Emilie Barta – Professional Trade Show Presenter, Product Demonstrator – Virtual & Hybrid Event Host, Emcee – Corporate Meeting Host, Emcee, Moderator

I recently participated in the PCMA sponsored webinar entitled “Engaging Attendees Today: How to Combine Virtual with Face-to-Face.”  Moderator Michael McCurry and speakers Jeff Hurt and Christina Costner profiled EventCamp NYC 2010, which was a BarCamp-style gathering for event professionals to share best practices and learn new strategies to create a successful event held on February 6 at the Roger Smith Hotel. 

Mike, Jeff, and Christina had many great points and the following were the ones I felt strongest about, therefore I tweeted them:

• Consider the “Long Tail” in using #hybrid #events to extend attendance and reach says @JeffHurt at #EC10w.
• Meeting face-to-face was the best thing they could have done says @mizcity at #EC10w!!
• Local audience and remote audience are more friendly terms for the 2 audiences according to @JeffHurt. #EC10w

Since I was at EventCamp, I added my own thoughts to the conversation happening on Twitter:

• It’s all about audience engagement…whether virtual or face-to-face. #EC10w
• Social media was used to connect the remote and face-to-face attendees of #EC10. #ec10w
• Back channel at #EC10 is how @klrichardson and I met…now sharing lots of great info with each other! #ec10w
• It is amazing how well #EC10 was streamed to virtual audience based on all of the technical difficulties/challenges at the venue. #EC10w
• Break the 4th wall & talk directly to remote audience…both with speakers & a host for the remote audience. http://www.bit.ly/cTurs3  #EC10w

While at EventCamp, I was asked to do journalistic style interviews with the speakers to keep the virtual audience company during the breaks.  This success of this “virtual audience engagement” was mentioned during the webinar and the following tweets ensued (thanks everyone ):

• Mizcity: Hey! @mikemcallen is speaking about @emiliebarta who was our professional speaker and interviewer! Emilie was so gr8, highly recommend!
• rayhansen: RT @tracibrowne: RT @klrichardson: @EmilieBarta provided “moments of intimacy” for remote audience #ec10w
• VelChain: Breaking the 4th wall and engaging virtual audience is key. Done well at Event camp by @emiliebarta! #ec10w
• ericlukazewski:  Emilie Barta was a fantastic virtual host @EmilieBarta #ec10w

During the Q&A portion of the webinar, a question was asked about the types of industries that would find success with hybrid events and what made EventCamp so successful:

• #Hybrid #events work for any industry that wants to engage with their audience no matter where they are located IMO. #Ec10w
• IMO #EC10 was successful because it brought together generous tweeps with a common goal of finding out how to make #hybrid work! #EC10w

And a funny thing happened at the conclusion of the webinar:

• OMG…I just said “thank you” and “bye” to the computer after #EC10w!! Hee, hee, hee… ;o)
• Jeffhurt: @EmilieBarta Your computer and phone line thanks you! #ec10w
• I much prefer speaking to someone in person rather that talking to my computer!  #EC10w
• camelendes: VERY FUNNY! RT @EmilieBarta: OMG…I just said “thank you” and “bye” to the computer after #EC10w!! Hee, hee, hee… ;o) 

Are you one of the 162 people who attended this webinar?  What information did you learn about hybrid events and engaging the virtual and the face-to-face audience?  And if you did not attend, what questions do you have about hybrid events?

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