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In the last few years, hybrid meetings and events for corporations have become mainstream. Attendees from near and far have been enjoying the option of attending a gathering virtually, while experiencing all that these corporate events have to offer.

Kimberly Gora is the founder of KG Event Agency, a nationally renowned firm specializing in hospitality event planning and consulting. During her 25+ years of working with leading corporate brands, she has had the experience to see an evolution of how today’s corporate meetings are being orchestrated. And hybrid meetings is one avenue that is taking the industry by storm.

“Hybrid meetings are widespread today as they allow organizations the flexibility and inclusivity of all players involved,” said Gora. “They offer an efficient format to communicate a main objective to a large audience within an attentive timeframe. Allowing participants to gather in a physical location together, while others join remotely using video conferencing allows for a great mix of in-person and virtual participation, facilitating collaboration among distributed team members.”

As Gora pointed out, not only are hybrid meetings efficient for people’s time, but they are also largely cost efficient by saving in areas such as travel, lodging and venue accommodations. The company benefits from the structure by involving a variety of team members, including those who work from home or have more demanding schedules, while also promoting work-life balance for those associated.

Lenny Talarico, CSEP, CHE, is the chief experience officer for Lenny Talarico events, an event management and consulting firm. Talarico is also an industry speaker, former executive director of MGM Resorts Event Products, and long-time instructor at The International School of Hospitality.

According to Talarico, hybrid usage for meetings has existed for several years; however, the pandemic certainly increased awareness and necessitated broader utilization for obvious reasons. Now companies continue to see a need to include a hybrid option in their event and meeting planning process.

“Hybrid meetings bring both advantages and challenges to meeting and event planning. On the positive side, they enable broader audience engagement, allowing participation from individuals who may face barriers with in-person attendance,” Talarico said. “When well executed, they offer the benefit of flexibility to attendees with on-demand viewing and provide planners reach beyond sole real-time participation.”

Environmentally, hybrid meetings contribute to an organization’s sustainability goal by reducing the need for travel — saving on transit and lodging expenses.

“However, there are drawbacks. Customized platforms and the digital network infrastructure to support hybrid meetings can incur substantial costs,” Talarico explained.

Beyond convenience, a real concern is the loss of in-person human connection. How much and to what extent remote attendees want to engage meaningfully with the actual content of the event remains questionable.

According to Jamie Nance, executive coordinator at Acorn Growth Companies, hybrid meetings seems to be much more widespread today than ever before.

“I think everyone can agree with me that the year 2020 is directly to blame and/or praise for that,” Nance said.  For Nance and many of the events she coordinates for Acorn Growth Companies, the benefits of hybrid is simple: convenience, convenience, convenience.

“If you’re feeling ill but still need to join that Zoom call to listen in; if you’re traveling but need to be updated on moving pieces because you can’t be at the meeting in person; if you’re an introvert and don’t want to leave your cubicle for the meeting in the large and full conference room — the list goes on and on for the benefits of hybrid meetings. I don’t know many people that complain about the flexibility and convenience of them,” Nance said.

And while there are still challenges with hybrid meetings, Nance sees fewer of them. The challenges she’s seen are mostly attendees refusing (or trying to refuse) to have a meeting remotely. She’s seen people of all ages have trouble with their logins, cameras and microphones during meetings. Another challenge is the team presence and the camaraderie you get when you engage in an in-person meeting or event. For some, they need to be surrounded by their peers in person in order to share ideas and insights.

“We’ve heard it before, ‘technology is a blessing and a curse,’ and this sentiment also applies to hybrid meetings,” Gora said. “A distant reach to a wide audience could create the need for quite an intricate plan which also leaves opportunities for malfunctions or hiccups in technology.”

Engagement within the hybrid environment also becomes a challenge as motivating or encouraging those involved can be more difficult through a screen, while also not forgetting the balancing act of time zones and equipment.

Trends in Hybrid Events

We have come a long way with hybrid meetings since the early days of the pandemic. As Talarico explained, that really forced companies to pivot quickly and rethink their planning to either adopt existing platforms or to source and build new digital solutions suited to accommodate their specific needs.

“Successful hybrid meetings require a huge amount of effort to ensure the technology being used delivers an engaging platform with clear communication,” Talarico said. “A dedicated technical support team using the highest-quality audiovisual equipment and enough network bandwidth to execute is what is required for a successful hybrid experience.”

Often an uncontrollable aspect is the attendee’s own connectivity; however, as Talarico pointed out, nothing will turn off attendees faster than technical malfunctions from hybrid meeting producers themselves. Tech-savvy participants expect a seamless easy to use platform with access to content some level of remote participation. Also, producers must provide a go-to source via chat or call-in number for technical support should something go wrong during the event.

