We’ve entered a hybrid era for business and events, and while the world is opening, it’s unlikely we’ll see a complete shift in either direction. As virtual events are now ubiquitous, are live events still important and impactful? Why? How can you build a successful hybrid event strategy that leverages the benefits of both formats?
THE NECESSITY OF IN-PERSON EVENTS
While virtual events have offered a convenient and safe way to connect with a wider variety of audiences, they tend to only offer a unidirectional dialogue that can feel scripted. The truth is that virtual platforms are best suited as a one-to-many presentation vector, with the primary goal of disseminating information.
In-person events create a unique, collaborative experience where you can receive instantaneous feedback and keep your finger on the pulse of the market. They facilitate a broader dialogue that enables industry participants to not only engage in the moment, but also to walk away with significant understandings they otherwise would never have been able to get.
For example, following our company’s annual Excelerate summit, one attendee shared that our company felt like one big family, not just something transactional. The experience and narrative of the event were focused on listening to customers as much as sharing information.
Similarly, at this year’s InsureTech Connect in Las Vegas, one of the insurance industry’s largest global events, we spoke with individuals and groups of customers, subject matter experts, and prospects about where they are in this moment — including their priorities, pain points, and goals — and how we can help address their needs. In-person events create deeper connections, enabling us to relate with customers on the challenges they face and what matters most to them.
Chance encounters can’t be recreated online or scripted in advance. These ad hoc moments, such as chatting over coffee or between sessions, offer an overall richness that’s unique to the in-person experience and can provide insights that allow you to be more successful in engaging with customers and others.
There’s something different about following along with a live speaker. You have fewer distractions, and you are listening within a focused context. You can read the presenter’s body language while absorbing the information shared. It’s an entirely different experience from simply looking at slides with what feels like a voiceover.
CAPTURING THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
So, how can you combine the strengths of in-person events with those of online ones, to create an impactful hybrid event? Here are a few tips.
1. Know your goal and stay strategic. Different channels and platforms have their own unique flavor and benefits and are not interchangeable.
In-person events provide great opportunities to build excitement, strengthen interpersonal relationships, and create space for less structured industry conversations. Virtual events are great for smaller, more “bite-sized” experiences on highly specific topics and are better suited for sharing information across geographies and time zones. Virtual events can supplement and enhance live events and lead to more bi-directional communication after the fact or create a “jumping-off point” for future events.
2. Bring experiences to customers. Be sure to both know your audience and be willing to meet them where they are. Work in concert with the obvious preferences they’ve indicated. Supplement in-person events with virtual components, where needed, and offer additional flexibility, such as sharing session recordings online, where possible.
3. Understand your metrics and how to measure them. In addition to the number of attendees, engagement, and follow-through post-event, consider events’ intangible benefits. While these interactions and achievements may not be easily quantified, they’re often of tremendous long-tail benefit to the organization. They can lead to the type of activities facilitated by strong industry presence and thought leadership that you can track, build on, and leverage in understanding how well you met your strategic goals.
4. Check in — regularly. Proper event strategies are designed to evolve, be agile, and meet audiences in the manner that best benefits them. The key is to continually make sure that engagement and goals are being met. This should include not only a review of how well you’re meeting the metrics you’ve defined and their associated ROI, but also scheduled time to reflect, review feedback, and make informed changes.
It’s important to acknowledge that we’ve moved into an ever-evolving hybrid dynamic. While we will need to continue to offer virtual event components, in-person events and the strong interpersonal connections they foster are crucial to ensuring business success. A hybrid event strategy that meets customers where they are, evaluates the best platform for each message and goal, and regularly evolves to capture customer feedback will prove to be the most successful.
David Howland is the Chief Marketing Officer of Earnix, an Enterprise SaaS company reimagining the future of Insurance and Banking.