A lot goes into planning a successful corporate meeting, but one of the fundamentals of it is choosing the right format.
While in person-meetings are generally viewed as providing more opportunities for engagement and networking, advances in virtual and hybrid event technologies have led to digital meetings becoming more and more popular.
This article will help you fine-tune your knowledge of virtual and hybrid meetings so that you can know more about what your options are.
This way, you can choose the meeting format, which will best serve your needs and goals.
Keep reading.
What are Virtual Meetings?
As the name indicates, a virtual meeting or event takes place exclusively online. People worldwide, regardless of their location, can participate in the event and connect via video, audio, and text.
Key benefits which digital meetings provide:
- No space constraints. Attendees can effectively share information and data in real-time without physically being at the same location. This is particularly useful if your meeting involves participants from different states and even countries.
- Cost-saving. Compared to in-person events, which often require travel and accommodation costs, a meeting space, catering, and more, digital events are typically more cost-effective.
- They are easier to plan. These types of events typically require less planning compared to in-person ones. However, putting together a successful virtual meeting does come with its challenges.
What are Hybrid Meetings?
A hybrid program is an event that has both an in-person component and a digital one.
More specifically, some attendees can be in-person together, while other participants virtually participate in the same event. This is the most significant difference between virtual and hybrid events.
More often than not, in the case of a hybrid meeting, both those attending the event in person and those attending virtually take part in the same sessions simultaneously.
Using the proper technology to sync the content and the engagement features, you can make sure that both those attending in-person and those attending online will have a similar experience.
For example, you can set up your hybrid event in such a way as to allow those attending virtually to not only view the presenter’s slides but also see and hear him/her present in real-time via live streaming video.
Key benefits which digital meetings provide:
- Greater flexibility. Virtual and Hybrid meetings are significant because they allow you to reach attendees in two different ways, which gives you more room to pivot and make tweaks. For example, adding a hybrid component is an excellent solution for a high or low registration number. The first case will help you overcome meeting space limitations, allowing all those who register to participate. The second case will hopefully encourage more people to participate by providing an additional way to attend.
- Improved return on investment. In case there is an associated registration fee, adding a virtual extension to your in-person meeting can help you further boost that revenue, due mainly to the increased reach and the scalability.
- Generate more data and insights. At an in-person event, you can do a headcount and estimate how many viewers participated in a session. But with hybrid events, you know the participation numbers, how they engaged, and when they dropped out of a session.
Both Virtual and Hybrid Meetings Can Benefit from High-Quality Entertainment
Both virtual and hybrid events come with significant benefits that are worth acknowledging. However, the most important thing is to pick a format whose strong points support your event goals.
Regardless of the format you end up choosing, know that your next meeting can be made even better by investing in high-quality entertainment.
And that is something we can help you with. Over 2,000 word-class entertainers and speakers in our portfolio are qualified to headline both virtual and hybrid meetings.
Start browsing now, and don’t hesitate to contact us at (615) 283-0039 if you have any questions.
