It’s no secret that events produce a lot of waste. Whether it’s food, single-use utensils, name tags, or carbon emissions from travel, it’s tricky to host an eco-friendly event.
While in-person events have made some progress in reducing the amount of waste they produce, there are still many aspects that make reducing your carbon footprint difficult.
According to EventMB, the typical event attendee produces 1.89 Kg of waste per day, 85% of which can be landfill, depending on location and what type of event it is.
One foolproof way to ensure you are reducing your carbon footprint at your next event is to host a virtual or hybrid event.
In honor of Earth Day, here are a few ways switching to hybrid will benefit your event goals while leaving a more positive impact on the environment.
Hybrid Events Help Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
In-person events generally require a large amount of energy. Traveling to the show is a significant portion of the energy attendees use for an in-person event.
However, organizations looking at their carbon footprints should also consider the benefits to the environment that come from hybrid events other than increased attendee engagement.
Hosting hybrid events can allow participants and hosts to reduce their carbon footprints in many ways, including:
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Reducing carbon emissions and time spent traveling. According to Carbon Brief, the travel sector accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions and is continuing to grow. Giving attendees the option to join virtually, is a great way to offset the carbon emissions that would have come from attending the event in-person.
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Reducing food waste. The Sustainability Conferencing Initiative shows the average event wastes about 15-20% of the food it produces and can make up a significant percentage of your event’s environmental footprint. Hybrid events help reduce the amount of food that needs to be produced for your event.
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Reducing single-use plastics. Sometimes plastic is inevitable. The convenience and cost make single-use utensils, cups, and water bottles hard to avoid at these events.
More attendees doesn’t have to mean more waste. Learn more about our hybrid event solutions to grow your event size while reducing your carbon footprint.
Hybrid Events Help You Reach More People and Grow Your Community
In addition to reducing your carbon footprint, hybrid events allow you to reach more people than if you were to solely host an in-person or digital event.
75% of marketers rate webinars and digital events as their top-performing channels for driving demand. Hosting a hybrid event provides you with creative ways to connect with global audience segments, build community, and provide flexibility for your attendees.
With hybrid events, you have more flexibility and more tools in your toolkit, so there are more cool and impactful things you can build into the plan to make your event an iconic experience. And unlike the events of the past where a limited number of people gathered for a short period of time each day and then dispersed, hybrid events have introduced a new “Always On” lifecycle that allows you to expand your reach while customizing and extending that experience exponentially.
Hybrid Events Provide Increased Accessibility
Harnessing the benefits of digital and in person will allow associations, companies, and organizations to engage their communities and let audiences attend events in the format they prefer. People want to go back to in-person events. But they also want the flexibility to participate and access content through digital channels.
According to Notified client webcast data in 2021, the average viewing duration of a webcast increased from 29% to 67% for live webcasts and from 28% to 60% for on-demand webcasts. We expect this trend to increase in importance moving forward.
These stats show that people are more open to connecting digitally. Digital connection removes some of the interpersonal barriers at in-person events. However, some people still prefer the in-person connections - so why not do both?
Start Planning Your Next Hybrid Event
Hybrid events provide a unique opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of both digital and in-person channels. Your event is more than just a moment in time – it’s part of a process of building community for years to come and the hybrid model allows us to merge the success from both types of event channels.
Schedule a demo or reach out to learn how our event technology can help you build an engaging, immersive, and eco-friendly hybrid event for your next experience.