+ Hybrid Meeting

How-to Guide: Table of Contents

Hybrid Meetings CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING HYBRID MEETINGS (PG 2)
- What is a Hybrid Meeting?
- Discovering the Benefits of Hybrid Meetings
By Jenise Fryatt, Rosa Garriga, Ruud Janssen,
1. Benefits to Meeting Professionals
CMM, Richard John and Samuel J. Smith 2. Benefits to Onsite Planners
- Building Blocks of Hybrid Events
1. Spaces
2. Audience
3. Configurations
4. Technology
- Format Types
- Role of Communication in Live and Hybrid Events

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: HYBRID EVENT PROCESS (PG 7)
- Introduction
Hybrid is the breakout star of the - Strategy
1. Define Meeting Objectives
meeting industry, an emerging event type that re- 2. Consider External Factors
3. Develop a Budget
quires meeting professionals to stretch their creativity, strategizing, 4. Measure Success
execution and measurement and integrate technology with tradi- 5. Analyze Your Audience
6. Outline Your Event Execution Strategy
tional live events to create new types of experiences and content - Pre-Production
1. Pre-Event Marketing
delivery tools. Nowhere in the history of meetings have we seen 2. Content Design
such an explosion of so many different formats and applications of 3. Digital Communications
4. Speaker Selection and Briefing
new technology. 5. Engagement
6. Key Hybrid Team Roles
Microsoft, eBay and Thrivent Financial are just a few of the 7. Security and Data Privacy
8. Security and Data Privacy
companies that have realized the value of the hybrid meetings—to 9. Metrics and Reporting
- Onsite
increase sales, improve performance and grow attendance. How- - Post-Event
ever, only a fraction of meeting professionals take advantage of all CHAPTER 3: SUCCESSFUL HYBRID EVENT MODELS (PG 10)
that technology has to offer. Many interviewed for MPI’s research - Thrivent Financial
- eBay
into hybrid events don’t have experience using the model, but those - Nike
who do are more likely to exceed objectives. - SAP
- SAE
- Theater
So, we present this How-to Guide, based on author experience, - Sports
a survey of 1,794 meeting professionals and delegates and 37 in- - Politics
- Open Source
depth interviews with meeting professionals who have conducted
CHAPTER 4: RESOURCES (PG 11)
hybrid events and delegates who have experienced them. This - Definitions
- Useful Online Articles Related to Hybrid Events
guide gives you the tools you need to implement your own hybrid - Ideas, Inspiration for Hybrid Events
event in two sections: one theoretical, one practical. - Hybrid Event Pre-Production and Production Tools
- Remote Audience Engagement Tools

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 1

CHAPTER 1:
Introducing Benefits to Meeting Professionals

Hybrid Meetings
Hybrid events create new opportunities for meeting planners to:
• Become more involved in the content development,
• Develop creativity in designing events,
What is a Hybrid Meeting? Hybrid meetings inte- • Concentrate on objectives and strategy,
• Learn how to strategically ask questions when selecting
grate technology with traditional event practices and applying technology and
to create new types of attendee experiences and • Develop additional project management and planning skills.
content delivery tools. They include any meeting
or event with at least one group of face-to-face Benefits to Onsite Planners
Onsite planners who work for conference centers and other event
participants that digitally connects with partici- venues can expand their client offerings to:
pants in another or multiple locations. • Centralized booking of conference rooms across
multiple properties for hybrid meetings,
• Centralized audiovisual technology ordering
and support across multiple properties,
• Videoconference facilities on multiple properties,
• Centralized ordering of food and beverage across
multiple properties,
• Temporary staffing support across multiple properties
and cities and
• Internet bandwidth support.

Building Blocks of Hybrid Events

One of the greatest advantages of hybrid events is that they
allow meeting professionals to reconfigure the building blocks
of an event. For example, instead of having a single venue, you could
have four or five regional sites. Instead of flying attendees
to a single city for a half-day conference, you can invite them to
The best hybrid events create unique experi- a two-hour conference at restaurants in their cities.
ences for different types of participants in differ- Technology enables hybrid events to work across time and space.
Before getting engaged with the technological options and require-
ent places. Combining functionalities of face-to- ments, it’s critical to understand the basic building blocks of hybrid
face events and those of virtual meetings into events.
hybrid events enables meeting planners to have
Spaces. Hybrid attendees aren’t limited to a single room or venue.
a much broader spectrum of options to engage They can participate online at the hotel, at a regional site or on the
delegates. It’s important to become familiar with beach. Presenters and facilitators can be spread across time and
space as well. Here are the most common spaces.
the components of hybrid events before you • A hybrid event is a gathering of at least one group of face-to-face
think and conceptualize available options. participants that digitally connects with participants in another
or multiple locations.
Discovering the Benefits of Hybrid Meetings • A virtual event is a gathering of participants in multiple
Meetings deliver value when participants do something locations who connect by some form of technology (phone,
(buy a product/service, become more efficient, learn a skill or video, computer).
procedure) as a result of having attended. Hybrid events • A face-to-face event is a gathering of individuals in the
are no different in that sense from live events. They give you same location.
opportunities for adding value in the following ways. • A pod event (also referred to as a pod) is a gathering of
• Reaching more delegates (face-to-face plus virtual) individuals in one location linked to an event in a separate
• Allowing virtual delegates to participate alone location.
or in small groups • A studio event is a gathering that includes a space for content
• Providing new content delivery and communication production that is distributed to an online or pod audience.
options
• Connecting multiple events that occur concurrently Audiences. When you link audiences in vastly different locations,
or at different times or locations you need to consider their different needs and experiences. Here are
• Extending the reach of your message by repurposing the most common audience types.
event content • The face-to-face audience of a hybrid event can be small or
• Including people who could not otherwise attend large. Its needs are the same as the needs for any face-to-face
(busy executives, global attendees) event, but there are new aspects to consider. Will the virtual
Attend hybrid events as a virtual participant prior to audience interact with the face-to-face audience? Often
creating one for your own organization and seek the face-to-face participants pay more to attend. Keep this in mind
advice of peers who are experienced in the medium. to ensure that other elements of the event don’t negatively
affect the face-to-face experience.

