People participating from their home, office, or other places matter just as much as those in the venue.

Published on Apr 07, 2021

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

People participating from their home, office, or other places matter just as much as those in the venue.

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Name some things that shifted to your home in the past year.

Work, shopping, food, fitness, education and faith to name a few.

As 2021 continues, some will see off-facility or remote attendance

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home participation,
micro-gatherings, and
distributed gatherings—eclipse facility based attendance.

It’s not about people who are dropping out. Rather it’s about people who are leaning in.

If you and your organization can embrace that people from remote locations count,

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then you can mobilize those participants in the same way you would people who are at your physical venue.

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It’s no different than how retailers have embraced online purchasers still count as customers,

or restaurants have embraced drive thru, take out and delivery can fulfill their mission around food

so organizations and event leaders must embrace that people who are not in the room count.

Some event leaders are screaming that people are "Zoomed-out" or have screen fatigue.

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If you think that is true, Tik Tok and Instagram prove differently.

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Some event organizers try to provide equally or matched exceptionally gifted and skilled communicators at their event

But for most, that’s not a winning strategy. You won’t be able to compete.

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Growing events (and yes, that includes small and mid-sized events too) will realize that connection and community will win out over content in the end, and they’ll focus their resources there.

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Absolutely produce the best content you can, but make the goal connecting with people.

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When you provide connection (getting to know people, moving them into community, caring for them), it will provide a loyalty and sense of tribe that people can’t get elsewhere.

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Make the goal of hybrid events, including your content, connection, not consumption.

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Yes, it’s hard. Yes it would be easier to go back to the way things were.

Yes, it’s easy to focus on getting as many people as possible to attend your physical event. It might even create a short-term win.

The result in the long term is loss and missed opportunity.

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We have to remember that record attendance does not guarantee a fulfilled mission.

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6. The mediocre middle will frustrate more event participants.

If you look at most face to face and hybrid events, they use a lot of imitation. Find a successful hybrid event and copy it.

We rely on imitation, not innovation.

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While you can learn from others, trying to be someone else can end up stifling your organization’s voice and squelching your uniqueness.

If you’re a small hybrid event, get really good at being small and personal.

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Get good at being warm, empathetic, human.

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7. Insight and access have become more valuable than content.

Insight = meaning
which is rare therefore it's valuable

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Value is increasingly related to the size of the audience. And it’s inverse. The smaller the audience, the greater the value.

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One big change you can make in 2021 is to stop treating everyone the same.

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Your best leaders/team members/customers should get the most access to you, and they should also get your best insights.

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When you value people by being generous with your time and insight, they’ll value you more as well.

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Just because you can’t do it for everybody doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it for anybody.

Tips for your hybrid event

A. You’re planning three events, not just one that is live-streamed online.

Plan for three audiences: the face to face, those remote and the social media drivebys.

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How will you engage all three? What will you do to make sure it feels authentic to all three audiences?

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B. Unpolished is really resonating.

Be mindful of the humble and the deep rather than the flashy and the superficial.

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C. Slick graphics or video don’t make lame content exciting and shareable.

D. DIMTY is critical to your hybrid event.

Do I Matter To You?

Jeff Hurt

Haiku Deck Pro User