5 Things to Know About Parallel Events

Navigating the preferences of our audiences can be challenging and, in most cases, takes multiple resources to interpret, understand and take those preferences to put into an action plan.

With parallel events, you are primarily working with a digital audience, which means you are focused on three priority items: the environment, the content experience, and the engagement opportunities.

The participant experience in a parallel event, sets more of a premium on the engagement pieces and the time commitment expected from an exclusive digital audience, than let’s say a hybrid event, that focuses on content delivery and connecting two audiences together for a similar experience. (In-person and online).

There are many misconceptions around the differences between hybrid and parallel events, how you design and host a parallel event, the amount of content you must design, the time and resources it takes, as well as the budget, and rightfully so. In this list, we review the five things you need to know about parallel events.

1. Parallel doesn’t mean hybrid
   While parallel and hybrid events can be similar, they are not the same. In a hybrid event model, you’re trying to build a connection between the in-person and online audiences. Whereas with a parallel event, you are solely focused on a digital audience and their access and experience.
   
   
2. You’re not creating additional content, you’re making modifications
   Hosting a parallel event doesn’t mean creating additional content to support two events. Your brain doesn’t need to go into overdrive to create unique content, you just need to modify existing content. Look at the content you have and revise it to translate well to an online audience to ensure the message and education of the content isn’t lost because of the modality in which participants are accessing it.
   
   
3. Listen to the wants of your audiences
   Between surveys and social media channels, our audiences have various avenues to share their thoughts and feelings with us on previous experiences, how we could improve and what opportunities they would like to see in the future to continue being a member or advocate for our organization. Read between the lines, especially when it comes to feedback on engagement activities and use those insights to craft your parallel event.
   
   
4. Event duration is key
   In recent years, all of us find ourselves sitting at a computer for way too many hours of our day; voluntary or not. To keep engagement high and momentum going with your parallel event, set a maximum of 3-4 hours as a time commitment for the participants.
   
   
5. Parallel events are budget and resource friendly
   A common misunderstanding of yet another event format is that the budget and resources needed will increase which is inaccurate in this instance, working in our favor. For a parallel event, the content is already created, the budget for speakers and moderators decreases because of the location being online and saves on travel budget for all.
   
   

It does seem like there’s always a new idea or trend, and to be realistic, not all of them stand the test of time, but evolving audience preferences and unforeseeable situations will, which is why we need to research and consider implementing multiple event formats into our repertoire.

Interested in learning more? Join us for the Parallel Event Summit: Paving the Way for Audience Focused Experiences on June 28^th. Register today!

Looking for more details and tips for starting your journey on parallel events? Download our eBook now!