Last week we had the pleasure of producing the National Trust’s 2024 Leadership Conference: a hybrid event bringing together over 400 of the Trusts senior team.
We’ve had the privilege of working with the National Trust for over 10 years. In that time their Leadership Conference has evolved from an in-person event to online only – thanks, Covid! - and now, a hybrid event that works for all attendees.
We find hybrid events are great from an accessibility point of view, but it’s always a challenge to make sure everyone online really feels heard and involved. The National audiences.
It starts by partnering with the right platform that can create a space that facilitates the same sort of discussion, interaction and engagement online that you’d expect in-person. That includes networking opportunities, dedicated breakout rooms, quick polls and throw to remote speakers seamlessly in the room and online.
The functionality is one thing, but as always, it’s all brought together by content.
From the outset, we plan a mixed agenda to make full use of the in-room and online speakers, often tag-teaming in-person and online presenters where appropriate and handing over between the two to link or host sessions throughout. This helps to create a mutual experience for both audiences, with neither side feeling like an ‘outsider’ amongst their peers.
The National Trust’s conference takes place over two days, so, where possible, we also encourage presenters and attendees to do a day online and a day offline. Not only does this help them to experience the event from both sides, but it gives them a greater understanding and appreciation of the presenting nuances to the two audiences in these different contexts.
With that said, we’re always looking for more ways to bring added value to the online experience, and to make the virtual audience feel loved.
This year we looked at the agenda and knew there would be certain topics and certain speakers that the online audience would appreciate some more time with - the kind of things or the kind of people you would try to grab 2 minutes with while you were making your tea or coffee in the break. Just to ask to ask that extra question or gain that extra bit of insight. So, we worked with the National Trust media team to create a pop-up studio to help make these conversations happen.
Working with dedicated journalists from the Trust’s media team, we produced a series of short interviews delving deeper into content that mattered along with some informal chit chat that allowed the presenters’ personalities to shine. Video was captured, edited, graded and delivered on site, often in time for the next and the most relevant slot alongside presenters’ sessions.
With hosts signposting the content throughout the day and the platform hosting an ever-increasing catalogue of online ‘exclusive’ content, online audiences felt like they were getting something extra special to make up for not being there in person. By the end of the event, we’d produced just under an hour’s worth of additional video content.
So, while you still can’t beat that feeling in the room, you can create something equally special to live alongside it. One remote delegate left some it was “the best hybrid conference they’d ever been to”. If that sort of feedback is anything to go by, we must be doing something right.
National Trust conferences are no different, but we’ve gone to extra lengths over the years to develop the in-person and online experiences for both.