The Hybrid Events Playbook

Hybrid events serve in-person and virtual attendees. ON24's research ↗ shows that 78% of event marketers plan to run hybrid events in 2025. Here's the playbook.

1. One Registration, Two Experiences

Same ticket, different access. In-person gets the room; virtual gets a livestream link. Cvent ↗ and Hopin ↗ both emphasize unified registration as the foundation — one attendee record, multiple touchpoints.

2. Dedicated Virtual Host

Someone who monitors chat, reads questions aloud, and keeps remote attendees engaged. Bizzabo's engagement benchmarks ↗ show that events with dedicated virtual facilitation see 2x higher remote participation.

3. Replay Everything

Record keynotes and panels. Virtual attendees in different time zones will watch async. ON24 ↗ reports that on-demand content drives 40% of post-event engagement.

4. Networking for Both

In-person: lunch tables, breaks. Virtual: breakout rooms, Slack/Discord, matchmaking tools. Grip ↗ and Brella ↗ specialize in this — the goal is connection regardless of format.

5. Test the Tech

Run a dry run 24h before. Zoom, YouTube, Vimeo — whatever you use, verify it works. PCMA's hybrid playbook ↗ recommends a full tech rehearsal with all speakers.