Guide Details

In the early 2010s, hybrid meetings were hailed as the “breakout star” of the meeting and event industry, offering planners, sponsors, and venues incredible opportunities. With the successful execution of hybrid events, planners could expand their audiences globally, introduce new and engaging formats, easily generate content for marketing and attendee on-demand experiences and give voice to those who might be reluctant, or unable, to attend in person.

Early evangelists in the format successfully pushed the envelope of what was possible with the tools and suppliers available at the time. They learned hard-fought lessons about things like online streaming providers, bandwidth, latency, video, and audio quality, and delivering engaging experiences to audiences that were not only not in the same ballroom but were connecting from offices, homes and mobile devices around the world.

Even so, an industry that prided itself on connecting in-person was skeptical of incorporating a digital audience. They worried about cost, complexity, technical failures, and despite research to the contrary, losing their in-person audiences. As a result, online and hybrid events saw little innovation over the decade, and frequently amounted to little more than sticking a camera in the back of the room, broadcasting it to the Internet and calling it “hybrid.”

That all changed in 2020.

“Nowhere in the history of meetings have we seen such an explosion of so many different formats and applications of new technology,” wrote the authors of the original MPI Hybrid Meetings How-To Guide almost a decade earlier. If only they knew what was to come! As the pandemic forced the meeting industry online, hundreds of companies created streaming platforms or pivoted from other event technology solutions. Planners were left to figure out how to translate and adapt their agendas, find unique sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities and explore ways of engaging and keeping their online audiences engaged. They were thrown into a technological hurricane and given the choice to sink or swim.

Those who succeeded discovered what those early pioneers had already learned—adding online components to events expanded their audiences globally, introduced new and engaging formats, easily generated content for marketing and attendee on-demand experiences and gave voice to those who might be reluctant, or unable, to attend in person. Sound familiar?

As the world opened up again, they naturally looked for ways to re-incorporate the in-person experience, and what was old became new again, as the hybrid event experience was reborn.

Introduction: History Informs the Future

Preparing for Your Hybrid Event

• What is (and Isn’t) a Hybrid Event?
• Types of Hybrid Audiences
• Starting with the Why
• Know Your Stakeholders

Designing Your Hybrid Experience

• Think Like a TV Producer
• The Hybrid Host
• Other Engagement Opportunities
• Presenters and Rehearsal

The Technology of Hybrid Events

• In-Room Audiovisual
• The Encoder, Venue ISP and Platform
• The Last Mile
• Vendor Support
• Technology Troubleshooting

Venues and Budgeting

• Choosing an Online Platform
• Budget Considerations
• Choosing Your In-Person Venues

Conclusions

Definitions