Open Forum

Hello all! Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to start another edition of the Huddle of the Week post!

Last year, we saw the blooming trend of 'Hybrid' events, and now 2022 calls for revamping our strategies. A lot of the planners here in the Community would agree that, before embarking on your hybrid event planning journey, you need to ask yourself a few key questions. These could be: What is the goal of your event? Why are you considering a hybrid format? What does hybrid mean to you?

To help you address these questions and talk more about hybrid events, Cvent is hosting a webinar 'The Great Hybrid Debate' on 15th March 2022 at 11 AM ET and 4 PM GMT. Register today to reserve your spot!

So, tell us –

• What key things should a planner keep in mind while hosting hybrid events for the first time?

As always, we would love to know your thoughts below! #HuddleoftheWeek #VoiceIt​​​
#EventApp-Building/managing

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Ridhima Krishan
Sr. Associate, Customer Marketing
Cvent
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Hi Ridhima, 

Some of the basics would be to keep in mind that it's almost like planning two events at once, so you might want to staff your team in consequences, maybe have an event planner lead then two junior planners, one for in-person and one for virtual, work collaboratively on the two aspects of the event. You'll want to make sure you're capitalizing on synergies and having presenters who will be live in-person either pre-record a virtual version of their session, or present live virtually at another time slot, rather than straight up double your number of presenters. 

Cheers,

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Béline FALZON
Conference Program Specialist II
California Teachers Association
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I think a major consideration for planning hybrid events is the audience FOR the hybrid experience.  Whether its timing, geographical location, or health related reasons for choosing a hybrid option for an event, planners need to understand the motivation and needs of the virtual audience.  In this way, the hybrid group may only get the live-streamed program via a platform like Zoom, with an in-house moderator to address guest questions.  Because the attendee is making time for the most important aspect of the event (to them as virtual attendees) - the program - I think planners need to think through "tacking on" additional engagement activities that might keep a virtual attendee online longer than they want - or need - to be.

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Brianne Croteau
Assistant Director of Donor and Volunteer Relations
Bucknell University
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-09-2022 14:35
From: Béline FALZON
Subject: Essential ingredients for delivering successful Hybrid events

Hi Ridhima, 

Some of the basics would be to keep in mind that it's almost like planning two events at once, so you might want to staff your team in consequences, maybe have an event planner lead then two junior planners, one for in-person and one for virtual, work collaboratively on the two aspects of the event. You'll want to make sure you're capitalizing on synergies and having presenters who will be live in-person either pre-record a virtual version of their session, or present live virtually at another time slot, rather than straight up double your number of presenters. 

Cheers,

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Béline FALZON
Conference Program Specialist II
California Teachers Association
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Tech check, check your tech, and tech check again.

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HALLIE Loeb
Director of Meetings
Travel and Transport
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So, tell us –

• What key things should a planner keep in mind while hosting hybrid events for the first time? Ask your venue for references from past successful Hybrid events. 

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Colleen Beck
Director of Sales & Marketing
The Westin Tampa Bay
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Make sure you are regularly checking tech to avoid potential issues!

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Bouran Qaddumi
Sr Manager, Training & Development
Cajun Operating Company d/b/a Church's Chicken
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Think as if you are planning TWO programs - because you are! Each should be planned independently and with two teams for logistics.

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Gina Allega, CMP
Senior Program Manager
BCD M&E
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The main objective that needs to be top of mind, is how the events work together in two formats. It's like planning 2 events at once, there is a lot more work that goes into it. We are currently planning a hybrid event with 7 locations, and it's way more work than one onsite meeting for the same amount of people.

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Beth Vriesen
Events Registration Administrator
Associated Bank Corporation
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My organization is bumping up against cost VS Hybrid event execution.

Agreed that there are TWO events being planned. My team wants streaming capability to a select private audience, but the AV Cost seems to be out of our budget.

I think that finding creative ways to use the Virtual Attendee Hub for streaming live content, or perhaps borrowing some techniques from Cvent TV (and using Cvent Studio) could solve this problem.

I am a big fan of the idea of bringing Virtual Attendees in contact with Live Onsite attendees - perhaps via sessions that use DISCUSSIONS to bring these two physically separated audiences together in the same virtual discussion room. Also, if the Live Onsite attendees raved about how great the onsite experience has been, this could turn Virtual attendees into Live Onsite attendees for future events.

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Brenda Ainsburg
Channel Program Manager, Americas Channel
brenda.ainsburg@siemens.com
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
United States
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Ensure the format of the presentation is something that can be digested and jsut as fruitful for those both in attendance in-person as well as virtual.

Make.sure.your.technology.works > and that you have someone monitoring the pages as much as you have people monitoring the in-person room looking to help people and answer question

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Rachel
NJ
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I strongly recommend making sure the experience is valuable for both sets of attendees (in person and virtual). It is also important to validate the tech setup and have very good A/V to support a positive online experience compared to those in the room. Additional event staff to support monitoring the chat and troubleshooting both in person and online is helpful.

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Jason Yakencheck
Administrator
ISACA Greater Washington, D.C. Chapter
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• check you technology
• do dress rehearsals for in person and for virtual speakers
• think about how the content needs to be delivered to ensure best experience for both audiences

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Virginia Early
Sr. Associate Director of Events
William & Mary Foundation
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What key things should a planner keep in mind while hosting hybrid events for the first time?

• Make sure that those attending the virtual side of the hybrid event are able to feel as involved as possible. Make sure to send all the information, any activities (that are possible for the virtual attendees to do at home), and anything else that can make those at home feel as included as possible. The more included the virtual attendees feel, the more apt they are to stay connected from home.
• Test the tech, over and over. In my opinion there is no harm in test running the virtual and event the tech involved with the in-person side of the event numerous times. Test from different areas at work, on both PC and Apple products, and if possible test with coworkers who may work from home. I do not always condone working at home after the work day is done but it never hurts to try a dry run at home with your personal technology too. The more you test, the more prepared you can be for issues to arise.
• Be prepared for issues to occur. Not every event runs perfectly, especially navigating your first hybrid event. 

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Bryce Ziemer
Registration Coordinator
JNR Incorporated
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