“As a live producer, I have been exposed on several events to the details of incorporating hybrid as an option,” Talarico said. Some of the easiest and best solutions he’s seen have come from sources such as Cvent, Webex Events, Hopin and Zoom.

“All of them have similarities and differences but can help create successful hybrid options,” Talarico said. “Personally, many of the platforms developed during the pandemic that included profuse amounts of “gamification” weren’t really my personal favorites or they came across as complicated to navigate and too ‘video-game-like’ for my personal taste.”

Security is also paramount within the hybrid meetings environment. With the increased reliance on virtual meeting and event tools, there is as a growing awareness of the importance of security and privacy in the hybrid meetings ecosystem. Companies are investing in secure platforms, end-to-end encryption and other measures to protect attendees’ sensitive information.

Techniques That Work

Hybrid meetings have evolved along with our world — better technology, improved connectivity and increased emphasis on inclusivity and engagement. Add in our current economics, Gora stresses that they allow companies versatility in travel costs for allowing all team members to participate versus only being able to send a limited number of attendees.

As the hybrid meeting environment has evolved from when it first became mainstream, corporate meeting planners have honed in on the key techniques that make hybrid meetings truly work:

Communicating clear guidelines for participation, including when and how remote attendees can engage or contribute throughout the event.

Making sure a facilitator manages the digital component of a hybrid event, managing discussions and ensuring all attendees, both remote and in-person have the opportunity to contribute, if permissible.

Establishing ground rules about muting microphones and using video to enhance remote attendee interaction and communication.

Creating breaks for both internal and remote attendees and gathering questions from remote attendees, as available. To help keep everyone engaged in the meeting or event, consider incorporating some interactive activities like icebreakers, polls or Q&A sessions for both remote and in-person attendees.

Collecting feedback from both remote and in-person attendees to learn what worked and what didn’t from both platforms.

Incorporating virtual reality and augmented reality to create immersive meeting experiences. You can also organize team-building exercises that work for both remote and in-person teams. This could include virtual escape rooms, online trivia or collaborative challenges.

Using gamification techniques to help make hybrid corporate gatherings more engaging and fun. You can use badges and points for levels of participating or achievements throughout the meeting.

In using this technology, corporate meeting planners need to obtain a solid understanding of audience needs in order to ensure inclusivity for the digital portion of a hybrid event. This may include visual or hearing disabilities, or language barriers. The best way to assess hybrid or digital audience needs is by conducting surveys. This can be included on the event website and in the registration confirmation communication.

“Clear communication is a must from the organization. Everyone will be joining with a different level of technological comfortability,” Gora said. “Ensure all team members feel supported before the meeting gets started. Be on time and have support available throughout in case any individual challenges arise.”

The organizer should also implement engagement opportunities for both attendees in person and attendees at home. The meeting space itself can also appeal to those attending in person ensuring it is a welcoming environment, structure is in place, and people know what’s on the agenda both at home and in person.

Equal Access

In this era of DEI, corporate event planners need to ask attendees whether they need reasonable accommodations during the sign-up process. They should also make sure the event offers closed-captioning and ASL interpreters, if needed, and that everyone has read and signed a code of conduct before attending a virtual gathering.

Meeting planners utilizing the digital/virtual event space as part of a hybrid program should consider the following:

Accessibility features including captioning and translation

Integrated chat and feedback functionality

A hand-raise function or the ability to queue questions and comments

Multiple recording capabilities, including audio only, as well as audio and video

On-demand content (pre, during and post-event)

Preparing content in multiple ways including diagrams, images and infographics

Short and legible content

Having speakers use direct, clear and concise language, as well as visual prompts

Using dyslexia-friendly text

Evaluating What’s to Come

Hybrid is here to stay. The convenience and cost-effectiveness now make it just another tool for meeting and event planners. As Talarico pointed out, technology continues to develop enhanced video conferencing tools along with VR and AI, which will play a role in future hybrid meeting experiences.

“Organizations will continue to balance the needs between in-person and virtual attendance,” Talarico said. “All of this continues to transform the way we collaborate.”

Of course, the beauty of a successful event is that everyone feels their time was valued. Corporate players often feel that they need to spend more time getting to know their teams. This allows the organization to greet everyone present, have breakout sessions online and in person that allow for group dialogues that not always have to revolve around a corporate conversation but around those present.

“The adoption of hybrid meetings is expected to endure as a standard practice, propelled by advancements in technology addressing challenges, and organizations increasingly embracing flexibility and collaboration,” concluded Gora. “As much as in-person events have made a full come back, technology is here to stay and progress the future of meetings.” C&IT