Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Should We Go Hybrid?


photo of a jet stream by Nancy Zavada
Hybrid meetings are here to stay.  It is time for organizations and planners to stop fighting so hard to "save" face-to-face meetings, there is room for both.

You already have the core competencies required to successfully execute virtual meetings such as program design, speaker recruitment, logistical organization and sponsor enrollment. All that is required is learning a new platform and some careful consideration about the audience and how best to engage them. The economic and environmental savings are considerable and will make you a hero in your organization.

Here are some questions to ask yourself and your key stakeholders we you begin designing your next event:

Are our attendees tech savvy?
Do they tend to be introverted or extroverted?
Do our attendees live in rural areas making it difficult to travel to the meeting?
Is the additional time and expense spent on travel worth the result we expect to achieve?
Are we trying to build consensus and community or is this an educational program?
How will this meeting impact the environment and how can we minimize that impact?

For a case study about the who is best served by these formats, check out "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

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