See why hybrid is the safest route.
Can you feel it? That pent-up demand for live, in-person experiences?
We’ve been locked down, penned in, and video called out. But in many parts of the world, with the uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, audiences are closer to being unleashed.
On one hand, it’s great news for event organizers: people are itching to connect with others, be entertained, spend their money, and indulge their curiosity in the real world.
On the other hand…transitioning back to in-person events poses a few dilemmas:
- Can we trust that we’ll be free to gather? We’ve been here before and scheduled in-person activity, only to have the rug pulled out from under us. That has a time and cost impact and makes it hard to control your customer experience.
- People’s habits have changed. Audiences’ love for in-person remains—but habits and expectations have been redefined by a shift in the availability and quality of digital ‘live’ experiences. People are less willing to accept limits on how and when they can access content.
- Safety will be top of mind. Although many people are sick of being held back, many will likely be wary of crowds. Regulators and venues may also impose safety restrictions, requiring forethought during planning and precision during execution.
Does overcoming these problems seem like a tall order as you plan your upcoming events? There’s one clear solution—hybrid events.
Hybrid experiences make sense in an uncertain event industry
Hybrid events—a mix of in-person and virtual experiences—are the ideal way to reduce risk and re-engage audiences as you transition back to delivering live, in-person experiences.
Jomablue’s end-to-end event platform helps you execute and measure experiences across all formats, enabling a harmonious hybrid experience. That means you can create in-person events with a truly immersive and complementary digital component that all attendees will value—it’s so much more than just dumping content onto a web page or hosting a live stream.
Using one, flexible platform helps event organizers, producers, and marketers to:
- Adapt as conditions change and have a back-up in place to ensure events can occur.
- Go beyond one location or moment in time, with integrated physical and digital experiences.
- Remain sensitive to attendees’ confidence to be in crowds and meet safety obligations.
3 Reasons to embrace hybrid as you return to corporate live events
- Hybrid experiences help you adapt—come what may. Hybrid events augmented by a robust event platform offers choice and flexibility. For example, Jomablue’s in-person arrival process is contactless and fosters social distancing. However, if an attendee feels uncomfortable about meeting in-person, our interactive virtual environments ensure they’ll still have a highly engaging experience. Hybrid events let you maximize the reach of your event by supporting attendees who aren’t ready for physical gatherings. It also gives organizers more options: the balance of in-person versus virtual elements can be scaled up and down depending on evolving COVID-19 safety restrictions or other unforeseen issues.
- Audiences don’t want either/or—they want both, they want everything: You don’t have to choose between virtual and in-person, or make your attendees choose. Instead, you can give them one event with a range of experiences. For instance, a cohesive hybrid experience could include a live-streamed in-person session followed by a virtual Q&A involving all audience members (after all, everyone has a smartphone). Virtual after-hours networking via video chat benefits more than just remote attendees: consider people who need to head home to their family but still want a chance to socialize at the end of the day (or post-event). Hybrid events make content more accessible which offers extra value to all attendees—for instance, making session videos available on-demand lets people discover content streams they didn’t have time to see in person. With Jomablue’s incredible platform, it doesn’t have to mean twice the work, as you can plan and execute all elements in one place.
- Hybrid events offer long-term value—when done efficiently. Yes, the thought of a return to live events is exciting. But digital experiences are convenient and preferable in some circumstances. You can’t avoid integrating digital components into your events—and why would you want to? A balance between in-person and online experiences increases the reach, accessibility, and impact of the experiences and content you craft to inform and delight audiences. The real question is: what systems and tools can you adopt that will empower you to build events that span multiple formats in an effective and sustainable way? Jomablue can consult on how to nail the virtual component of an event to match your goals, and our integrated platform streamlines the work of hosting hybrid events, saving you time and the hassle of working with multiple providers.
Hybrid events are essential for mitigating risks and maximizing your success. Being able to leverage one feature-rich platform makes hybrid experiences both achievable and worthwhile. Jomablue gives you the best of all worlds—it makes virtual simple, and in-person better.