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 2

• The Pod audience experiences two types of events The simplest form of hybrid event takes the content already being
simultaneously: the face-to-face meeting and the remote captured and streams it to individuals who are watching sessions
experience that they watch streamed. Consider how much online. It’s one-way communication from your event to partici-
autonomy each pod has in relation to the event(s) they’re pants that view the event remotely.
connected to, whether or not the pods can communicate
with other pods or with the main event space, what technology Live Main + virtual participants
will produce the most glitch-free experience and what
everyone will do in case of technology failure.
• Remember that individuals attending online can disconnect
when and if they want to. So keep their attention top-of-mind.

Configurations. When you move the audience and speakers to

different spaces, you can start recombining the building blocks of
your hybrid event. Here are some commonly used configurations
for hybrid events.

Legend
space types communication connection

= Face to face event

= realtime 1 way broadcast stream

= realtime 2 way communication

Some of your virtual viewers may get together in groups and
= Pod event watch the event together. Here, pods “watch” the content in four
= on demand broadcast stream
groups; each has its own “live event” in other locations. This
= near realtime
technique is often used when room capacity at live events is insuf-
= Studio event ficient, or when you want to connect groups of people who can’t
travel, and thus gather remotely in pods to have their own “live
= Online individual events” in other locations. You capture the essence of the video
and audio onsite at the live event and stream it out to the pods.
They can watch it live or live with a delay or time-shifted (when it
is convenient in their time zone or program).

Format Types
Traditionally, we have speakers and attendees in the same venue. You have staging and Main + 1 way pods
production equipment in place for your general (plenary) sessions.

Live Main Event

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Today’s technology has made it much more affordable to set up Another hybrid format uses a studio to create and broadcast con-
two-way communications between pods and remote sites. This tent. The face-to-face delegates attend in small groups in remote
allows attendees to actively contribute to the content and the pods watching the broadcast. These attendees then have the
dialogue. Equally important, speakers from one pod can present to chance to ask the speaker questions or give feedback.
the live event, or do callouts to the pods to get their perspectives
on specific topics. This format is much more engaging for the pod Studio + 2 way pods
participants but requires two-way streams from the live event to
the pods for both audio and video. As soon as you introduce two-
way communication, the level of complexity and coordination goes
up significantly.

Main + 2 way pods

This can then also be combined with pods and individual virtual
participants.

It’s also possible to combine elements from the above formats. You Studio + 2 way pods + virtual participants
can have a live event, a number of pods and individual partici-
pants.

Main + 1 way pods + virtual participants

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Alternatively you can have independent events that are intercon- Technology. There are five key tech considerations for all hybrid
nected during which each pod has its own programming and con- events. Your event priorities and objectives will determine how
nects with other pods for joint sessions. you allocate resources to each.
• Production/audiovisual ensures that the event venues, pods
and/or studios have high-quality lighting, audio and video.
Equal pods • Streaming Providers prepares content for the Internet, host
it on a server, make it available for online attendee to watch
and provide a place for viewing.
• Online attendees watch content on platforms. They register
and login and select sessions. Most platforms have an interactive
element such as polling or Q&As. Platforms can be websites,
online communities or dedicated virtual platforms.
• You need strong Internet connectivity with dedicated bandwidth.
This may come from the venue or a third-party provider.
• Videoconference bridges ensure dedicated two-way audio
and video connections between remote pods and main events,
minimizing communication glitches.

Role of Communication in Live and Hybrid Events

The role of communication changes when you spread attendees
across multiple locations and include technology elements. This
creates a different communication and participation environment
for content delivery and collaboration. Technology provides new
communication tools that were not available before. In the table
on the next page you will find an overview of functions and why
they are relevant when you consider organizing hybrid events.
Dispersion of hybrid-event remote participants among many
locations creates several communication challenges. Focus on build-
ing face-to-face connections in small groups or pods for remote
For examples, refer to Chapter 3. participant networking and team building.
Your building blocks can be configured in many different ways.
Keep your audience, spaces and objectives forefront, as these
factors will help guide your hybrid strategy. In Chapter 2, you’ll
find the steps for developing and executing your hybrid events
strategy.

See next page.

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 5

Function Why it is relevant?

