6 Ways to Increase Your Attendees with the HYBRID Model – The Energy of In-Person With The Reach of Virtual

By John Chen, May 14, 2024

Do you think hybrid is too complicated? 
Do you think hybrid is too expensive?       
Do you want to increase the number of your attendees at your next event? 
Do you want your hybrid attendees to feel like 1st class instead of 2nd class citizens? 

Then you want 6 Ways to Increase Your Attendees with the HYBRID Advantage.   

Many meeting professionals are avoiding hybrid saying it’s too expensive and it’s too complicated.  For the meeting professionals who are going hybrid, they say the #1 problem is engagement and the #2 problem is getting the technology to work.  Most of all, with bad or no hybrid, you are missing out on valuable attendees, sometime as much as 50%, 100% or more of the in-person audience. 

Here are the 6 ways of HYBRID:

  • Hear – Make sure in-person can hear virtual and virtual can hear in-person. 
  • Your View – Give virtual attendees the best seat in the house, middle-center. 
  • Be the emcee – Use a virtual emcee to help smooth transitions and bring energy to virtual 
  • Rehearsals – Hybrid requires more rehearsals and make sure it’s run exactly the same way the real program will be run 
  • Inclusive – Coach your speakers to include the virtual audience with tips like address the virtual audience at the beginning and take your first question from virtual 
  • Design – Make sure to design your hybrid to maximize the features of your program and give a similar level experience no matter how someone attends. 

When you use the latest trends and techniques, it’s illuminating how integrating in-person and virtual experiences can significantly boost attendee numbers and satisfaction. Whether you’re new to hybrid events or looking to refine your approach, HYBRID will provide you with practical insights and creative ideas to take your events to the next level and have one of your attendees say, “This is the best hybrid event I’ve attended. Ever!” 

John Chen is the author of Engaging Virtual Meetings – he’s been virtually meeting for over 37 years and can juggle 24 screens of information at a time.  He has planned the only 100% LIVE virtual conference in the training industry for 1,200 people and produced an eight-language virtual webinar. He invented “Hybrid in a Box”, reducing the hybrid setup time from 8 hours to 1 hour and is a recognized thought leader on engaging virtual meetings. As the author of Engaging Virtual Meetings from Wiley and Sons, and 50 Digital Team Building Games, top selling business books, his work has earned him multiple awards and his more than 400,000 clients across the United States and in countries including Spain, France and Taiwan. John is a dynamic, energetic and effective facilitator who makes friends with everyone. He will help you and your team become the top 1% at what you do.  He’s the 27-year CEO of Engaging Virtual Meetings.