Tips for hosting a Hybrid event

Using the Event.Gives Digital Event Experience tools provide an all-in-one experience where your attendees can interact and stay engaged with your event no matter if they are in the ballroom, at their house, or across the globe! From the manager portal, you can stream live videos, push pre-recorded content, or integrate your Zoom meeting with our giving overlays. Your in-person and remote audience can bid and donate all in one place as your auctioneer can continue to provide real-time recognition throughout the course of your event.  Now, it's easier than ever to capture your in-person bids and donations right within the manager portal!

Hybrid events are a great way to meet the needs of your organization by hosting an event for your in-person guests as well as hosting an online component to accommodate your virtual guests. Please take a look at this article for best practices regarding Hybrid events.

• Tickets
  • Be sure to create two different tickets, one for in-person guests and one for virtual guests. This will help you track how many of each guest to expect. We advise including In-Person and Attending Virtually/ Online within the ticket titles. 
  • Using Live Access tickets will ensure that only ticket holders will be able to view your event stream. If this option sounds right for your event, check out this video for more information 
  • Make sure to explain the difference between the ticket types within your event description on the site as well as in any marketing you do for the event.
  • You can add options to each individual ticket that may only apply to one group. For example, if you are providing dinner to the in-person guests, you could add a ticket option to your in-person ticket asking about their dinner preference. For your virtual guests, you could ask them to provide where they will be joining from, for example.
• Items and Donations
  • Silent Auction Items
    • In-person and Virtual guests will bid on their devices at event.gives/YOURKEYWORD/items. 
    • Be sure to include instructions to accommodate both types of guests within your Pick Up Message. For example, pick up your winning items at the table by the door or drop by PLACE at TIME.
    • If an item needs to be shipped to a virtual attendee, you will need to add a shipping cost to your attendee's cart after your items are closed. You can easily do this by following these instructions for adding shipping costs to a closed item.
  • Live Auction Items and Donations
    • Virtual attendees will bid, donate, and participate in the chatbox from their devices. 
    • In-Person attendees will interact with the event by using their mobile devices to bid/donate or bid/donate using bid paddles.
      • You will want to advise attendees using their mobile devices at the event to click the button to hide the video. All bidding/ donating buttons will appear as well as the chat field if you have that toggled on. 
      • Alternatively, you can assign your own paddle numbers in order to easily create bid paddles for each attendee. 
        
        • To keep the bidding/ donating portions of your event moving smoothly during an event using paddle numbers, we have designed the Floor Bid and Floor Donation feature.
        • This feature works in conjunction with a floor spotter who will record the bid number and bid amount. All the volunteer on a computer needs to do is click a button that alerts the system that a bid or donation was made.
        • The information the spotter provides can be entered into the system after the live auction/ donation portion has concluded. Please click to see more detailed information about accepting Floor Bids and Floor Donations during your event. 
• Digital Display 
  • The Digital Display feature allows you to choose specific event information to appear on a screen during your event
  • This can include how much money you have raised, highlight specific auction items, as well as show the number to text to give right on the screen
  • For information on how to set up a Digital Display, check out this article 
• Timing
  • When hosting in-person and virtual guests, it is important to have a clear start time and stick to it. 
  • The host or emcee of the event should keep the event on schedule 
    • If there are breaks or segments for in-person guests only, that is a great time to play a pre-recorded video for your online guests
• General Tips
• • • Do not have guests join the local Wi-Fi, only connect the device you are streaming from!
    • Be sure to print your ticket holder reports ahead of time, just in case you need to refer to them.