THE ESSENCE OF HYBRID EVENTS

Hybrid event is a physical meeting in which an online audience also participates. Essentially, both the physical as well as the online audience come together and participate in the same experience or content at the same time, from different locations. This enables you to reach a large (international) audience who can actively participate in your event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4iE01h-0_M

The challenges involved are: • There should be at least three or four cameras shooting from different angles. This allows you, the viewer, to be literally as 'close' to the content and the experience as you possibly can be. The switching between shots will help keep viewers glued to the screen. • Hybrid events differ substantially from TV viewing: the participants are sitting with their hands next to a keyboard. It is therefore prudent to give some thought on how your online viewers can participate. For example, Q&A session, a poll, quiz or a collaborative online brainstorm. • A successful broadcast takes a good two hours – which is a reasonable attention span for an online audience. Moreover, you can also make it very clear that there is much more 'event' going on that the online viewer will miss. That should give them the incentive to attend the physical event next time! • It is relatively easy to attract viewers with an appealing subject; choose a clear theme, and build your program around it In this way, you attract viewers who are not yet familiar with your event or conference, but after seeing the online broadcast may be encouraged to consider physically attending the next one. • A good broadcast is as entertaining as a football game or a talk show. There is always a presenter, there are guests, and there is a moderator who directs the online content. A Hybrid event can generate a reach of up to 10 times its size. Nothing beats the power of a physical encounter, everyone knows that. However, a hybrid broadcast will not reduce physical participation. With a hybrid event you don't just remove the 'place' factor, but also the 'time' factor. The broadcast can still be viewed (in parts) online later, which expands the long-term reach and also taps into a whole new audience. The wide reach makes a hybrid component even more attractive to sponsors in generating the Social media buzz and so on.