Fear of public speaking is a reason why some questions do not get asked in public. While live participants
can see who is saying what, in virtual and hybrid events, this is not always the case. This function of
Anonymity anonymity can be used to make the introverts feel more at ease with their contributions in the dialogue.
Complete anonymity can even be useful in gathering valuable insights otherwise not shared.

Keeping track of whether the participants are paying attention and engaged is different in face to face as
oposed to virtual environments. It is easier to gauge the attention of participants when there is audio and
Attention video feedback. In the live environment it is purely by observing the behaviour, in virtual and hybrid for-
mats it can be tracked through chat buzz, visual cues, attention tracking.

Acknowledgement and being part of the event regardless of location or time zone can deliver powerful
Belonging experiences for those who cannot be physically present.

Reaching many people at once simultaneously is not always feasible in real life. Hybrid events can scale
Scalability the message to reach everyone in real time or captured and viewed on demand.

In discussions some can be dominant in their presence and some voices can remain unheard. Hybrid events
Share of
can enable smaller groups in remote events to develop an opinion and contribute to the discussion in new
voice ways.

Capturing content in audio, video or text makes it searchable and archiveable in ways not possible before.
Search The availability of tagged content on demand after it has been delivered live is a valuable asset.

Speaking or oral communication is linear and requires a big time investment. Sharing and discussing in
Oral - written writing can speed up the collection of input for later synthesis.

Decision making can be done in hybrid events. In hybrid events audience response tools or collaboration tools
Decision can be deployed to vote or contribute opinions to a discussion that richer input on which to base decision.

The dispersion of hybrid event remote participants among many locations can be a challenge. A focus
on building face to face connections within small groups or pods may be one way to approach remote
Networking participant networking. Another may be to see online connections as a precursor for deepening
relationships at face to face events.

In speaker driven plenary sessions it is often difficult for the audience to interact.Participants in pods
may be able to discuss the content while it’s being presented without disturbing the speaker. Additionally
Interaction speakers can interact with remote attendees through social media, text chat or video chat in real time
or in a rebroadcast after the session.

Hybrid events create opportunities for smaller groups to engage and reach more depth in discussions,
Depth Dialogue can be further enhanced by using collaborative tools and techniques.

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 6

CHAPTER 2:
Hybrid Event Here is a model for hybrid events that will help you get started quickly.

Process
IBM, Wells Fargo, Nike and many other
companies have discovered the value of
including hybrid events in their meeting
portfolio. These companies use hybrid
events to help them increase sales,
improve performance and increase
attendance in their meetings. You can, too.
The following are the steps in the
process for organizing a hybrid event.
Hybrid Strategy
Creating a remarkable hybrid event requires meeting
planners to get involved in the messaging, content,
technology and logistical execution. For some, it means
getting more involved in the development of content
than ever before.
When you start the planning process, develop a
where to hold your event, what kind of hybrid event will work best
strategy and business case for the event. This strategy
for you or even whether or not to produce your hybrid event at all.
will be a roadmap that you can share with your stakeholders.
Here are the six elements of your strategic roadmap.
3. Develop a Budget
1. De�ine meeting objectives For most meeting professionals, hybrid event costs are rolled into
2. Consider social, technological, political, internal the larger event budget. To the greatest extent possible, try to sepa-
factors and trends rate the costs so you can later determine business value. Here are
some budget categories to consider for your hybrid event.
3. Develop a budget and business case
• Video Production
4. Determine how you will measure success • Internet connectivity
5. Analyze your audience • Streaming services
6. Outline your event execution strategy • Virtual platform
• Décor
At the end of this process, document your strategy for the virtual
• Content development and delivery
event.
• Consulting and labor
1. Define Meeting Objectives When you don’t have to bring attendees onsite, you save on hospital-
Hybrid technology creates new types of experiences for attend- ity and logistical costs such as travel and transportation, hotel and
ees and professional challenges for meeting organizers. In order food and beverage. In addition, for attendees that are sales repre-
to create an experience that excites and motivates, you need to sentatives or consultants, hybrid events reduce out-of-the-office
establish clearly defined objectives. As you develop these objec- travel time, allowing them to maintain productivity.
tives, be clear about your priorities. This will help later on when
you need to make trade-offs in the scope, quality and the design
of the event. Here are some examples of objectives. CALL OUT
- Expand our reach to a broader audience
- Include attendees who are unable to travel Budget Tips
- Reduce meeting/budget costs
• Streaming and production will likely be your largest
- Improve employee satisfaction costs, amounting to more than 50 percent of total budget.
- Extend the life of our face-to-face event • In the United States, if your event is in a union facility, your
- Keep revenue-producing staff in the field production costs alone can be more than 50 percent of
- Expand education your budget.
- Support sustainable initiatives • Internet costs can range from $1,500 to more than $100,000
- Generate revenue depending on the scope of your project.
- Bring speakers together who can’t travel • Reduce production labor costs by looking for opportunities to:
- Reduce camera operators
- Use audio instead of video
2. Consider External Factors - Rationalize the content that you record and stream
External factors may affect your event, so examine them before - Only stream the most popular sessions
moving forward. Circumstances relating to technology, politics - Reduce streaming costs by maximizing the use of rooms
and law, for example, may influence decisions about when and with production and streaming equipment and labor

