Cvent’s Meetings and Events Team, like many teams, are always trying to one-up their events. When it came to planning their marquee user conference this year, that meant taking their conference hybrid. So, we got a behind-the-scenes look at the twists and turns these event pros navigated and we’re sharing the helpful tips they learned along the way.
First, some background knowledge on the event this team was tasked to pull off. Cvent CONNECT is an annual event technology conference. It’s typically an in-person event with programming that spans four days and includes networking, knowledge sharing, and training for attendees. In 2020, the event was completely virtual. But for 2021 the Cvent team faced a huge question: how should they go hybrid?
The Decision to Go Hybrid
Hybrid events are a new tool in the planning arsenal. But figuring out if the hybrid event format is the right fit for your event can be a struggle. Without precedents to guide the decision making process, and countless concerns from stakeholders and peers within the company, how does one make the final decision?
Cvent’s team navigated this challenge by getting all of their key stakeholders in the room and discussing the goals for the event, the benefits, as well as the challenges.
In the end, Rachel Andrews, Senior Director of Meetings and Events, said “[Moving to hybrid] wasn’t a hard decision, it was an easy decision. Easy in the sense that we needed to make sure that we were offering an experience to ALL of our attendees. We wanted to make sure our customers were able to connect with us regardless of the medium.”
Designing a Hybrid Event
Event design starts with having a clear objecting. For hybrid events the complexity is that you are designing one event with two experiences.
What Cvent discovered was that they need to shift their mindset and start thinking like a producer, with a goal of creating a compelling experience for all attendees. To create an interesting virtual experience they added many unique production elements to their event this year. And to make sure in-person attendees felt safe they closely incorporated health and safety protocols into the event.
Staffing a Hybrid Event
Event staff can make or break your event. In larger organizations, like Cvent, a cross-functional team will usually be involved in planning event staff, while in smaller organizations this can sometimes be an individual.
Cvent found success in staffing for their hybrid event by breaking it down into smaller, more manageable pieces, and using a consistent staffing playbook. Ultimately their staffing solution was comprised of onsite staff, virtual staff, internal staff, and outsourced staff.
Working with the Venue, AV Company, and Sponsors
Picking the right third-party partners to support your event is key. As Cvent found, there are many new aspects to consider when working with venues. For Cvent CONNECT, internet, bandwidth, and electrical capabilities were all areas of concern and were rigorously tested. Multiple contingency plans were also on file.
The team also learned to lean on their venue to help with health and safety guidelines. Diagramming tools allowed for visualization of the event, and offered a way to collaborate with the venue, AV partner, and other vendors.
Hybrid Event Technology
As the Cvent team started to make technology decisions about their event, they realized it was critical to keep their goals top of mind. They use these three questions as they selected event tech for the event:
- What is our North Star for hosting this event?
- What are our program goals?
- How can hybrid event technology support and bring those goals to life?
Post Event Activation
Once your event ends, then what? For the Cvent team it’s critical that engagement continues after the event. They focus on collecting multiple points of data throughout the entire event (for hybrid events this means gathering data on in-person and virtual attendees) that can then be used effectively.
Cvent uses one platform for all of their events, this allows for collection of data at every touchpoint of the attendee journey. They also use engagement scoring to identify people that need immediate sales follow up versus those that could benefit from further marketing communication. This ensures that all of the hard work that went into their hybrid event achieves the full return on investment.
While the Cvent team definitely faced challenges on their way to producing Cvent CONNECT as a hybrid event, they were able to overcome and produce a state-of-the-art conference.
For all the details on how the Cvent team took their event hybrid be sure to check out Cvent’s eBook, Keeping Up with the Connectors.
