Hybrid Events: Bringing Audiences Together, Wherever They Are

Hybrid has become another option in the Event Producer's toolkit. Done properly, it's about creating an experience that works for everyone, whether they're sitting in the audience, watching from an office, joining from home or tuning in from the other side of the world.

One event. Two audiences. One experience.

The biggest challenge with hybrid events is also the biggest opportunity. You have two audiences experiencing the same event in very different ways.

The people in the room have the energy of the live environment around them. They can network, react to what is happening and experience the production first-hand.

The remote audience doesn't have any of that, and therefore simply pointing a camera at the stage is not enough. Remote attendees need to feel considered. They need good-quality sound and vision, relevant content, opportunities to interact and a reason to stay engaged.

That means thinking about the online audience from the very beginning of the creative and production process, rather than adding them in as an afterthought.

The production needs to work in both worlds

Lighting that looks fantastic in the room might not translate well on camera, a presenter who works brilliantly on a live stage may need a different approach when they are also addressing an online audience, a Q&A that works perfectly with a microphone in the room needs a completely different mechanism when questions are coming in through a screen, even the pace of the event can feel different depending on how you are experiencing it.

Cameras, sound, lighting, screens, streaming, content, stage design and audience interaction all need to work together.

More reach does not mean less connection

One of the biggest advantages of hybrid events is the ability to bring people together who might otherwise never be in the same place, and content can potentially reach an audience long after the live event has finished.

However, reach is not the same as engagement. Having 5,000 people watching online doesnot necessarily mean you have created a successful event. The challenge is giving those people a reason to participate, perhaps via live Q&As, polls, interactive content, moderated online discussions or simply by creating content specifically for the remote audience.

Hybrid does not have to mean compromise

There is sometimes a perception that a hybrid event sits somewhere between a live event and a virtual one, and therefore compromises both, however, a well-produced hybrid event can take the best elements of both. You can have the atmosphere, energy and human connection of being in the room while also opening the experience up to a much wider audience.

The key is treating each audience as an important part of the event, rather than treating one as the ‘real’ audience and the other as an add-on.

What about sustainability?

Hybrid events can give organisations another way to think about the environmental impact of bringing large numbers of people together. Reducing unnecessary travel can be one consideration particularly for events involving international or widely distributed audiences.However, sustainability should not simply mean moving people onto a screen.

The most sustainable approach will depend on the event, its audience, its location, its production requirements and what you are trying to achieve. It is about making the right choices for the brief.

So, is hybrid the future?

Sometimes you need everyone in the room, sometimes virtual is the right solution, and sometimes bringing the two together creates something that neither format could achieve on its own.

At Centigrade, we start with the idea, the audience and what the event needs to achieve, thenwe work out how to bring it to life. That might involve staging, lighting, sound, content, creative design, live production, digital elements, or a combination of all of them.