A hybrid event was not even part of our vocabulary two years ago but now it’s the norm. When COVID shutdowns happened, events took possibly the biggest hit. At the time, we were two months out from our industry's biggest event of the year, Advancing Preconstruction, originally supposed to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Our company quickly halted all travel plans as did everyone else in the world. The preconstruction industry has a heavy focus on technology. It would be much better to show the technology live versus risking another lag in screen-sharing. In-person events were not an option for 2020, so where did that leave events for the preconstruction industry? Fast forward almost two years later and in-person events are back. However, they’re not the only choice anymore.
Attendees now have three ways to attend conferences: in-person, remote, or hybrid. Fully remote conferences are dwindling, but hybrid is here to stay. When event professionals across the country were polled, over 66% of participants said once they do go back to in-person events, it will be a hybrid model.
Hybrid and virtual events have opened up a wide range of ways people can attend conferences, like this virtual world from Topia.
The Advantages of Hybrid
Data
In the age of technology where data is everything, a hybrid event is able to gather more detailed data than an in-person-only event would offer. Companies are able to understand how their content is being consumed, which is just not possible when everyone is in the same room. Polls can only go so far as to get inside the mind of an attendee at a given session. Digital platforms, on the other hand, offer the ability to tell at what point the listener became disengaged in a presentation. This level of detail that companies are able to walk away with from an online event is now the expectation from stakeholders.
More Options
You are also able to have greater options in general when an event is set to be hybrid. For example, some venues might not have been available to your company as an option due to your company’s size. There is always a maximum capacity limitation for venues, but now even more so due to COVID. In addition to venue options, a hybrid event allows you to reach more attendees and speakers. You might be able to confirm speakers that might not have been in the budget before due to travel costs.
Flexibility
Hybrid events also offer greater flexibility. They are adaptable—no matter what is happening with changing health guidelines or venue shutdowns. Even if the in-person option can’t happen at the last minute, you already have a remote platform in place to handle all attendees and keep the event moving forward.
The Advantages of In-Person
Estimators learned how to use new tech in preconstruction at Beck Technologies workshops during Advancing PreconstructionSo why even bother with in-person events if the detailed data is only attainable through digital platforms? It all comes down to people. Nothing replaces face-to-face interaction. After years of having that limited (especially in the corporate event world,) we crave it. We also need social interaction to live and develop. According to a recent study conducted by Science Daily, there are specific neurons that activate when we engage in social interaction. I bet you can guess what is released by these neurons when we are interacting with others? Dopamine! Dopamine is the chemical in our body that makes us happy. Robert Waldinger, the current director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development has proven that “social connections are one of the most important factors for people’s health and happiness.”
For some of us, events can be a break from your day-to-day work, a chance to network with your industry, and even an opportunity to grow your internal team relationships with coworkers attending the same conferences. Over the last few years, I’m sure your company has attained a couple of new clients. Wouldn’t it be nice to meet them in person versus another Zoom call? We are meant to be around people. It’s hard to grow work relationships over a computer. There comes a time where that does get old and we have more than reached that mark.
Since 2020, we have learned that travel is not always necessary to get the job done, data is key, and we need to be around peers when given the chance. In-person may limit the audience of an event but hybrid brings the best of both worlds together. Flexibility is here to stay and the event world has shown us how to make that work for our industry.
