{"id":55136,"date":"2022-09-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newrcblog.wpengine.com\/us\/en\/blog\/?p=55136"},"modified":"2025-03-13T06:58:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:58:41","slug":"8-reasons-why-the-future-of-events-is-hybrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/8-reasons-why-the-future-of-events-is-hybrid\/","title":{"rendered":"8 reasons why the future of events is hybrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hopin is now RingCentral Events<\/em><\/p>\n

I am a 15-year veteran of B2B corporate event management. I have organized hundreds of events for five brands, which have drawn hundreds of thousands of participants.<\/p>\n

So, naturally, last year was like an earthquake for me and my peers in event marketing. In a socially distanced world, we were no longer able to do the thing we love: bring people together<\/strong> around in-person experiences.<\/p>\n

Yet, in spite of all the adversity, I saw my tribe respond with ingenuity. Like so many, my team pivoted to a new way to bring people together: virtual events<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Very quickly, we realized that virtual events had a lot to offer. While they couldn\u2019t reproduce the feeling of sharing physical space with kindred spirits, they did allow us to reach more people across geographic barriers<\/strong> and create new kinds of connection.<\/p>\n

Now, as a post-pandemic future comes into focus\u2014fingers tightly crossed\u2014my peers and I are eager to bring back in-person events. But I\u2019m not as eager to let go of the lessons I\u2019ve learned from hosting online events.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where hybrid events<\/strong> come in.<\/p>\n

Hybrid events<\/a> bring together the best parts of in-person and virtual events\u2014the human connection of IRL and the reach and inclusiveness of online. Indeed, for my team, hybrid is the new model for all of our events.<\/p>\n

Here are eight reasons why I believe the future of events will be hybrid<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u200d<\/p>\n

1. Hybrid gives you greater reach.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the main advantages of taking a hybrid approach\u2014of adding an online layer to an in-person event\u2014is scale<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When event managers organize an event, we work really hard to attract as many attendees as possible.<\/p>\n

For in-person events<\/em>, however, attendance is often limited by the ability of participants to get approvals for travel, time away, and reimbursement for ticket costs. In fact, planners often have to help write ROI justification letters.<\/p>\n

Imagine what attendance could look like when we don\u2019t have to factor in travel or, say, a $1,695 ticket cost (the kind of sticker price that helps cover the cost of physical resources like venue rental).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what hybrid unlocks.<\/p>\n

Over the last year, our experience with virtual<\/em> gatherings has shown us that physical barriers need not stand in the way of reaching a large, distributed audience.<\/p>\n

By adding an online layer to a physical event, it becomes possible to both accommodate more of our potential audience and enable more of that audience to join\u2014so we can achieve higher levels of attendance, from the hundreds to the hundreds of thousands of people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As an example, when The Atlantic<\/strong> hosted an online version of its flagship conference<\/a> on Hopin, its attendance grew 13x<\/strong>, compared to its prior in-person events.<\/p>\n

After the festival, Chief Operating Officer Aretae Wyler noted: \u201cEven after we go back to doing things in person \u2026 this is going to continue to be a way we want to connect with our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

For brands, that kind of global reach can translate to:<\/p>\n