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Hybrid conferences are live gatherings with an online component. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, this format for meetings was uncommon, but it has recently become more prevalent as a result of the pandemic’s asynchronous global spread, unequal access to vaccines, and various national travel laws that prevented a significant portion of participants from physically attending conferences.
Every government, public, or business entity has conferences to share their work with their community and keep up with the trends. Organizations, that use meetings as a chance to plan their next career move, these gatherings are crucial for networking and forming collaborations. Since March 2020, numerous in-person meetings have been postponed, rescheduled, or switched to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing travel bans and restrictions. This has allowed organizations to virtually present their work and engage with members of their respective communities.
To understand the hybrid conferences better, there’s a need to understand the associated opportunities and challenges to it. Let’s have a look at them.
To understand the hybrid conferences better, there’s a need to understand the associated opportunities and challenges to it. Let’s have a look at them.
Opportunities in Hybrid Conferences
Higher Reach & Engagement
Probably the fundamental reason why most businesses opt for a hybrid conference is the onset benefit of getting a global reach. Though traditional conferences offer better engagement but offer limited reach and virtual conferences deliver larger reach but poor engagement. On the other hand, an advanced hybrid platform surpasses both the drawbacks and offers the opportunity to bring on-board eminent speakers from across the globe and the combined engagement of a physical and virtual conference.
A Space for Everyone
In an organization or a multi-organization conference, there can be a few participants who might not feel comfortable actively participating in a physical meeting or might not attend the event due to unavoidable circumstances. The hybrid conference offers them a chance to be within their comfort zone and yet be a part of the conference as well as actively participate to make the conference success of team effort.
Better Data Collection and Networking
When it comes to the stylized and orderly collection of conference and attendee data, physical conferences often fall short. With so many participants to be catered to, the data gets mishandled and misplaced leaving minimal scope for organizers to develop a strong networking channel. A hybrid conference on the other hand gives the option to develop bigger data sets, all thanks to the technology involved and better opportunities for the organizers to use the data to build stronger networks post-conference.
Unforgettable Experience
Conferences are a great way to collaborate with eminent personalities, investors, and beneficiaries for every organization. But to keep them in line with the agenda as the conference progresses, experience plays a significant role. Physical events tend to deliver that up to some extent but time, venue and regulatory constraints can hamper the impact of the information delivered, whereas a completely virtual conference may lack the engagement required throughout the process. This is where the hybrid conferences shine. With minimal constraints, limited guests to be catered in the physical event, and the immersive experience of the virtual event, powered by an advanced virtual event platform, hybrid conferences tend to deliver an exceptional experience.
Challenges in Hybrid Conferences
Overhead Costs:
Though a hybrid conference has a virtual component, there are still a number of overhead costs associated with it. As a matter of fact, a virtual conference has more investment required, as compared to a traditional conference. Cost of organizing a complete physical conference along with the cost of the virtual conference which involves high-quality streaming service and equipment used to convene the entire conference.
Ease of Access:
The world has become more approachable thanks to technology. Remote working has gifted people the opportunity to be present anywhere at any time. This new normal may be threatened by hybrid conferences. Organizations may be prone to concentrate on those present rather than those working remotely. When taking action, this becomes extremely important to monitor the actions and judge the performance of the participants.
Building Engagement:
Engaging the employees and making sure they stick to the topic becomes cumbersome. This is crucial in every meeting, but some attendees may try to take advantage of the flexibility in hybrid meetings, Hence it is important to limit distractions and discourage multitasking. To encourage participation, online participants can be asked to keep their cameras on at all times. Defining clear roles and goals will keep the participants more involved and engaged.
Keeping up with the Team Work:
Making sure that everyone on the team is in agreement in order to maintain a seamless flow of knowledge is one of the conference’s most essential problems. This could be challenging in hybrid meetings when participants may find it challenging to work together as a cohesive entity. This problem may be made worse by technical problems and slow internet. Early on, a lack of team spirit may appear to be a minor obstacle, but it must be overcome quickly to prevent a distinction from being made between a resolution and the action conducted according to the agenda.
Security Concerns:
The foundation of virtual conferences is security. Every organization should benefit from the new era of data security that digital technology has brought about. Paper documents are not secure, thus it is crucial that the streaming software used in a hybrid conference provides total security. In reality, maintaining the integrity of all shared data and keeping it processing is required by law in industrialized nations.
The Future of Hybrid
Hybrid events continue to provide experiences on demand and enhance networking chances during events, which is why they are becoming increasingly popular. Event organizers have clung to this event concept due to the hybrid events’ versatility. A perfect model to tackle the natural constraints like weary weather or a pandemic, along with higher attendee inclusion and engagement rates, global reach, and better sponsorship opportunities, hybrid conferences can reduce uncertainty and add superior ROI benefits for organizations.
But the question is ‘How should businesses get into Hybrid conferences?’ The simplest answer to that would be to get a trusted partner that offers you the best-in-class hybrid event platform, along with end-to-end support throughout the process of your event. With the use of innovative physical event technology and immersive virtual worlds, the ibentos hybrid conference and events platform enables international organizations to design large-scale hybrid events that are lifelike, engaging, and rich in real-time interactions. With a decade-long experience of catering to global barons, ibentos understands what pitches right for every segment and industry and delivers always the best.
Read more | Virtual Conferences – The 2021 Guide
Want to execute an enriching virtual event for your audience, reach out to us now.