Online, in-person, or hybrid: How should you run your events?
There’s no doubt that the pandemic changed the business world. Several lockdowns meant many businesses had to adopt flexible working options for employees – and similar approaches had to be taken to holding events.
Businesses now have to make the decision whether to conduct their events online, in-person, or a hybrid of the two.
There are definitely pros and cons to each, and the choice you make will depend on the type of event you’re running and the people you’re looking to attract.
We run monthly roundtables that bring together content and marketing professionals from across UK as well as The Pitch event programme. Here’s everything we learnt from a recent discussion with marketing professionals on running events.
Online
Along with Covid came the necessity for online events, and they were a great option for keeping events running when it wasn’t possible to meet in-person. But, should we continue online events when we can now meet in-person again?
There are many benefits to online events, such as being able to meet new people you normally wouldn’t, as well as those who are unable to meet in person and/or do not live locally. Meeting online is also more sustainable, with less waste and travel involved.
Smaller and more tailored online events can also help drive engagement and interactivity, as individuals are more likely to feel comfortable contributing to conversations.
Certain events also function better online: training workshops and investor pitching works well, for example, as it’s never been easier to group together individuals who may not live geographically close together.
“We’ve found investor pitching works better online. It’s laborious to get investors out of London. Putting founders in front of investors has been easier to do,” explained one roundtable attendee.
MAKING EVENTS ON-DEMAND
Online events also mean your audience isn’t tied to a specific time – something that’s useful if you’re trying to attract people with a jam-packed schedule. Your audience can catch up on the event at a time that’s convenient for them, enabling you to reach more people and build brand awareness on a larger scale.
People can also tune in to the specific content that they’re interested in, rather than having to sit in a room for an hour waiting for the topic they came for.
And, online events are often much easier to organise. Problems with weather or traffic aren’t an issue, and with fewer resources required they can often be cheaper to run.
2. In-person
Live events were greeted with a warm welcome after years of intermittent lockdowns.
Online events came with limitations, and they reminded us of what had worked well with face-to-face events.
For instance, networking online is famously tough, especially if there’s a big group. As one webinar attendee put it: “Engagement is so hard online. The Q&A at the end online is like virtual tumbleweed.”
Many people attend events for networking, and may not be as interested in attending something online that lacks that face-to-face interaction.
It’s also easier to run tasks and activities, especially as some people struggle with working online tech. In-person events are also better for a longer programme, as attendees are likely to switch off or get distracted when online.
3. Running hybrid events
A way to try and achieve the best of both worlds is to combine both online and in-person events.
Offering the most flexibility and allowing your event to reach a wider audience, hybrid events are a great idea when you want to meet face to face, but don’t want to exclude people.
However, hybrid events have their own challenges. It can be hard to make sure both sides have a high-quality experience, and you will likely require more team members to support both the online and in-person experience.
Get support running events for startups
Inkwell specialises in creating educational content and programmes for small business owners. We help brands like Innovate UK, Enterprise Nation and PwC build and engage with their audiences. We also run the annual pitching competition The Pitch, where we give startups the support to grow and the platform to raise investment.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about what we do, please get in touch.
