Encore was the driving force behind the live streaming of AHICE 2020.

Going hybrid meant the Australasian Hotel Industry Conference and Exhibition (AHICE) and Design Inn experienced their largest event ever with 700 virtual and live attendees participating each day from around the world.

The hybrid format enabled presenters and attendees around the world to experience a professional, engaging experience both in-person at Hyatt Regency Sydney as well as online on the 8th and 9th of September 2020. Encore’s innovative live streaming platform with interactive features, Chime Live, enabled them to do just that.

After surveying more than 2, 600 event planners and having delivered more than 3,000 virtual and hybrid events, Encore has released the Hybrid Event Handbook. The guide captures all their learning’s and client feedback from delivering events like AHICE as well as addressing the industry’s needs revealed in the survey.

Virtual participants logged in and were able to watch the presentations from anywhere in the world.

The outcome is a single handbook which provides event planners and venues with a framework for designing successful hybrid events and demystifies the technology required to bridge the two audiences.

The AHICE event was hailed a hybrid success with its planning process, design and execution playing a key role in Encore’s approach to hybrid events moving forward. Here’s why.

Rather than postpone, AHICE engaged Encore to help take their event online in a way that replicated the in-room experience for virtual attendees.

Encore designed and produced the event that enabled over 700 virtual and live attendees to engage and participate in AHICE using their innovative, new Chime Live platform. The solution saw in-person and virtual attendees plus 110 in-room and virtual presenters streamed in from around the world.

COVID restrictions severely limited the allowed number in the room, however thousands were still watching.

The platform also provided numerous other advanced features for engagement such as Q&A, speaker bios, virtual networking and a post event survey tailored to each audience group.

One of the unique features of the platform was providing tailored experiences for the different audiences so the in-room attendees had access to COVID procedures, menu maps, parking information and so forth.

To ensure everyone in the room was COVID safe, Encore applied their stringent MeetSAFE guidelines which included procedures for safe distancing, room traffic, sterilising all AV equipment and microphones, deep cleaning with the venue and a dedicated hygiene technician.

The theme for AHICE 2020 was ‘Planning for the future of the Australasian hotel industry’ and couldn’t have been more poignant during the time of COVID restrictions as the industry looks to the future of the return of events. The hotel industry is vital to the events industry. It supplies a venue, resources, hospitality, hotel rooms, networking facilities, meeting rooms and more.

Leading Australasian hoteliers share their experiences through the pandemic at AHICE 2020.

So it was a great example of the return to events by AHICE to deliver an event, in a hotel, with in-person delegates utilising all the facilities, while at the same time, those not able to attend in person were able to listen, discuss, participate and engage in a way that was as close as possible to attending physically.

The Chime Live interactive streaming platform was critical engaging with the virtual delegates. The solution focussed on the importance of delivering high quality content and maintaining a user-friendly platform to keep the virtual delegates engaged. Analytics from the engagement by delegates with the platform was key to demonstrating ROI of the technology and the event overall.

To ensure the technology would run seamlessly, all virtual speakers took part in a rehearsal to test internet connection, microphone quality and recommend appropriate backgrounds for when the presenters were speaking live. Moderators also had to be briefed on interviewing virtual speakers whilst having a face-to face audience in the room. These rehearsals were key to the professional end result and gave the conference a TV/broadcast look and feel.

Hyatt ‎General Manager & Area Vice President – Pacific, Robert Dawson, connected with the AHICE audience for a virtual presentation.

The organisers of the event Interpoint Event’s Operations Manager, Claire Graham commented,

“The event was a great success. We know that the hotel industry is facing a long journey back to normal and events like this are vital to bring the best in the hotel industry together to share best practice, future trends, developments and innovations.”

“We were particularly pleased with the experience online attendees and the engagement enabled by the Chime Live solution. The MeetSAFE procedures meant that everyone in the room felt that every measure to ensure the highest safety standards was maintained.”

Are you interested in going hybrid in 2021? Download Encore’s free Hybrid Event Handbook and kick-start your event planning.