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 4. Measure Success Social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and
Hybrid events create new opportunities for you to collect sta- private online communities are a great way to get buzz going. Make
tistical data and measure the digital tracks of participants and sure that you’re using these tools to engage your targeted audi-
content. Rather than just taking base-level reports, consider the ence, rather than broadcasting marketing messages. Developing a
measures that are important to you. long-term association with your audience on these platforms takes
What are your key success factors? How will you measure time, but it’s really the only effective way to market your event using
these? Will you look at future sales generated? Will you look at social media.
employee satisfaction surveys and compare them to historical Email and intranet are also great ways to get the word out,
data? Do you care how long attendees stay, as compared to the particularly when you’re producing an internal event. Make sure
content available to them? you start your marketing campaign well in advance to ensure that
everyone who wants to can attend.
It’s also important to consider when you will make your on-demand
CALL OUT content available and how you will market it. Waiting too long after
your event can result in your targeted audience losing interest.
Choose a measurement tool that would give you data to
support your goals. For instance, “If your major goal is to
increase the bottom line, [a simple tally of] clicks and views 2. Content Design. Look for opportunities to create exclusive
isn’t going to help you do that.” —Dannette Veale, manager content for each audience segment. For example, the PowerPoint
of technology and digital engagement strategy for Cisco speaker may not be the best delivery vehicle for some content and
ideas, especially considering the distractions available to online
5. Analyze Your Audience attendees.
Most meeting professionals manage delegates in a single group The program should be designed based on your audience profile.
or in a few segments. For hybrid events, you have four types of Keep the content focused on the attendee needs to ensure attendee
attendees (face-to-face, Pod, online and on-demand). Each of engagement and participation.
these groups has different needs and will experience your event There are three key elements to content design.
in different ways. Map out the needs and experiences of these • Program and time blocks
attendees. Then, look for opportunities to create exclusive experi- • Content delivery format(s)
ences for each. • Speaker scripts and engagement
For example, at a live event you control lighting, sound, visu-
als and focal points. By comparison, you only control one window
for online attendees, so it’s more difficult for you to retain their
focus. And with audiences in different places, time creates op-
CALL OUT
portunities and challenges. Consider the following.
Tips for Content Development
• Local time of delegates (time zones).
• Time that you can expect various audience types to • Use political and sports events and talk shows with
be engaged. Planning white space and buffers between multiple speakers as examples to help you articulate
your vision.
programmed items can be critical to the success of
• If you use a studio element, develop a script that helps
the program. you move between topics and different types of speakers.
• Options to view content live, in near-real time and • Consider short segments that are 16 to 20 minutes
asynchronous or on-demand. in length.
• Add supporting contextual material to your online
6. Outline Your Event Execution Strategy experience. For example, have a shorter presentation
Now that you know your objectives, audience, budget and mea- coupled with downloadable documents.
surement plan, you can select the hybrid meeting building blocks • If you can describe your content development needs well,
your technology providers will be able to translate your
that you should use. These are the most common hybrid event
vision into a set of options for you to consider.
building blocks. • Offer exclusive content to online attendees, such as
• Live main event + individual Events interviews with keynote speakers.
• Studio + virtual
• Live + Pods
• Live + Pods + individual events 3. Digital Communications
• Multiple connected live events There are several digital touch points for your attendees before, dur-
You can learn more about these building blocks in Chapter 1. Ac- ing and after the event online. Create consistent graphics, copy and
commodate attendees who are unable to participate in real time key messages for each. Here’s a list of typical digital communication
by: elements for a hybrid event.
• Creating opportunities for on-demand viewing and • E-blast invitations
• Rebroadcasting sessions at a later date. • Registration pages
• Login pages for the online platform
Pre-Production • Customized and branded pages inside the platform
By this phase, your project has been approved, your strategy and user interface
outlined and your team scoped out. But there are eight areas of • Custom branding and graphics inside the player
the hybrid puzzle that need to be pieced together. • Graphic overlays for video (intro slides, lower 1/3’s)
• Post-event survey
1. Pre-Event Marketing. Marketing a hybrid event isn’t much dif- • Virtual attendee agenda
ferent from marketing any other event. You need to devise a time- Ensure that there is one person on your staff who oversees the
line and strategy that make sense for your audience and create a setup, configuration, content and programming of the vendors
plan for marketing your captured content following the event. working on these digital touch points.

