Event Planning Tips

How Much Should a Hybrid Event Cost Your Attendees? What to Consider When Pricing

For event planners who are starting to produce virtual and hybrid events, one element that needs careful thought is that of pricing. Hybrid events include elements of both live and virtual events, but that doesn’t mean you just combine the price of the two to arrive at a final figure. How do you price a hybrid event, and how much should a hybrid event cost your attendees? There’s more than one pricing model you can use to arrive at a ticket price that offers good value for money.

How to Price a Hybrid Event

Strategy #1: Digital Ticket Price as a Percentage of Live Event Price.

One of the simplest ways to set a ticket price for hybrid events is to first set a price for attendance at the live version of the event. Then, set the price for the virtual version of the event as a percentage of the live price. One way to do this might be as follows:

  1. Set your live event price as normal.
  2. Work out the break-even price for the online version of the event.
  3. Set a virtual price. It should be higher than your break-even price, but no more than 75% of the price of a live-admission ticket.
  4. Use the virtual price you determined in Step 3 as the basis for any additional pricing options. For instance, VIP tickets for extra content and/or volume discounts for large company groups.

This requires a careful balancing act in terms of setting prices. If your virtual ticket price is too low, it may mean that you lose too many live ticket sales, as they’ll opt for the virtual ticket over the live one. However, if your virtual ticket price is too high, you risk losing attendees altogether.

Strategy #2: Digital Ticket Price Based on Content Access.

With this option, your virtual attendees pay based on the content they consume, rather than paying a single ticket price. This kind of strategy would typically mean charging a separate fee for each session, with a discount or bundle price for multiple sessions.

This option can allow for more flexibility, since it allows virtual attendees the ability to pick and choose the digital content they access and pay for. The downside is that it can be difficult to price individual sessions, especially for a first-time event.

Strategy #3: Combination

This strategy is a combination of the first two: a flat virtual attendance ticket price that’s a percentage of the live price with a per-session option for people who don’t want to buy a full ticket but are interested in attending a small number of sessions.

To make this option workable, it’s important to balance your per-session price against the cost of a full-price virtual ticket. It may even be necessary to limit the number of sessions that any individual can purchase. Otherwise, it means too many people may forgo buying a full-price virtual ticket in favor of buying individual sessions instead.

What to Consider When Pricing a Hybrid Event

Cost of virtual event elements. Before you can determine a break-even cost for the virtual portion of your event, you need to have a good idea of what it will actually cost. That includes equipment, personnel, and a website or event platform for hosting virtual content.

Content access. How much of the live content will virtual attendees have access to? What content will they miss out on? If they have access to exactly the same content as live attendees—with the only difference that it’s online—then a higher ticket price (closer to 75% of the live fee) is appropriate.

Perceived value. Perceived value can be just as important as actual value, especially in comparison to the live version of the event. If the online audience is missing flagship content that the live event is known for, this may dramatically reduce the perceived value of the online content—even if there’s other good online content available.

Digital versus live value. Ultimately, when deciding how much a hybrid event should cost, what you’re really trying to pin down are two things:

  1. How well does the virtual version of the event replicate the live version?
  2. Does the virtual version provide value?

Ideally, you can answer at least one of these two questions in a positive fashion. You may not be able to completely replicate the live experience in an online environment, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you can provide value in other ways.

Pricing a Hybrid Event Is About Value

There’s a lot to consider when deciding how to price a hybrid event, but ultimately, it’s about just one thing: value. To hit on a pricing strategy that works, both perceived value and actual value are important. What value does your virtual content provide, both on its own merits and in relation to your live content? Keep these factors in mind when pricing a hybrid event, and it’s hard to go wrong.

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Jack Connolly

Executive Creative Director

As an experiential creative director, Jack prefers to draw outside the lines. He tells stories with original content and impactful design to ignite meaningful conversation.

