Hybrid events and conferences are becoming the new way to engage your audience locally and worldwide. It’s more important than ever to bring people together safely, but many organizations are in completely unchartered territory. How do you take a traditional conference and scale it with a virtual element? And how do you budget for it?
With the right strategy (and the right event budget), you can pull off an incredible event that creates value, builds loyalty, and boosts your business’s reach instantly! Here’s how to plan and budget for your hybrid event.
What is a Hybrid Event?
A hybrid event blends a traditional in-person conference with an online event. By leveraging live streaming technology, attendees can tune in from any location on any device. This gives organizations a unique opportunity to scale their audience sizes and reach.
Though hybrid events require strategic and intentional planning, it more than pays off for your organization when executed effectively. (Check out our article about how to balance in-person and virtual elements here.)
Ultimately, hybrid conferences can be much more cost-effective in the long-run than regular conferences. Not only will you save on some upfront hard costs due to a smaller live audience, but your organization will also benefit tremendously from the limitless scalability and added revenue streams from the virtual person.
What Should I Include in my Hybrid Event Budget?
To host a successful hybrid event or conference, you must consider a number of unique factors. Here are some of the most important elements to consider when budgeting for your hybrid event:
General In-Person Event Logistics
Before you begin, we recommend planning out the scope of your event. Consider the big-picture, live event logistics, and work them into your overall budget. Some elements may not have hard costs, while others will have hefty ones. Start with the in-person event. You’ll need to make sure anything related to on-site event logistics is included. Here are some of the top costs you may have to budget for, depending on your event programming and scope:
Venue:
- Venue rental
- Food and beverage
- Audiovisual
- Production staging
- Décor
- Accommodations (if destination or multi-day conference)
Content:
- Speaker fees (and any contract requests)
- Entertainment
- Collateral or promo items
- Interactive devices/programs
- Signage
Logistics:
- Staff (internal and external)
- Permitting
- Delivery vehicle rentals
Try to estimate and account for your event expenses as accurately as possible. Of course, these are likely estimations. However, it is better to plan using figures that are on the higher end of the range. That way, it will be a pleasant surprise if you come in under budget and not a point of contention if you come in over it.
Virtual (Live Stream) Components
When you plan your hybrid event, you may be tempted to simply stream the live event through Facebook or Zoom. While this is technically possible, it will not be the best experience for the virtual or remote audience. Don’t make them feel like an afterthought. If you want to really maximize your conference revenues, ensure your live stream offers a valuable and engaging experience without shortcuts. Professional production is really the only way to go for a truly successful hybrid conference.
Here are some key components to consider in your initial budget:
Virtual
- Webinar/Live Streaming Platform/Services
- Virtual event platform or website
- Remote support and operations for event day
- Pre-recorded and edited videos
On-Site
- Equipment (Microphones, audio cords, digital switchers)
- Camera, Tech, and Audio Operators
- Strong internet connection and proper bandwidth support
Marketing and Promotions
In addition to the hard costs associated with producing your hybrid event, you will also need to make an investment in marketing it. It’s important you begin by clearly defining your audience. The wider the audience you want to appeal to, the more you will have to spend on marketing and promotions to reach them. You’ll want to spend on campaigns that educate your ideal attendees about the event as well as ones that specifically drive registration for it. If you don’t have an in-house marketing team, we highly recommend hiring an experiential marketing agency like Reimagined Experiences that can handle all areas of your hybrid event from inception to execution!
A secondary benefit of marketing to a larger audience (besides better reach for your hybrid event) is the increased overall awareness and new leads you’ll create for your organization. After the event is over, it’s a great idea to continue some of these promotions at a minimum to stay top-of-mind amongst your attendees.
Here are some marketing initiatives you may want to budget for:
- Digital promotions and social media ad campaigns
- Email marketing targeting potential sponsors and partners
- Traditional advertising
- Experiential marketing agency
Besides attendees, you should also consider your approach to securing sponsors, partners, and speakers. We’d recommend creating a strategy (and line item) around these initiatives as well.
Virtual and In-Person Attendee Engagement
For your organization to build a truly successful event, you must always put your audience at the center of it. Audience engagement is crucial both on-site and virtually for your attendees to get the most out of your conference. Intimate breakout sessions, entertaining breaks, live Q&As, and networking round robins are all examples of ways to keep your audience involved throughout the event, especially if they’re tuning in from home.
Consider budgeting for items like:
- Entertainment
- Cocktail/Happy Hours
- Contest and/or Participation Prizes
- Tradeshow Giveaways
- Off-site events
Can Sponsors Offset Costs for Hybrid Event Planning?
Just as event organizers have had to reinvent themselves over this last year and a half, so have event sponsors. If you don’t have one already, start building a strong list of sponsors that meet your target demographic and can help boost your event’s overall reach. Create sponsorship levels that incorporate various elements, both virtual and in-person, to help drive additional revenue and offset conference costs.
Strategically Planning and Budgeting for a Hybrid Conference
Are you feeling overwhelmed at the thought of planning out your budget, let alone producing an entire hybrid conference?
The team at Reimagined Experiences is here to make event planning an enjoyable experience from conception to closing. With the right hybrid strategy in place, you’ll be able to successfully expand your reach and scale conference revenues for your organization. Book your complimentary discovery call now – we can’t wait to get started!
