As new event technology has emerged during the pandemic, you may be asking yourself — what is the difference between live, virtual, and hybrid events?

During a Live event, your attendees are all physically in attendance as opposed to a Virtual event where your guests view the entire event online. Hybrid events are what we like to call the happy medium, where some people attend in person while others watch online.

As more companies contemplate hosting a virtual event versus a physical gathering, now is the time to explore the benefits of choosing a hybrid model. Even as the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more readily available and live events start to make their comeback, hybrid events offer several benefits and will likely continue to play a huge part in the future events industry.

The Heard Museum hosted a beautiful hybrid gala event in celebration of their “Once in a Blue Moon” campaign, broadcasted live from the Museum’s brand new Blue Moon Garden! We captured the below photo of Campaign Committee Chairs, John and Janet Melamed after the Garden unveiling.

If you’re an event professional or business owner, there are a few key things to know when it comes to pulling off hybrid events.

Hybrid events combine both live and virtual event elements to create a unique, engaging and safety-conscious experience while providing greater flexibility for your audience.

Even before virtual events became the new normal, there were always people who would have loved to attend your event but couldn’t for one reason or another, travel being one of the bigger factors. By incorporating an online virtual component, hybrid events allow you to increase your overall reach and actually gain more attendees, ensuring that no one misses out on your amazing event.

Broadcasting your live event via a virtual platform opens many doors by giving you the chance to connect with a larger audience than could ever be possible in person. A virtual audience is able to actively participate in your live event from their mobile devices or desktop computer in real time. They can be anywhere in the world and still attend and most importantly engage in your event.

The virtual engagement tools you can incorporate in your hybrid events include live polls, Q&A sessions, and real-time audience chat for remote participants.

Let’s say your guests attending in-person are having a Q&A session with a speaker live on location, your online attendees can be viewing virtually and still participate by commenting directly via the live chat box. You can also host polls during your event that include both your live and online audience. This allows for even greater networking opportunities for your live and virtual attendees.

It is also important to include entertainment on location that both your live audience and virtual viewers can enjoy!

A few of our favorite entertainment elements include live bands and musicians, performers and entertainers such as magicians, artists, celebrity impersonators, and if you’re looking to really liven things up karaoke!

Heard Museum incorporated live music in their hybrid event and it is always a lovely added element to entertain your guests.

Another awesome benefit of hosting hybrid events is the ability to rewatch and share the livestream with your guests who may not have been able to attend or who simply want to relive the magic!

You can embed your entire event livestream on your website or even pull out certain clips to share on your social media channels. Plus, you can repurpose and share content from your livestream to market your business and promote future events. Having the recorded copy of your event also allows your speakers and sponsors who were a part of the stream to rewatch and see the live audience comments and interaction unfold throughout their presentations.

Check out this livestream recording below from the Feeding Matters virtual fundraising event and see how they incorporated a live audience chat for all of their attendees to interact in real-time.

You can view more videos at HautePhotoVideo.com and be sure to contact us when you’re planning your next hybrid event!