What is AGM?
The annual general meeting is a crucial and significant event of every business industry that is organised annually every year at a physical venue. It involves a gathering of interested stakeholders/shareholders from around the world along with the director of the company. The meeting involves the discussions on the overall performance of the organisation for the entire year and plans the goals for the upcoming year.
What is Hybrid AGM?
With the changing dynamics where mass gatherings and travelling has been restricted for some time, hybrid AGM became immensely popular. As a diverse set of shareholders are located in different geographical locations, accessing the meeting virtually came into play. Virtual AGMs became popular with time as it results in increased attendance at the event. It allows attendees to tune in from the comfort of their own space or desk without having to buy expensive travel tickets. Virtual occasions hold their own importance, but face-to-face meetings will never skip out from robust event strategy. Here hybrid meetings and hybrid conferences came into the limelight.
If we simply put, a hybrid AGM is a mix of a virtual annual general meeting and an on-ground traditional AGM. A hybrid AGM is a conference that is organised at a physical location and is paired with a virtual component.
A hybrid AGM offers the flexibility to shareholders to attend a meeting in-person or virtually from their remote locations. Stakeholders who live at a distance from the venue can simply tune in from their smartphone and laptop and be a part of the meeting. It escalates the need of travelling to a location and gathering in-person in a single meeting room. The various roadblocks during in-person AGMs such as space limitations, geographical constraints, travelling expenses all get resolves with hybrid AGMs. However, resulting in increased attendance, better participation, and amplified engagements.
Why has Hybrid AGM become so popular?
With the unforeseen changes in 2020, hosting hybrid meetings and conferences became immensely popular. The number of increasing hybrid AGM platforms on the internet says all. Due to its inclusivity and reach to a diverse set of attendees made hybrid AGMs the first choice of corporates. It brings the best elements of both event worlds together in the same frame, i.e. virtual AGMs and traditional AGMs. Organisations are tapping into the most powerful technology to organise their recurring meetings and crucial events like AGMs.
Hybrid conferences and meetings are organised at a physical venue with a combination of a hybrid AGM platform, thus delivering a seamless event. It enables the c level stakeholders who are not willing to travel to be a part of the meeting virtually. Whereas interested stakeholders who can not afford to travel due to busy schedules resulting in missing out on the most important discussions can access the meeting virtually or on-demand. The attendee data is fully tracked in a safe and secure digital environment.
Selecting the right technology and hybrid AGM platform service provider is a must. A team of experts will ensure a smooth transition and a seamless delivery for your hybrid conference or hybrid annual general meeting. The perks offered by Hybrid AGM are far beyond the gateway of conventional AGMs. Wider reach, increased attendance, better engagements, reduced travelling expenses, tops the list.
Are Hybrid Meetings and Conferences safe and secure?
While hosting a virtual AGM or hybrid meeting security remains the top concern of the organisations. Selecting the right technology and hybrid AGM platform service provider is a must to keep the confidential information intact.
It enables you to host your hybrid meeting in a safe and secure digital environment. It escalates the threat of leaking out of your confidential information. A comprehensive platform keeps a track of valuable data for the entire event to give you a complete detailed analytics report. It enables you to restrict the attendees by opening registrations. The platform then only enables registered attendees to access the meeting and be a part of it, thus preventing third-party authorization.
Hybrid meetings are secure as any other meeting formats, but selecting the right technology is the key. The technology you leverage is directly associated with the security of the event. A platform built upon the foundation of trust, reliability, and honesty is the best bet to go with.
What are the benefits of hosting Hybrid AGMs?
The ways of conducting meetings and organising events have been completely changed in 2020. Organisations around the world have adapted new ways to keep going. Hosting virtual and hybrid events have become the new normal. Hybrid events technology offers an enormous set of benefits that are far beyond the reach of conventional meetings or events. We have enumerated some of the top benefits of hybrid virtual annual general meetings. Have a look:
#1. Flexibility
After the uplift of lockdowns, the world started stepping out as normal. But uncertainty still prevails in the air. No one is well aware of further instructions from the government when restrictions from mass gatherings and travelling will uplift completely. Even after the world recovers from the COVID-19, people will remain skeptical about going to a large gathering for times ahead.
Hybrid conferences and meetings offer the flexibility to attend the event in-person or virtually from remote locations.
