Remember when almost every event involved staring at a screen?
The pandemic forced marketers to rethink events almost overnight. Conferences went virtual, expo floors became online platforms and networking somehow became something we were expected to do from a little box on a screen. It was a strange time, but it also forced organisations to experiment with different ways of bringing people together - and some of those lessons have stuck.
In-person events are now well and truly back, but virtual events haven't disappeared with them. Instead, they've earned a more permanent place in the marketing mix, while hybrid events have given organisations another way to reach people who can't, or don't necessarily want to, be in the room.
More choice should theoretically make event planning easier. In reality, it has created another decision for marketers to make: should your next event be in-person, virtual or hybrid?
There isn't one right answer. The format should depend on your audience, what you're asking of them and, most importantly, the experience you're trying to create.
When being in the room matters
There's still nothing quite like bringing people together in the same place. In-person events give businesses an opportunity to connect personally with prospective clients, customers, partners and peers, while conversations can develop naturally in ways that are difficult to manufacture online.
That human element has arguably become more valuable as our working lives have become increasingly digital. With audiences navigating an extraordinary volume of online and AI-generated content, events create opportunities for genuine human interaction: meeting someone, asking a question, having an unscripted conversation and getting to know the people behind a business.
There's also much more scope to create a physical brand experience. Event design, signage, displays, product demonstrations, activations and even a really good piece of event swag can help attendees experience a brand in ways that simply aren't possible through a screen.
Of course, all of that comes at a cost. Venues, travel, accommodation, catering, displays, staffing and production can quickly add up, while geography places an obvious limit on who can attend. That doesn't make in-person events less worthwhile; it simply makes it more important to have a clear reason for bringing people together.
If relationship-building, networking, hands-on demonstrations or complex conversations are central to the experience, meeting face-to-face can be incredibly powerful. If you're still weighing up whether the investment in a B2B event is actually worth it, we've looked at that question separately in this recent post, including the importance of audience quality, clear objectives and measuring ROI.
Don't write off the screen just yet
Virtual events aren't the emergency substitute for 'real' events that they once were. Used in the right circumstances, they're a genuinely useful format in their own right.
Their obvious strength is accessibility. Without travel or geography getting in the way, organisations can reach audiences across cities, states and countries, often while reducing many of the costs associated with physical events. That makes virtual particularly well suited to webinars, training, educational sessions, briefings and other content-led events where the primary value lies in what attendees will learn rather than who they'll meet or what they'll physically experience.
The challenge is attention. An attendee sitting in a conference room has made a fairly significant commitment to being there; an attendee sitting at their desk is surrounded by emails, messages, other work and the very tempting ability to leave with a click.
That's why good virtual events need to be designed for the environment rather than treated as an in-person presentation delivered through a webcam. Shorter sessions, strong moderation, live Q&As, polls, chat and well-planned opportunities for participation can all help, but the technology itself isn't the answer. The content still needs to give people a reason to stay.
Virtual events don't need to imitate in-person ones to be successful. In many cases, they're better when they don't try.
Hybrid can offer the best of both worlds - but not automatically
On paper, hybrid sounds like the perfect solution: bring together an in-person audience while allowing everyone else to join virtually, increasing reach, accessibility and flexibility in the process. And hybrid events can absolutely work.
The problem is that they aren't simply an in-person event with a livestream bolted onto the side. You're effectively designing an experience for two different audiences, each participating in very different ways.
People in the room can talk to each other during breaks, approach a speaker afterwards, read the energy in the room and participate naturally. Someone watching online experiences that same event through a screen, and without deliberate planning it can quickly feel as though they're watching everybody else attend an event they weren't invited to.
Creating a strong hybrid experience may therefore mean dedicated online hosts, virtual networking opportunities, live moderation, different resources or content, and technology that allows remote participants to contribute meaningfully. It can also require additional cameras, audio, streaming technology, production support and staff.
So while hybrid can increase accessibility and extend the reach of an event, it doesn't necessarily give you the best of both worlds for half the effort. Sometimes it simply gives you two event experiences to plan instead of one.