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 8

4. Speaker Selection and Briefing Streaming Vendor
Your speakers and facilitators are key to content delivery. In a Streaming engineer, responsible for encoding live-stream content
hybrid event, your speakers need to be skilled at engaging both
remote and face-to-face delegates. For many speakers, facilita- Platform Vendor
tors and subject-matter experts, your hybrid event may be one of Platform engineer, responsible for making sure that the virtual plat-
their first. So, it’s incumbent on you to prepare them to present form is configured and working correctly
to both audiences, for example, by telling them to acknowledge
the online audience and look at the camera. Encourage your Internet Connectivity
speakers to rehearse in advance. Internet engineer, responsible for setting up, configuring and moni-
Equally important, make sure to include recording, broad- toring Internet technology
casting and repurposing of content in the speaker contract.
Pod
CALL OUT Pod content host, responsible for hosting the pod audience.
Pod logistics, responsible for meeting logistics for the pods.
“The camera is your friend. So, you’ve got to attend to that
camera, and remember there are people with interest in 7. Vendor Selection. You’ll need two new vendors—one for your
your event on the other side of the camera.” —Tony Lorenz, streaming and one for your virtual platform. But creating and ex-
founder of bXb Online ecuting RFPs for these services are not simple.
There’s not any consistency or standardization in the industry
5. Engagement around pricing and service models. As a result, one vendor might
Capturing and maintaining the attention of virtual or remote offer streaming, hosting and onsite support for $XX and another will
attendees can be difficult because you don’t control their en- only offer a downloadable platform for $YY. There’s no way for you
vironments. Engagement strategies can help you keep remote to clearly understand the fixed and variable costs.
attendees tuned in to what you’re doing. Try these. On the platform vendor side, it’s equally confusing. Many ven-
• Switching between multiple video cameras dors only offer glorified websites. They support online registration,
• Using a virtual emcee chat rooms, engagement tools and a catalog of streamed sessions.
• Customizing programs In most cases, when you hire a platform vendor, you’ll still need a
• Providing hard-copy participant booklets streaming vendor.
• Using audience response/collaboration systems Several streaming vendors have started to offer platform ameni-
• Featuring chat rooms or Q&A moderators ties such as registration, engagement tools and a catalog of sessions
• Holding special Q&As for virtual speakers only as part of their services. Be sure to see what your streaming vendor
• Creating digital breakout rooms is offering before hiring a platform vendor.
• Hosting leader boards and gaming In general, streaming services are one of the most expensive
• Providing airtime and recognition for remote pods hybrid line items, ranging from 30 percent to 60 percent of your
• Enabling photo and video sharing from remote budget. Platform vendors will cost between $5,000 and $25,000.
attendees with everyone
• Creating awards and badges
• Create activities and teambuilding for local pods CALL OUT
6. Key Hybrid Team Roles. Tips for Vendor Selection
The hybrid event team’s size will vary depending upon the scope • Relationships. Get to know the people that you will work
of the event. Here are some common roles that you might find on with. Do they fit with your organization and its culture?
a hybrid team. • Merging. Many of these companies are smaller. Beware of
them closing down or merging with other companies.
General Make sure that these new companies will still provide the
• Oversee the entire event support that you are looking for.
• Purchasing. Look for existing relationships and
• Plan the face-to-face portion of the hybrid event.
discounts with streaming vendors in other divisions
• Plan the virtual portion of the event or departments.
• Moderate online questions
• Represent virtual audience in the room 8. Security/Data Privacy. When choosing a provider, consider your
• Host and engage the virtual audience organization’s data security and privacy guidelines and make sure
that your vendors can comply with these. The sessions and content
Production will most likely be hosted on remote servers outside of your com-
• Technical director, responsible for the technical production pany. Your IT team may need to ask your vendors additional security
• Creative director, responsible for the creative direction questions.
• Stage Manager, responsible for the studio and people
coming on and off the set 9. Metrics and Reporting. Work with your streaming and platform
• Video director, responsible for the action among the providers to help execute your measurement plan. Your plan and the
different video cameras metrics that you prioritize will impact the design of your event and
• Video engineer, responsible for monitoring the cameras any tradeoffs that you make. All streaming and platform providers
• Video cameraman, responsible for shooting provide a wide variety of metrics (number of registered attendees,
• Audio technician, responsible for managing sound number of viewers, average time in session). Plus, most of this data
quality and mics can be fed into Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
and Learning Management Systems (LMS) for future analysis.

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 9

Onsite eBay European Team Brief: Internal Communications
As in any event production, you will need to consider lighting, Problem: Employee engagement suffered when the multinational
video, audio and décor. Test your hybrid technology integra- Internet corporation that manages eBay.com underwent major
tion and rehearse to make sure that the technology elements restructuring. Management also needed to share information with
are configured correctly and work as projected. Test Internet 12 European offices.
connectivity and performance, presentation content, audio and
Solution: The company connected its European offices for a weekly,
video, streaming and the playback of live content from each room
one-hour European Team Brief (ETB) that eventually made use of a
where streaming will occur.
hi-definition and hi-fi videoconferencing network. The multi-office
Depending on the technical complexity of your hybrid event
meeting includes opportunities for participants to interact and ask
production, you may want to do a cue-to-cue rehearsal. This
questions. Agendas are planned months in advance, and hosting is
ensures that your technical director has a chance to test the tran-
rotated each week among the leaders of the various offices. Partici-
sitions between elements.
pants watch the ETB together in large, designated viewing areas to
foster a sense of teamwork. Company executives credit the ETBs
Post-Event with improving employee engagement, allowing company leaders to
After the event, you should be concerned about three things. share updates easily and fostering a sense of camaraderie.
• Ensuring that the post-event content is online and available.
• Making sure that your post-event content marketing plan
Nike: Product Launch
is in place and being implemented smoothly.
Problem: Nike needed to launch its new products to regional teams
• Preparing and reviewing your post-event metrics reports
in a timely manner. When it held the meeting at its corporate head-
for online performance.
quarters, only a few employees could attend. And, when the events
team went out to the regional offices, word of the new products had
already spread to other regions, lessening the impact of the local
product-introduction events. Nike needed a solution to include as
many employees as possible in product-launch announcements and
do it so that everyone shared the surprise and excitement simulta-
CHAPTER 3: neously.