#2. Increased Reach
Hybrid AGMs enable stakeholders/shareholders to access the event virtually thus resulting in increased reach. Today, every organisation compiles diverse stakeholders residing across the globe. However, reaching all of them with physical in-person meetings is nearly impossible. Some miss out on the meeting due to hectic schedules whereas others refrain from travelling at a distance. Hybrid AGMs reach a diverse set of stakeholders around the globe associated with the organisation thus resulting in increased reach.
#3. Maximised Attendance
An increase in attendance at hybrid AGMs can be expected. As it has a wider reach however it results in better attendance. Interested shareholders who miss on attending in-person AGM meetings due to geographical constraints, space limitations or travelling expenses can simply tune-in virtually. Therefore, resulting in increased attendance at the meeting.
#4. Better Engagements
Hybrid AGMs result in having better engagements at the event. The platform enables you to organise Q&A sessions, live polls, feedback sessions, chat, or discussion rooms during hybrid meetings. These are some hybrid AGM ideas that help in driving better engagement. It helps in gaining what’s going in the mind of stakeholders, their opinions, and suggestions. The live poll functionality helps in gathering how many of the attendees agree at one point. The results are transparent and reflect on the respective screen of attendees.
Some other advantages of Hybrid Event Technology:
Apart from the major benefits of hosting hybrid AGMs, the hybrid event technology offers many other benefits for all kinds of events hosted in a hybrid format. Have a look at a few other merits of hybrid events technology:
#1. Sponsorship Opportunities
Hybrid events offer better sponsorship opportunities when compared to physical ones. It allows sponsors to reach a wider segment of diverse attendees around the globe. As per the recent survey, approx 80% of the sponsors are interested in participating in the hybrid model. It offers them an opportunity to reach both the set of audience in-person as well as virtual ones. Hybrid models hold much value to sponsors due to various merits it offers. Increased reach is the major factor that inclines sponsors towards hybrid events as it relatively results in generating more leads and boosting business revenues. Additionally, the hybrid event offers sponsors an option to have direct 1:1 communication with potential prospects around the globe with the help of live chat and other networking options available.
#2.Reduced Carbon Footprints
One good thing that is noted in this pandemic era is a positive impact on mother nature. As the nation has been locked indoors, roads were empty and the air was pollution-free. It resulted in the reduction of carbon emissions thus resulting in having a positive impact on the environment.
In-person events and face-to-face interactions hold their value and will never be out of robust event management. But bouncing back to in-person events completely is not seen for some time even after the world recovers from the pandemic. A hybrid event model is the best alternative that offers flexibility to attendees to attend the event either on-site or virtually. With a hybrid event format, a large segment of attendees takes part in the event virtually at their convenience from remote locations. However, a reduction in the headcount of in-person attendees results in reducing carbon emissions.
#3.Better Networking Opportunities
The hybrid event offers brilliant networking opportunities and allows attendees to connect and network with global attendees from remote locations. One can exchange business cards digitally during the hybrid event, have 1:1 or group discussions in virtual lounges via live chat functionality offered by the platform, and can even schedule a meeting with an exhibitor before the event starts with the help of a B2B meeting scheduler. Apart from it, a comprehensive virtual and hybrid event platform provides various opportunities for networking that allows attendees to interact freely which they might not otherwise have during in-person events. A hybrid event platform offers a feature of AI-matchmaking that allows attendees to interact with only those people who have similar interests. However, the hassle of navigating the crowd of hundreds of people to seek people matching the interest area gets completely resolved with an AI-powered smart matchmaking feature.
#4.Offer Sessions On-demand
There are many cases where attendees miss out on attending the most awaited sessions. However, it may be due to urgent official meetings or household chores. As hybrid events have a virtual component attached, Live sessions are recorded. It enables attendees to request a session on-demand if they missed it.
#5.Sustainable Return on Investment (ROI)
Calculating return on investment with physical events is a bit tricky. With the increased scalability and reach, hybrid events offer an improved ROI.
#6.Real-time event analytics
Tracking each and every digital attendee move is possible with hybrid events. It allows organisers to track the complete event data and generate real-time event analytics reports. It helps in measuring the event performance and identify the impediments to work upon in future events. A comprehensive virtual event platform tracks every attendee move right from registrations to the time individual spent on individual booths, via digital foot printing. Additionally, it gives organisers an accurate report of the most engaging hotspots of the event and which areas did not receive any footfall.
In conclusion, as we pass on this global crisis, times ahead call us to prepare ourselves for the unexpected. If you have not yet embraced virtual or hybrid events, now is the time to get started!
