This year has seen us adapt the way we work with renewed tenacity and creativity in the face of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday, 20 November 2020, on behalf of Worley, we hosted a unique ‘hybrid’ event that allowed participants to have the best event experience available to them based on their circumstances and time zone.

• In Perth, 104 delegates joined us at the Perth Convention Centre for presentations, panel discussions and networking snacks.
• In Brisbane, 34 delegates met at the Brisbane Hilton to participate in presentation sessions followed by networking drinks.
• In New Plymouth, New Zealand, 50 attendees enjoyed a light lunch and cocktails after presentation sessions.
• Meanwhile online, 260 delegates joined a webinar with polling and Q&A functionality.

Speakers presented both in-person and virtually from Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and New Plymouth.

Each event ‘hub’ (both stage and audience) was live cast to screens in other hubs and to our online audience, with seamless video feed switching by our tech team to result in a truly engaging and vibrant event.

And because online attendees often miss the networking aspect of virtual events, our virtual delegates were invited to networking ‘break out’ sessions to allow them to interact, network and engage with each other after the main presentations, BYO snacks and beverages.

The event unpacked two main topics relating to the theme ‘The Evolving Future: Adapting Leadership & Developing Capability.’

‘Care: Leadership & Adaptive Ways of Working‘ centred on the challenges the Coronavirus pandemic presented to businesses and the lessons and technologies implemented to maintain operations and personal connections.

‘Delivering Value in the New Normal‘ shifted focus to look to a future of decarbonisation and renewable energies. You can find out more in the Event Program here.

Long story short, everyone loved the new format.

• “The virtual format and tech was unbelievably well-coordinated.”
• “The facilitation across both live and virtual audiences was amazing, one of the best and most smoothly run events I’ve seen (and I’ve seen and taken part in a lot – well done!”
• “It was a fabulous event, I feel reinvigorated and excited about the future again!” 
• “The virtual/physical & multi-location worked seamlessly.”
• “Love the idea of a hybrid forum!”
• “It was seamless, I think the hybrid worked better than a virtual-only event.”
• “The ‘Hybrid’ event worked well for me, I did not feel disadvantaged by attending virtually. Thank you for embracing the virtual space, it definitely increases accessibility.” 
• “The Hybrid event felt inclusive across physical locations and those attending virtually.”   
• “The hybrid format works really well, I see no reasons to steer from it going forward.”
• “I was stunned by the quality of the interactions.  An example of what’s possible with a mix of personal/virtual… If I had to rate it form 1 to 10, I’d give it a score of 10 million.”

The event demonstrated that the hybrid format is not only an option for events, but that it should become the new benchmark.

Why settle for just one type of event, when you can have the best of both worlds!