SUCCESSFUL HYBRID Solution: Nike held a small meeting in the Netherlands and
streamed it to all regional offices. The new products were shipped

EVENT MODELS
to each site. Once the announcement was made, an employee would
reveal those products in each remote location. In this way, employ-
ees shared in the excitement of the product launch and touched and
Now that you know the key components of a hy- felt the products at the same time as the announcement. The first
brid event and are familiar with the process for meeting was such a big success Nike now does these four times a
year for all product launches in Europe.
putting them together, learning a bit about how
these events are accomplishing well-defined ob- SAP: Marketing Sales Client Event
jectives may give you a better idea of how they Problem: In 2010, SAP leaders wanted their live event, SAPPHIRE,
to reflect trends in the marketing, media and business landscapes
can work for you. driven by sweeping changes in the way people communicate. They
To get the clearest picture of what hybrid also needed to revitalize the brand to showcase the company’s in-
novation and relevance.
events are and how they can be used, you
Solution: Launched in May 2010 on two continents, SAPPHIRE
should experience them firsthand. For now, take
NOW, connected satellite locations in seven cities and included
a look at a few different kinds of hybrid events 16,000 onsite and 35,000 online delegates. The event featured two
and the wide range of objectives they accom- network-quality TV studios, 400 sessions broadcast online in HD
and numerous opportunities for engagement via additional presen-
plished. tations, discussions and onsite micro-forums.

Hybrid Events Visit: www.mpiweb.org/sap2010

Thrivent Financial: Education for Sales Representatives SAE: Expanding Reach with Captured Event Content
Problem: Thrivent Financial needed to reach the 60 percent of Problem: SAE International, a century-old nonprofit organization for
sales representatives who were missing valuable education by mobility engineers, needed to expand its reach beyond the confines
not attending its national sales meeting. of its face-to-face events.
Solution: The organization created a three-day hybrid event with Solution: Five years ago, SAE began to capture portions of its live
a remote component designed specifically for sales reps inter- events on video, streaming some of in real time and offering videos
ested in fundamental training. The event augmented targeted of some sessions on-demand. Most recently the organization has
information with chat rooms and a virtual emcee to keep remote begun collecting all of these videos on its website and charging for
attendees engaged throughout the three days. The company access to them.
captured video for on-demand viewing and monitored the
financial reps who attended remotely for three months. (Virtual Visit: www.sae.org/events/convergence
reps increased their productivity by more than double that of
face-to-face reps.) Hybrid Models in adjacent spaces
Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 10
 Politics
Theater National Conventions of Political Parties. It has become stan-
National Theatre Live London. Event presents professional dard practice for U.S. political parties to live-stream their national
theatrical productions, captures them live and broadcasts them conventions. This year, the U.S. Republican party even named Google
to movie theaters all over the world. Visit www.nationaltheatre. Inc. the “Official Social Platform and Live Stream Provider” of the
org.uk/ntlive. 2012 Republican presidential nominating convention. Visit http://
vrge.co/HDF6v9.
Sports World Economic Forum. This event has been live-streamed on
2012 Summer Olympics. The 2012 London games was the first Facebook for several years. Anyone can access it for free and ask
Olympics to live-stream every event online and on mobile/tablet questions by writing to the presenters using Twitter, Livestream or
apps. Marketing for the event offered opportunities for fans to the Facebook wall. This year, a virtual emcee (a senior staff member
engage with the onsite community via social media. Visit http:// of the Facebook team) conducted exclusive, live interviews with
icopyu.olympic.org Q&As with world leaders. Visit http://on.fb.me/fqPi1s.
Professional Sports. Organizations such as the NFL (www.nfl.
com) now offer live and on-demand access for almost all of their Open Source/Community Interest
games. TEDxYouthDay. A series of events designed to empower and inspire
Sailing Race with Multiple Ports. Online coverage offers oppor- young people that take place all around the world, TEDxYouth-
tunities for less popular sports to reach their target audiences. Day events present a combination of live speakers and TEDTalks
Visit www.volvooceanrace.com/en/live.html at events that vary widely in size, format and theme. Visit http://
tedxyouthday.ted.com.

CHAPTER 4:
RESOURCES
Definitions
Asynchronous: An information exchange that does not occur in Event Production: The making and/or staging of an event, which entails
real time. Participants may interact at any time. all the processes and equipment needed for sound, video, projection and
creating a feed for recording or online streaming.
Audience Response System (ARS): A tool that creates inter-
activity between a presenter and his/her audience. Systems for Face-to-face attendees: People physically attending a meeting or event.
face-to-face audiences combine wireless hardware with pre-
sentation software, and systems for remote audiences may use Hybrid Event: A meeting or event with at least one group of face-to-
telephones or web polls for people watching through television face participants connecting with other participants in one or more
or the Internet. additional locations.

