It’s safe to say that our world has changed permanently. The past few years have transformed the way we travel, communicate, and work. Due to the global pandemic and subsequent quarantines, we’ve developed new habits and mindsets that keep ourselves and loved ones safe. Even after things may have seemingly settled to an extent, we will always be alert and careful.
When it comes to music events and festivals, things have definitely changed. With attendance being the main foundation of success for music events and festivals, the Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed the way these events are handled and managed. Music event and festival planners have to keep in mind the ways certain things will impact the way events and festivals are run. Now, people are more likely to be interested in the ways music events or festivals will cater to these new changes and expectations. One thing that is clear is the success of hybrid events.
Music events with hybrid formats are seeing definite attention and interest. With the way things have changed in the world, people are more interested in hybrid music events and festivals and the opportunities that they provide. Hybrid music events and festivals not only benefit your attendees and leave room for them to stay safe and comfortable, but hybrid events will also bring in more benefits and opportunities for you as music event and festival planners.
How music events with hybrid formats expand your reach
Music events with hybrid formats allow you to not only hold live events with the same excitement and ambiance which exist around live music festivals, but it will also bring in a second audience to your event through a virtual context. Livestreaming it through your event pages or even through possible partnerships like with YouTube will bring a multitude of attention to your music event. Hybrid events make sure that you satisfy the audience who want to attend the event live and the audience that is not able to make it to the venue but still would like the experience of the music event or festival.
Additionally, hybrid music events create a way for you as music event planners to expand your outreach to an international base. With hybrid events, you and your marketing team are able to market to a wider audience that isn’t limited to a select audience based on location, money, and physical ability. Your target audience will expand and will gain more attention because of the fact that it’s a hybrid event. People across the globe will have an opportunity to attend the music event or festival and will change the way you market to your audience.
You can also create a “second life” for your event by reposting special highlights on your social media pages and using the event as a marketing tactic for future hybrid music events and festivals. Expanding your events to a global audience is a goal of any music event planner and with hybrid events, that goal is now feasible and within reach.
Hybrid events are changing attendee experience
As mentioned, your reach will definitely expand through hybrid music and festival events. You are able to market your music event to a wider audience across the globe and bring attention to your music event (and even future events) which increases ticket sales. Additionally, as mentioned before, attending a music event or festival costs money and time. For many attendees, they have to take time off work, spend money on gas when driving, or even plan a whole mini trip by booking plane or train tickets, and places to stay for the duration of the event cost money. Hybrid events cut those costs down and allow people to attend music events and festivals without breaking their wallets or taking (much) time off work.
Music events with hybrid formats also consider possible attendees that can’t physically attend music events or festivals due to personal reasons, conditions, and disabilities. Hybrid formats will open your music event or festival to a whole new audience demographic. You have a live audience and the excitement that runs through a live event, and you also have an audience streaming through their digital devices, experiencing an event that wouldn’t be possible without a hybrid format.
Things to keep in mind for your hybrid event
Hybrid music events and festivals are undoubtedly the way of the future. With hybrid events, you are able to expand your event to a wider audience across international borders and situations and also bring a unique experience right to the comfort of their own homes. When planning a hybrid event, keep a few things in mind in order to keep your event running smoothly.
1. Make sure your attendees get all the information that they need to attend your hybrid music events.
With hybrid music events, be considerate of both audiences–your live audience and your virtual audience. Make sure that you ready a network of seamless communication with your attendees by emailing them specific details about the event. For example, send out an itinerary about your virtual set such as the link to the event and information about hosts if you choose to have one. A successful hybrid event means communicating with your attendees so always make sure that they are in the loop.
You can easily send out emails to your whole list of event attendees for free using Ticket Fairy’s internal mailing system. All you have to do is open your event, and select Interact > Messaging. You can even choose to message just online, or just offline ticket buyers, depending on categories you’ve set up for your event ticketing. Feel free to format your text with a simple in-built editor too. All of this, for FREE!
2. Be prepared with technical support.
Hybrid events mean using the internet to live stream the music event or festival. Sometimes with so many people checking in virtually the connection could buffer or even go down completely. Be prepared for any technical difficulties by having a tech support team on hand to instantly fix problems that may arise. One thing that you can do is before your event, simulate various problems that may arise during the streaming of the music event, and prepare solutions accordingly.
3. Maintain engagement by considering the different platforms of a virtual event.
Keeping your virtual audience’s attention during the live stream might be difficult because of the way they’re removed from experiencing the music event live. Think about ways virtual attendees can be more interactive by having a specific emcee or host for the virtual music event or festival to keep them engaged, and even have your virtual attendees participate on social media-specific activities during the event. For example, prompt them to share an Instagram picture with a specific hashtag of them live-streaming the event. Be conscious of the way your separate audiences will experience the music event and adjust accordingly.
Hybrid music and festival events are revolutionizing the industry and making space for opportunities to arise. More people are able to attend music events and festivals and event planners are able to globally expand in the way that they have always wanted to. When planning a hybrid event, make sure you’re conscious of your two audiences and build upon these ideas to improve the experiences of all your eventgoers.
Curious to see if your event could be a hybrid event? Make sure to first see if they satisfy these points!
