Study: Hybrid events performing high
According to new details from the Virtual Edge Institute and ROI of Engagement hybrid events, or events offered both for in-person attendees and virtual attendees, are a hot property. Researchers found that virtual events are actually pushing in-person attendance, too. According to the report more than half prefer virtual events because they can save time and money, and that offering them the ability to attend virtually actually increased the attendance of an event or conference.
• 43% attend events to network
• 30% believe they ‘learn better’ in person
• 26% attend events to build relationships
• 40% report a preference for virtual events because they can attend specific events
• 93% of virtual event attendees say they won’t attend events in-person
• 78% of in-person attendees say they would attend virtual conferences
Surprisingly, the attendance of virtual and in-person events was very similar across demographics, which both older and younger adults saying they would attend a virtual event.
“A common misconception is that younger generations are more comfortable with and adopt new technologies more quickly. But this was not true in our study. With the proliferation of technology for day-to-day work, workers across all generations are comfortable attending events remotely, which bodes well for the growth of online meeting and events,” said Todd Hanson, President and Founder, Catalyst Performance Group and ROI of Engagement.
Meanwhile, a report from Unisfair finds that 60% of respondents to their study plan to increase spending on virtual events in 2011 while 42% will decrease their spending on physical events.
