Rethink #1: Hybrid events are a new medium

"But to be successful online, a magazine can't just take what it has in print and move it to the electronic realm. There isn't enough depth or interactivity in print content to overcome the drawbacks of the online medium." - From "Content is King" by Bill Gates (1996)

This quote from Bill Gates referred to the digitization of print editions in 1996 and, if you replace "magazine" with "event," couldn't be more apt for the event industry today. People have been talking about hybrid events for a long time, and there have certainly been successful implementations. But, if we're being completely honest, we're only in the beginning stages of developing hybrid event strategies and campaigns. And I'm glad, because being at the beginning means that we still have a lot of new things to discover.

How can I say that we are only at the beginning with hybrid events? There are several indicators of this. First, we need to take a trip into the world of virtual events. In the past year, we have all been allowed - and in some cases had to - experience a great many virtual events. Most virtual events were made by developing the dramaturgy for a real event and then filming it. The second indicator for my assertion lies in the fact that access to the subject is via the medium and not via the content. Many are satisfied when they have fulfilled the medium. And that is precisely a sign that the subject is at the beginning of its development.

This short excursion to virtual events is necessary because they are part of a hybrid event implementation. Hybrid means that a real event is supplemented by virtual elements or vice versa. But that is too simplistic and does not do justice to the potential of hybrid events. With hybrid implementations, you have to look at the event from two perspectives: the virtual and the real one. Both perspectives have very different needs. The virtual experiences the event with two senses, the real with five. The attention span is different, the desire, the motivation and then all the external factors like location, decoration and much, much more. The virtual perspective has to be designed and planned just like the real one.

But let's think big. What about the live mix, with all the measures that the target group may experience across the customer journey? In the future, this journey will have to be conceived as a hybrid. At Live Lab, we base this on the idea of a "seamless experience," an experience promise that is kept across all touchpoints - whether real or virtual. The target group - or let's call them the community - immediately recognizes who the sender is based on the experience.

If we take the Bill Gates analogy, we see that the successful digitized magazine only became successful when the focus was shifted away from the individual issue to a holistic approach. The magazine becomes an online portal with high interactivity, archives, moving images and much more. The monthly issue remains - even as print - but the editorial team still delivers, for example, daily newsletters, film features and whatever else comes to mind for the creative creators. The magazine's community is maintained and supplied with content. The communities can even fragment according to interests, and so, for example, themed newsletters are created - right up to contributions that the community has produced itself (user-generated content).

If you apply this analogy to the customer journey of a company, the potential quickly becomes clear. The events, which can be experienced both physically and virtually, give the company the opportunity to advertise specifically on a date and for a certain topic - the community is activated. Between events, the company has the opportunity to keep the community activated with smaller measures. These measures range from small events to training courses, video blogs, integration of social media and classic newsletters. There are no limits to creativity here. The community also does not have to be fed on a daily basis; here, it depends strongly on the strategic framework conditions (goals, target groups, etc.).

Digitization is taking events into a new strategic dimension in the communications mix. The development of hybrid individual measures into hybrid customer journeys promises to be a very exciting field. The focus is shifting away from individual events to the long-term activation of the community. The consistent experience across all touchpoints and thus the long-term recognition will make the difference. Customers will become a community that can be retained in the long term.

* Maximilian Souchay is Founder and Managing Partner at Live Lab. He studied marketing in Bern and cultural management and acting in Liverpool. Before founding Live Lab in 2015, he worked in various leadership positions in the event industry.