How to: Online, virtual and hybrid Event

We will start with a list of the most important things for you to evaluate in online, virtual or hybrid Event software:

Participant registration,
Collecting registration fees,
Event presentation,
Sponsor presentation,
Event presentation at the venue,
The program streaming,
ePoster presentation capabilities
and later communication with your participants.

All of this will help you create a fantastic online, virtual or hybrid Event.

We will go through all the requirements and then even present the solution we have for you!

Online, Virtual or Hybrid Event

First things first.

You can make an online Event.
The program in the online Event goes live but there are no participants on the venue. The speakers can be in the studio or join from their homes or offices.

Then, there is a virtual Event. No program is live here. You can embed prerecorded lectures and materials for your registered participants to view.

And, lastly, you can make the grandest form of the Event – a hybrid Event.
In this case you have classical Event on the physical venue that is streamed to the online present participants. This way you can make an Event both close and personal with a global component for both lecturers and participants.

Participant registration and registration fees

Custom participant registration form is a must!

Every type of Event and every organizer has its own data set needed to be collected from the participants. This is why you need as open as possible tool to make custom registration forms.

Now, you can organize free events but registration fees are often required.

You can collect evidence of the payments externally but the perfect scenario would include processing payments by the Event software itself.

Next, you did your Event branding. We all do. That should be transferred trough logo, banner and custom text about the Event for your participants to see in the Event software.

No Event can be organized without sponsors and happy sponsors are your next Event already half way organized. That is no secret.

You should present your sponsors clearly and be able to allow them to promote more if they want. Links to the external sites and additional materials on the Event's pages are the way to go!

You can charge extra for a virtual boot of additional marketing materials to sponsor.

Hybrid Event program and materials

All online or virtual Events are contained in the Event software. There you have only online participants.
But at hybrid Event you don’t want a sharp line separating participants online and those at the venue.

This is where Info totems come great at the venues!

You should setup a Kiosk app at the venue presenting your sponsors, agenda, Event information and announcements for your participants! This is both superb upgrade for your Event and huge help for your hosts at the desk.

How about poster presentations?
A favorite way to increase number of presented papers during the Event!

There are standalone systems for ePosters. Those are great. Presenting more posters on one device helps you with space constrains of the venue. But standalone ePoster systems are additional services to buy and manage.
ePoster functionality inbuilt in the online, virtual or hybrid software would be event better!

Of course, online participants should follow the live streaming video of the program. You need easy way to embed and allow those contents for the registered participants only.
The Event software should be able to accept embedded video or video streams or connect to the meetings in the most popular external video conferencing tool.

Contacting online Events participants

Lastly, communication with your registered users is crucial in some moments of urgency. Information about postponed lunch at the venue for instance.

Exporting list of your participants to Excel table is fine but ability to send centralized emails to everyone from the Event system is what you want.

P.S...

Yes, your Event is now finished.

But will you organize another one next month or next year?
You could use collected emails and invite participants trough external mailing tools or send a simple email with a lot of email addresses in the BCC field.

Or, what if you could use the Event system which allows your participants to subscribe to you as an organizer?
Next time you publish a new Event, they will be all notified!