with the ask a question feature that Trippus provides attendees. One of the most popular features that Trippus offers is their lead management tool. Participants can visit virtual trade booths and collect visitor’s contact information to follow up on leads. A virtual event with Trippus feels like you were actually on the tradeshow floor!
What Will The Hybrid Event Experience Be Like?
It’s safe to say that hybrid events will feel different than previous live event conferences, trade shows, and corporate events. The event industry is forced to adjust and here’s what you expect a hybrid event experience to be like:
Large Ballrooms: It will be necessary for the live part of the hybrid event to have a lot of event space. Not only for social distancing guidelines but also for the amount of equipment that will be needed to Livestream the talks to the virtual audience. It’s important to note that fast and secure wi-fi will also become the norm.
Virtual Event Technology: While the live event part of hybrid events will most likely look pretty similar to before, virtual event technology will play a big role in how smoothly the event runs. It will be important for speakers and event hosts to engage their virtual audience. One of the major areas that will need improvement is live social media streaming. It would be reasonable to expect a dedicated event staff member to handle all social media interactions during the keynote talks and breakout sessions.
30 Minute Scheduled Talks: Virtual audiences have a much shorter attention span compared to the live event audience. Hybrid events will have to adapt and create shorter time blocks for their talks and sessions. Instead of an hour and a half talk with Q & A at the end, a hybrid event talk could be much shorter and clock in around 30 minutes. Until there are virtual reality conferences, virtual audiences need to be kept entertained. Hybrid events could turn into something closer to watching Netflix rather than a conference.
The Future Of Events
While the event industry has come upon tough times, a whole new hybrid event industry has taken its place. Virtual event technology and platforms will only become more refined, more sophisticated, and more lifelike. It’s reasonable to expect that in a few years, a virtual reality conference will be held. Until then, (virtual) event planners will continue to plan hybrid events and embrace the future of events.
Ready to embrace the future of events? Best Venues New York has been a leader in the event planning industry for many years and is ready to plan your virtual event! Contact us today to get started!