Bandwidth: The volume of information per unit of time that Monetization Strategy: The way in which an organization can
a transmission medium (such as an Internet connection) can generate revenues from content that has been captured at an event. If
handle. Bandwidth is expressed in upload and download speeds someone is willing to pay to access that content and that can be done
in megabytes per second (mbps). You can check the bandwidth systematically, it represents a market value that can be converted into
and speed of your Internet connectivity by running a speed test revenue streams.
here: http://speedtest.net.
On-Demand: Content that is available whenever a user wants to
Catalog: For streaming vendors, the catalog is the list of cap- consume it, as opposed to live content in real time.
tured sessions that attendees can view on-demand.
Pod: A group of attendees who gather and participate as a remote
Connectivity: This is the state or extent of being connected or component of a hybrid meeting.
interconnected with others during an event either through tech-
nology devices, social networks or face-to-face. Streaming: The transmission of data (video, audio, slides) over a
computer network, as a continuous stream in a consumable format
Content Capture: The act of recording subject matter from a for the user.
meeting or event for use or distribution later. Recent technol-
ogy advances have made it possible to quickly and relatively Synchronous: A term describing content that is heard, seen and
inexpensively distribute speaker video, audio and visuals over responded to as it is being presented.
the Web in real time and on-demand.
Virtual Event Platform: The digital environment where a virtual or
Content Repurposing: The process of taking intellectual prop- a hybrid event takes place. The most common type of virtual event
erty created and distributed one way and using it in a different way. platform includes a web page where video, audio and slides are
streamed. Interactivity tools such as a chat and a Q&A function are
also common. In many cases, these platforms can be customized and
branded.

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 11

Useful Online Articles Related To Hybrid Events
“How to Design An Effective Hybrid Event” RFP Tool Virtual Edge Institute
http://interactivemeetingtechnology.com/2010/11/01/how-to- http://www.virtualedgeinstitute.com/vei-consulting/digital-event-
design-an-effective-hybrid-event-webcast-slides/ rfp-tool/

“10 Secrets - Hybrid Events” Creating a Cinematic Event Experience

http://tahiralovesevents.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-secrets- http://bit.ly/tedvideotips
hybrid-events.html
Connectivity and Testing Bandwidth
“Nacho Mamas Deep Fried Hybrid Event on A Stick” (case study) http://www.speedtest.net
http://interactivemeetingtechnology.com/2010/09/25/nacho- “5 Tips for Live-Streaming Your Event”
mamas-deep-fried-hybrid-event-on-a-stick/ http://www.virtualedgesummit.com/learn-from-the-experts-5-tips-
for-live-streaming-your-event/
“14 Things I Learned as Co-Organizer of Event Camp Europe”
http://www.icon-presentations.com/blog/bid/45556/14-
Remote Audience Engagement Tools
Things-I-Learned-as-a-Co-Organizer-of-Event-Camp-Europe
How to Prepare Your Speakers for Hybrid Success
http://bit.ly/connollywebinar
“Effective Hybrid Event: Lessons from Event Camp Twin Cities”
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/webcast/how-design-effective-
Webinar: Role of Virtual Emcee
hybrid-event-lessons-learned-event-camp-twin-cities
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/webcast/3-ways-give-your-virtual-
audience-voice
“18 Tips to Make Your Event Webcast Rock!”
http://interactivemeetingtechnology.com/2009/08/13/18-tips-
“Organizing an EventCamp Pod”
to-make-your-event-webcast-rock/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37355982/20100912-ECTC-Basel-
POD-Experience-Event-Camp-Twin-Cities-Mindmap-Learning-Plain
Ideas, Inspiration for Hybrid Events
“Meeting Pros Are from Mars, Attendees Are from Venus: Tech- “Experiences of Participants at Event Camp Pod”
niques for Creating a Remarkable Hybrid Event” http://t.co/ http://nickbalestra.tumblr.com/post/1110550686/experience-
jMw8Ore3 events-through-a-remote-event-pod

“What the NFL Can Teach You about Virtual Events” “Keep It Legal—How to Keep Your Virtual Event on the Right Side of
http://allvirtual.me/2012/04/20/what-the-nfl-can-teach-you- the Law”
about-virtual-events/ http://www.virtualeventshub.com/virtual-event-trends/keep-it-
legal-%E2%80%93-how-to-keep-your-virtual-event-on-the-right-
“How Cisco is Leveraging Hybrid Events to Deliver More Value” side-of-the-law/
http://www.slideshare.net/inxpo/inside-look-how-cisco-is-
leveraging-hybrid-events-to-deliver-more-value “Four Skills Meeting Planners Will Need as a Result of Virtual
Events”
“The Future of Digital Events: It’s all about the Community” http://www.icon-presentations.com/blog/bid/51067/Four-Skills-
http://www.virtualedgesummit.com/the-future-of-digital- Meeting-Planners-Will-Need-as-a-Result-of-Virtual-Events
events-its-all-about-the-community/
“Which Event Technology Delivers the Best ROI?”
“Lessons Learned from TEDActive Simulcast Event” (case study) http://interactivemeetingtechnology.com/2009/11/04/which-
http://interactivemeetingtechnology.com/2010/11/05/talking- event-technology-delivers-the-best-roi/
tedactive-with-sarah-shewey/
TEDx In a Box
http://www.ted.com/pages/tedx_in_a_box
Hybrid Event Pre-Production and Production Tools
How to Capture a TEDtalk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hykE511y3yA&feature=play
er_embedded

