There are significant benefits to holding a hybrid event; here are some key reasons why hybrid events can offer a better experience than a physical-only event.
Collection of meaningful data
When we talk to event managers at conferences, information collection is one of the main benefits that they gain from having virtual participants. With a hybrid event, you can achieve better access to data such as event attendee numbers; people logged onto sessions, interaction through polls and networking and on-demand viewing data.
With a physical venue, you can only rely on badge data for registration and session attendees. So a lot of this valuable insight is lost.
GoRemote understands the value of actionable data; we offer our clients access to a portal with comprehensive real-time data before and during the event. For increased control and ability to amend timings or swap out speakers if things change. For in-depth data insights, companies such as explori.com specialise in helping organisations better understand their data.
Increase attendance
Many of our clients have commented on hybrid offering the opportunity for more significant events with a global and diverse audience. A virtual event provides ease of access for the audience that a purely physical event can’t match. The International Liver Congress saw that having a virtual aspect to their event offered more nurses and GPs to attend the event. They could participate for a short time without taking time off to travel and attend in-venue. This increase in both scale and audience types you can reach has vast benefits for both sponsors and the event’s impact.
Tempt high-profile speakers
Virtual stages can offer busy, high-profile speakers the chance to appear at a conference without taking too much time out of their schedule. This can often mean that speakers that were unreachable for a full day event can now attend at a time that suits them – widening the pool of available talent for your event.
Since starting GoRemote in 2020, our virtual stage managers have worked with notable speakers, including Richard Branson, Melinda Gates, Justin Trudeau and John Kerry. Speakers of such high calibre may not have time to dedicate a half-day to speaking at a physical event, more if you count all the travel, but can spare an hour to speak at a virtual one.
Reduce your carbon footprint
Events teams need to be conscious of their events’ environmental impact and find ways to make them greener. Hybrid events can be more environmentally friendly as you can opt for a smaller attendance for a physical venue and a larger attendance online. Travel makes up for a lot of environmental costs, so offering an online alternative to travelling to the venue will considerably lessen your event’s environmental impact.
GoRemote is committed to ensuring that our business’s impact is partly mitigated through investing in carbon offsetting schemes– we have already planted a hundred trees in Kenya with www.carbonfootprint.com. This year we are taking part in 1% for the planet, where we are giving 1% of our turnover to offset carbon.
More sponsorship opportunities
Hybrid events are not only more attractive to speakers and participants but to your sponsors and exhibitors, as they offer more opportunities for delegates to see and interact with their brand. Also, many virtual events offer a point of networking where delegates and exhibitors can directly message each other, which is great for outbound marketing opportunities for your sponsors.
As we return to physical events, we mustn’t lose all the significant advances in event technology and process that we have learned over these last few years.
While it is more expensive to host a hybrid event, its benefits can potentially outweigh the costs involved. Hybrid allows for more inclusive, greener, diverse events that offer opportunities for high-profile speakers and improved data insights.
To learn more about GoRemote and our smarter stage and speaker management services for high-profile events in the hybrid and virtual space, Contact us, below.
