When covid-19 had hit the world, staging events online was a necessity for all businesses. While they are shifting to the new digital world, they are able to explore new and better ways to reach a huge spectrum of audience. They found new ways to establish great relations with existing and new array of individuals using AI- based technology. Budgeting an event be it virtual or in-person is a tedious task. As the world goes cloud based, you also have to move towards it and here’s where hybrid event budgeting comes into picture. We have listed down a complete guide for all the event marketers regarding the budgeting process of Hybrid Events.
To have more clarity we have divided the guide in two major categories:
- Practices to choose to cut down on costs.
- Why should you choose hybrid events?
Before we head to the categories let us find out what are hybrid events and why is the demand for hosting a hybrid event rising. Time to get started!
What are hybrid events?
To put simply, a hybrid event is a mix of traditional events with digital components. You can host any type of event over a hybrid event platform. It could be an AGM, conference, product launch, trade shows & expos, seminar and whatever else you have in mind.
A hybrid event is performed in an offline venue but can hold both physical and virtual audiences over the web. It allows participants to have real-time communication with each other in one single frame. Looking at the current situation of global pandemics, many businesses have started conducting their events in a physical venue while also keeping the social distance guidelines in mind. However, there are certain areas where situations are getting better and there are places where things are still worse. But that shouldn’t stop us from organizing events for our remote attendees.
Hybrid events bridge the gap between in-person and digital audiences. Today, we see many big brands and companies hosting hybrid conferences and meetings on a daily account over the past few months. To help you get started with your hybrid events, we have embedded an ultimate guide for event marketers to help them create the most memorable and successful event lifetime.
The reason hybrid events are gaining popularity
Long before covid-19 hit us, businesses used to conduct meetings over a hybrid event platform. But after the pandemic hit us, these events have recently witnessed a sudden spike amidst event marketers. It enabled them to reach audiences that were far beyond possible in the traditional events. Apart from its immersive reach, hybrid events also helped organisers to generate leads, save immense amounts of money, better and impressive ROI rate and so much more.
The below segment of this will focus upon the practices that you can incorporate into your hybrid event that will help you cut down on cost effectively. Read on to find out!
PRACTICES TO CHOOSE TO CUT DOWN ON COSTS:
To organise a hybrid even with an aim to reach out to the audience around the globe, is a bit difficult. We have enlisted a few unique ways in which you can save and cut down cost of your hybrid event—
Book stand-alone spaces-
Hotels are meant to charge more for any event you organise. With that come the additional charges for food, lighting, chairs, tables etc. So, try and choose a stand-alone venue where you can use your own team, procure food from outside caterers. This will help you cut down costs. Try and talk with the in-line sponsors who are ready to work on an on-contract basis. As hybrid events are going to have less attendees, large hotels are of no-use!
Look for partnerships-
This is another way to cut-down costs. Look for partners in all domains of logistics. For example, for the venue, try and approach those companies who are ready to become your space-sponsors, you can approach small banquets for this. For the food, approach different restaurants and cafes. In this way they will also be able to brand their service and it will help you to cut down on your costs.
Cut back expenditures on electricity:
Try and opt for the latest battery powered lighting and energy saving electrical compliances. As hybrid events involve a lot of technical logistics like huge TV screens, laptops, Wi-Fi, try and use the latest technology and a good that would help you cut down cost in that domain of logistics.
Following are some reasons why you should go for hybrid events in 2021- let’s have a look!
THE REASON YOU CHOOSE HYBRID EVENTS
No doubt, the outbreak of covid-19 took a massive toll on our businesses and on our way of living, but hybrid events gave us several reasons to eliminate all the budget restrictions. Let’s have a look at some reasons to choose hybrid events-
Greater Reach-
Hybrid events facilitate you to reach a wider segment of audience from any part around the globe. A study shows that 23% of people are not able to attend events due to its location gap. But with hybrid events coming into picture over 98% attendees who want to attend an event can attend it virtually.
Better involvement of attendees-
With the technicalities available in virtual event domains, it is simple and easy to gamify the whole event and engage the audience with the organisers. You can even take real-time feedback with hybrid events and technological background via polls, quizzes and live chat interactions.
Power packed sponsors opportunities-
Sponsors were always interested in the footfall of any event before investing in money. If the footfall seemed to be less, the sponsors did not want to invest. But after hybrid events coming into the limelight, sponsors are interested in pooling in the capital as the reach of hybrid events is more that will increase leads for their brand as well. They can also communicate with real-time audiences.
OVER TO YOU:
Hybrid events are a challenge when it comes to budgeting. But this is the future. Sitting and watching a hybrid event can cost you more than coming into the field and organizing one. When the pandemic had struck hybrid events were just an option but now with evolution in technology, it has become a choice of most companies as it helps them to reach a wide audience and ultimately add on the sales of the company. Even at the peak of the pandemic, people wanted to brand and network and they will continue to even if the pace of the pandemic slows down. So it is wise enough to start budgeting on Hybrid events rather than just thinking over it.