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 12

Supported By
Mediasite Events is the trusted market leader Interactive Meeting Technology, LLC is an event tech-
for conference webcasting, hybrid meetings nology consultancy, which creates digital interactive
and video management solutions. Powered experiences that transform attendees into active par-
by the patented Mediasite webcasting platform, our expert technicians ticipants. It helps clients develop a strategy around their digital initiatives.
provide the highest quality webcasting experience to organizations who Then, it brings their vision to life. The company works across Web, mobile,
seek to complement their events by streaming to viewers on any computer, social, digital signage and hybrid meetings.
tablet or mobile device. Mediasite Events empowers meeting professionals
to reach new audiences, build instant archives of video presentations and
The Meeting Support Institute is an association for companies
explore new revenue streams online. Visit http://events.sonicfoundry.com
and individuals with products or services on the content side of
to learn more.
meetings, offering a wide range of tools from art to technol-
ogy, AV to facilitation, knowledge to science. Its goal is to help
meeting professionals design the content side of meetings and events. The
TNOC | The New Objective Collective brings ideas to life
institute informs and educates about available tools in the market via its
using live and digital communications. The collective is
knowledge base, presentations, dinners and conference. Here, suppliers
specialized in crafting Live, Hybrid and Digital Events
meet each other and their clients.
and training teams to deliver them effectively. Collective contributors use
modern collaboration techniques to provide objective-based services. The
projects are managed in online collaboration spaces enabling geographi- The University of Derby Corporate is the corporate
cally dispersed team and their supply chains from around the globe, each training and development division of the University of
with a distinct specialty, to collaborate. Whenever possible, the collective Derby. The school works with a wide variety of organi-
uses open source methodologies and innovative collaboration partnerships zations to deliver work-based learning programs and accredited qualifica-
to consult and deliver live and digital event experiences for corporations, tions that improve key capabilities, such as service, innovation, leadership
associations and open source communities. and problem solving.

The Authors MPI Staff

Jenise Fryatt Marj Atkinson, research manager
Fryatt has a background in journalism and communications and more than Jessie States, editor, meeting industry
20 years’ experience in the event industry as the co-owner of U.S.-based Jeffrey Daigle, creative director
Icon Presentations audiovisual company. An avid meeting industry blogger,
social media consultant and former community manager for Engage365.org,
Fryatt also has extensive experience leading virtual discussions, creating and Editorial Support
distributing content online and studying and participating in virtual-event Jennifer Juergens, president, JJ Communications
experiences.

Ruud W. Janssen, CMM About the MPI Foundation

A digital global nomad, Janssen is an online collaboration and bespoke The MPI Foundation is committed to bringing vision and prosperity to the
new media specialist for events, as well as speaker and trainer. With a solid
global meeting and event community by investing in results-oriented initia-
background in conference organizing and hospitality marketing, he has a tives that shape the future and bring success to the meetings and events
curiosity and appetite for slow food and fast media. Living in Basel, Switzer-
community. For more information, visit www.mpifoundation.org.
land, he is the founder of TNOC.ch, an unconventional marketing collective
specializing in crafting live, hybrid and virtual experiences for international,
organizations. He is also founder and curator of TEDxBasel and co-founder of About MPI
Event Camp Europe.
Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the meeting and event indus-
Richard John try’s largest and most vibrant global community, helps it’s members thrive
As workforce development fellow at the University of Derby, John brings by providing human connections to knowledge and ideas, relationships
academic perspective to the project. The university makes a virtual events and marketplaces. MPI membership is comprised of more than 23,000
simulator, the eAPL (Accreditation of Prior Learning) process and a body members belonging to 71 chapters and clubs worldwide. For additional
of research available to the team. John is also a course director for the information, visit www.mpiweb.org.
Chartered Institute of Marketing and a guest lecturer on events management
programs at universities in the U.K. and Germany. His articles on face-to- Meeting Professionals International Middle East
face communication have appeared in more than 50 magazines, and he is a Headquarters PC5 Offices,
regular columnist in a number of MICE magazines. 3030 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1700 Education City,
Dallas, TX 75234-2759 Doha, Qatar
Rosa Garriga Mora tel +1-972-702-3000 tel +974-454-8000
Rosa is an ROI consultant for meetings and events and serves as market- fax +1-972-702-3089 fax +974-454-8047
ing and media manager for the Event ROI Institute. She holds a master’s
degree in international events management from Stenden University in the Canada
Netherlands and London Metropolitan University. She is a certified meeting
Europe/Africa 6519-B Mississauga Road
28, Rue Henri VII
architect and is editor of the book The Tweeting Meeting. She currently lives Mississauga, Ontario
L-1725 Luxembourg
in Barcelona, Spain, where she also works on projects related to meeting L5N 1A6
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
design. Canada
tel +352-2610-3610
tel +905-286-4807
fax +352-2687-6343
Samuel J. Smith fax +905-567-7191
Smith is a thought leader, speaker and award-winning innovator on event
technology. In 2011, BizBash Magazine named him one of the most innova-
tive people in the event industry. In 2010, Smith co-founded Event Camp
Twin Cities, an innovation lab for events that rewrote the rules for attendee
engagement in hybrid events. Smith judges the annual EIBTM Worldwide
Event Technology Watch Awards in Barcelona, Spain.

© 2012, Meeting Professionals International. All Rights Reserved

Hybrid Meetings: How-To Guide | Page 13