We’ve seen the world open up again. With all kinds of events (such as all the previously canceled festivals) popping up again, it feels like nothing ever changed. But the opposite is true: we have lived through cancellations and lockdowns. We came out stronger and wiser. The question that is on everyone’s mind when hosting an event right now should be: is it worth the effort to turn my event into a hybrid event? Our answer would be a strong and loud “YES”. Why do we think that? You’ll read our plead in this blog.
A lot of research has been conducted during the pandemic to figure out how we were coping with cancellations and postponed events. Surveys were done to figure out whether we would consider the hybrid event as something that was here to stay, or whether we would return to the classic type of event hosting. These results date back to September 2021 – almost one year ago. Has our opinion changed? Have we seen the hybrid event develop like we thought it would? We’ve collected multiple sources that show you the answer:
Hybrid event statistics in 2022
We want to draw your attention to a couple of statistics here:
86% of B2B organizations see a positive ROI from their hybrid events 7 months after the event date.
That’s a massive number! More than 85% see a positive ROI from their hybrid events. This makes it absolutely worth it to invest in great event hosting technology. You might need more technology, but this unlocks the potential of gaining an audience in addition to the on-site attendees, but also show virtual attendees a great time. While there might be challenges for this type of event hosting, this percentage shows that it is well worth the effort and investment!
71% of organizations with 5,000+ employees have hybrid events in their portfolio. This indicates that larger companies are more likely to host hybrid events.
We can deduce from this statistic that especially for big companies, hybrid events are a solid solution. This is logical: the more possibilities you offer your (5,000+) employees to join, the more attendance you will have. And providing them with multiple ways to join, will increase the amount of responses Consider that this is not within just one company, but you can extend the invite to over 5,000 (other) people. A lot more will opt in to join if you offer two different ways to attend – a virtual one and an in-person one. It’s a shame if you let this opportunity slide!
39% of people who attended hybrid events virtually stated that they felt not included in the event.
If we look at the inverse of this statistic – “61% of people who attended hybrid events virtually felt included or semi included in the event” – we can state that we’ve come a long way. From passive livestreams to over half of the attendees that feel included in an event, even if they attended virtually is a big improvement. However, this does not mean that we are there yet. At Let’s Get Digital we do our best to improve the virtual attendee experience when hosting a hybrid event. It would be a shame to feel left out: we want everyone to join in the fun!
Hybrid event trends
This source is mainly here to show you that there are trends to be followed within hybrid events. It is no longer something that is a trend in itself, but has become big enough that it can have trends in its own domain. Which shows us: hybrid events are an event type that is definitely here to stay. Oh, and by the way: if you scroll down in the article, you can see that one of the trends is a mobile event app. Well, we’ve got this one already! Check out more information about the Let’s Get Digital event app here.
Conclusion
To answer the question that we started this blog with: yes, it is absolutely worth it to keep on hosting hybrid events. Our biggest tip: put your effort into engaging the virtual audience as well as the on-site attendees, to make everyone feel included. Using Let’s Get Digital as your hybrid event platform, for example, will make sure that the connection between your two types of audiences is kept light, accessible, and remarkable. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: the future includes hybrid events, so make sure you’re a part of it!
