This guide is aimed at hosts who want to hold and facilitate hybrid convenings/events, and is based on APC’s experience and learning from the last two years. [1] After the pandemic, new ways to allow people to participate in convenings have arisen, as a means of reducing travel and minimising contact.

We organised this collection in four main sections that compose our story, the tapestry of online events with the infrastructure, labour, threads, creative patterns and strategies we think of when organising and designing online events.

Questions in this section 1. Core principles and practices 2. Why? | Unique value and general challenges - Why do I want to host this event? - Could this experience be an opportunity or a risk for us a team? - What challenges should I consider during this process? 3. What? | Goals and possibilities - What do I want to accomplish? - What are the possibilities of my online event? 4. Who? | People, participation, context and access - Who will attend? | Participants and context - Is my event accessible? | Documentation, technology and access - Preparatory survey for participants 5. Crossroads and possible directions

This section provides you with information on the event planning and how to make it inclusive and participatory.

Questions in this section: 1. Who needs to be involved in the planning and designing stage? 2. When and how long? | Timing, time zone(s), duration and digital fatigue considerations 3. How? | Format, technology, documentation design, language(s), budget and care

Here we go into details about technical areas and things to watch out for regarding running a hybrid event.

Hybrid events can offer the best of both worlds: the pleasure of being together after the pandemic, and the possibilities of connecting people online and therefore allowing more people to participate while reducing costs, carbon emissions, logistics needs and possible health risks.

1. How, when and where to share my event: Communications plan, invitation and registration form design, and outputs 2. Core principles for a safer and more accessible event 3. Technical support during my event, backup plan and preventive measures 4. (Re)imagining facilitation for online events

At APC we have designed a technical toolkit that we carry for hybrid events. Though some of the equipment can normally be rented on-site, other components are less common and so we prefer to have our own.

The focus of our guide so far has been on the main elements of online event planning and design process. This section entails many different questions, inspiring approaches and considerations, including strategic archiving processes, continuing the conversation, evaluation forms design, post-event care activities, new learnings and reflections on the overall process, creating new resources, etc. We will be working on this section in the future and our plan is to add it in the next edition of this guide. However, here are some of the threads that we imagine could be included.

The infographics in this section provide an overview of hosting and participating in hybrid events.