 

Jack brings 20 years of event industry knowledge to ProGlobalEvents. He specializes in building live & virtual platforms for audiences to connect, engage and immerse themselves in the power of a shared experience. His skills range from ideation and concept development to defining an attendee journey through storytelling and design.

Jack understands the creative process is not linear, but a collaborative process between agency and client. He manages teams of designers and technology developers to pioneer impactful brand experiences. His diverse skillset and leadership ensure for award-winning results and memorable impressions.

 

In 2019, BizBash named Jack one of the top event designers in North America. SXSW awarded his work the “People’s Choice in Innovation” in 2021.

Jerome Nadel

Chief Marketing Officer

Jerome Nadel is Internationally experienced design-led marketing executive (CMO and GM) with a track record of improved market position, revenue growth, and M&A. He is an advance degreed psychologist and user experience product/service design expert, board member and advisor.

 

Prior to joining ProGlobalEvents |ProExhibits |XtendLive, he has had a variety of chief marketing officer and chief user experience officer roles at companies including Rambus, BrainChip, Human Factors International, SLP InfoWare, Gemplus, and Sagem. He started his career in the IBM Human Factors Labs.

 

He is also an avid cyclist with National and multiple California State Champion titles.

Ivan Fujihara

Chief Financial Officer

Ivan brings 25+ years in senior level management experience from a variety of technology industries.  His background includes accounting management, analytics and audit management for technology companies.  He has worked with companies such as THX, Ltd, Recruitology , Double Click, Creative Labs and more.  Ivan has also served on the board of Lincoln Families, a non-profit that supports East Bay children with the objective of disrupting the cycle of trauma and poverty.

Matt Rulis

Vice President of Sales

Matt is a marketing professional and has been managing marketing strategies, campaigns and environments for a diverse client base for over 15 years. From a service perspective, Matt and his team of Account Executives focus on fostering relationships to uphold a greater than 99% customer satisfaction rating year-over-year. Additionally, with extensive experience on the client-side of the industry, he understands that alignment between expectation and budget is paramount to a successful project. As a result, ProGlobalEvents' clients can expect a competitive advantage paired with top quality products and services. Matt is an avid fly-fisherman, enjoys most outdoor activities and is a true college football fanatic.

Tom Foley

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Heading the fabrication side of ProGlobalEvents is exhibit and event industry veteran, Tom Foley. For over 35 years he has been responsible for building amazing exhibits and environments for clients. Tom started out in the production area and has broad experience in project and operations management. He currently oversees production, warehouse, graphics and project management departments. Tom studied machine tool technology and welding before entering the industry. As a true "builder" he also enjoys restoring and modifying classic American cars.

Dick Wheeler

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Dick serves as President of ProGlobalEvents and President of ProExhibits and is a board member of CEMA (Corporate Event Marketing Association). At ProExhibits he has been nationally recognized as an innovator and driving force in the fast-growing trade show exhibit and event industry. Under his leadership in 1997, the firm received INC magazine’s INC 500 award as one of America’s fastest-growing companies. His informative articles on developments and innovations in the trade show exhibit and event industry have appeared in national trade publications. Dick has a B.S. degree from Wittemore School of Business & Economics at the University of New Hampshire and has completed the Entrepreneurial Executive Leadership Program sponsored by MIT, YEO and INC. He is actively involved in Vistage, an interactive group of over 20,000 CEO’s and presidents worldwide and is a member of CEMA and EDPA.

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Chief Executive Officer

In addition to being CEO of ProGlobalEvents, Jody is also the CEO of ProExhibits. With Jody at the helm, the company has been recognized repeatedly as one of the Top 50 Women Owned Businesses in Silicon Valley. She has set the outstanding client service standards for which the firm’s account management team is noted. Jody is a recipient of the YWCA’s Tribute to Women Award, the Junior League Community Volunteer Award and is listed in Who’s Who of Women in Business. Following her graduation from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Jody held various sales positions in several technology companies.