The question isn't whether you can add a virtual audience. It's whether doing so will make the event better for the people you're trying to reach, and whether you have the resources to do it properly.
Start with your audience, not the format
One of the easiest traps in event planning is deciding what you're going to run before working out what you actually need it to achieve. A webinar, conference, exhibition stand, workshop or hybrid event is a tactic; the strategy needs to come first.
A good starting point is to consider where your audience is and how realistic it is to ask them to attend physically. If the people you're trying to reach are spread across Australia or around the world, virtual access could dramatically reduce the barriers to participation. If you're targeting a relatively concentrated group and bringing those people together is part of the value, geography may work in favour of an in-person event.
Then consider what you're actually asking attendees to do. Listening to an industry expert explain a topic is very different from trying a product, meeting potential partners, collaborating in a workshop or having a sensitive discussion with a small group of peers. The more important physical interaction and spontaneous conversation are to the experience, the stronger the argument for bringing people together.
Networking deserves particular consideration. Virtual networking tools have improved enormously, but a scheduled online networking session still isn't quite the same as chatting to someone while you're waiting for a coffee. If attendee-to-attendee relationships are one of the main reasons your event exists, in-person has an obvious advantage. If networking is incidental and the content itself is the attraction, virtual may serve your audience perfectly well.
Accessibility is broader than geography, too. Travel time, cost, work commitments, caring responsibilities, mobility and the amount of time you're asking someone to give you can all influence whether an event is genuinely accessible. An interstate attendee might happily join a 60-minute webinar but never fly to Sydney for it; conversely, a senior decision-maker may be far more willing to block out an afternoon for a genuinely valuable face-to-face experience than spend another hour on a video call.
The content itself should also influence the decision. A presentation, panel discussion or educational session can translate beautifully online, whereas a physical product demonstration, immersive activation or hands-on workshop may lose much of its impact through a screen.
Finally, be realistic about what you can deliver well. This is particularly important with hybrid events. If your budget and resources allow you to create a brilliant in-person event but only a mediocre virtual experience alongside it, adding online access isn't necessarily an improvement.
Like any marketing decision, the smartest place to start is with your audience, your objectives and the role the event plays in your broader marketing strategy, rather than choosing the tactic first.
So, which format makes sense?
There are no hard and fast rules, but there are some useful indicators.
In-person makes sense when: human connection, networking, relationship-building, physical experiences or hands-on interaction are fundamental to the value of the event. If people genuinely benefit from being in the same room, give them a reason to be there.
Virtual makes sense when: reach, accessibility, education, information-sharing or convenience matter most, particularly when your audience is geographically dispersed and the content doesn't rely heavily on physical interaction.
Hybrid makes sense when: there is a genuine reason to serve both audiences and you have the resources to create a worthwhile experience for each. It shouldn't simply be the default middle ground because choosing between in-person and virtual feels too difficult.
If you're still struggling to decide between the three, that's often a sign that the format isn't actually the question you need to answer yet. Go back to the audience and the objective first.
The best event format is the one your audience needs
Event marketing has changed enormously over the past few years, but perhaps the most useful thing we've learned is that we don't have to default to one way of doing things anymore.
An event doesn't need to be in-person because that's how you've always done it, and it doesn't need a virtual component simply because the technology makes one possible. It definitely doesn't need to be hybrid just because that sounds like the safest way to cover all bases.
The right format is the one that makes it easiest for the right people to participate in the right way, while giving you the best opportunity to create an experience they'll actually value.
So before you book the venue, choose the platform or start investigating livestreaming costs, think about what you want your audience to experience. Once you're clear on that, the format becomes a much easier decision.
Planning an event and not sure which way to go?
From event strategy and promotion to creative, branding and on-the-day execution, MIH helps organisations create events with a clear purpose and an experience built around the people they're trying to reach.
If you're weighing up an event idea and aren't quite sure what format, approach or marketing support it needs, Pick our brains with a free 30-minute consultation.
