Hybrid Event Planning - Make Your Event Successful

What does a hybrid event look like? Why do we need to use virtual reality in our events at all? How should we measure the success of our hybrid events? Let’s answer these questions based on real-life examples.

Hybrid experiences, also known as mixed reality or a merger of physical and virtual worlds, are gaining popularity in many industries. Companies that want to improve their productivity or reward employees for doing something special will often organize a team-building activity to combine physical activities with digital ones.

These events can be beneficial when you have an inspirational goal to make your corporate culture more effective. They help employees get to know each other better and create stronger ties between them. And let’s face it, mingling with people can be difficult for introverts, while everyone loves games!

Of course, these kinds of activities are not limited to corporate events. You can use them at other types of gatherings too.

For example, virtual reality has become very popular among gamers looking for new experiences and who love doing things in groups. So if you’re planning your next family reunion or birthday party, you should consider adding a virtual element to make it more memorable!

Why Bring Virtual Reality Into Events?

So why do we need to bring VR into our events? The answer is simple: virtual reality immerses participants in an alternate reality that evokes the same emotions as real-life without putting themselves or others at risk.

There are lots of obvious benefits to using virtual reality at events. Some of them are becoming more active, getting a lot of fun and excitement without spending a fortune, having their participants interact with each other in a new way, learning something new, and so on.

Hybrid Event Planning Incorporating Virtual Reality

Now let’s see what you need to pay attention to when planning a hybrid event.

Finding the Right Venue

The first thing is finding the right venue where you can combine physical activities with digital ones. Of course, if your virtual reality gear requires that everyone has perfect vision or that they visit an optometrist before donning the glasses (e.g., HTC Vive), then it is not such a big deal (make sure there’s enough time for people to do this).

However, if your event requires that everyone tries virtual reality for the first time and you want to be sure that they can do this without any problems, you should find a location where people can enjoy both activities.

Look at the Budget

Virtual reality technology has been improving at a rapid pace over the past few years. Nowadays, it’s not as expensive as it used to be, so if you have the budget to make your events unique and memorable, buying VR gear will hardly pose a problem for your company.

On the other hand, if money is an issue for you, you should consider renting them instead. The second thing we need to take into consideration is choosing the right software. You can use a virtual reality player to combine a video or a 3D model with real-life action.

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But what if you want your participants to have the feeling of being part of an alternate reality, not just watching something from the outside? In that case, it’s better to go for a custom software solution that allows you total control over how people experience your event.

The best example here might be planning an escape room event and adding virtual elements to make it more realistic.

Of course, this requires much more effort than just recording some VR videos or creating 3D models, but at the same time, it can also significantly improve the engagement levels of your team members, which is precisely what we are trying to achieve with hybrid events.

Providing Surreal Experience

The third thing you need to think about is how your participants will experience your event. If you are planning regular VR events or virtual reality game tournaments, you should plan for them to be competitive and require some performance from the players.

But if your goal is to increase employee engagement, then networking activities could do the trick! For example, you could ask everyone to socialize in groups that play specific games or attend different workshops at one time.

This way, people would meet each other much easier than during regular team-building sessions because everyone could find someone who likes doing something similar to them! Of course, the key here is creating opportunities for people to talk and making the right content that everyone will find interesting.

A more relaxing way of virtual reality use at events is through watching VR videos together. Not all companies allow their employees to play games during work hours, so if you are planning casual team-building events, then this is precisely what your participants would appreciate!

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Of course, you can also hire someone to create professional VR video content for your event.

Charging People Appropriately

The last thing we should mention here but probably the most important, is how you will charge people for your event. If your goal is to encourage them to come and enjoy some time spent together, then free tickets would do the trick!

However, if you want participants to take more interest in what they will experience during your hybrid events, charging per attendee might be a good idea.

For example, if participants need to book their flights and hotels and pay more than you expected for the entrance fee, they might try harder to make sure that everyone on their team comes, which turns out as an unexpected promo for your company!

Conclusion

So what’s so special about hybrid events? To put it simply, unlike regular game shows or virtual game tournaments that only require one type of technology (e.g., VR headsets), hybrid events present opportunities for all your participants to compete and socialize simultaneously!

As we already mentioned, there is an excellent variety of entertainment offered during such events, but knowing how to combine them most efficiently is what matters.

To summarize everything we discussed here, follow these three simple rules:

• Think about finding an appropriate event venue.

• Invest in the right virtual reality software.

• Create interactive content that everyone will find interesting.

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