Virtual and Hybrid Events: Do They Still Need Insurance?

“Hi Chris, your mic is off.” “Sorry, my internet isn’t working.” These have all become familiar phrases to us since the pandemic. The rise in virtual and hybrid events has changed the event landscape. But what about event insurance? Do you still need it if the event isn’t fully physical?

In this guide, we will go over what insurance you need for virtual and hybrid events, risks, and practical tips to protect your event.

Understanding Event Insurance

Event insurance protects event organizers and hosts from unforeseen losses, such as event cancellations and liability lawsuits.

Standard event insurance policies include:

Event cancellation insurance

If your event gets cancelled for an eligible reason, such as bad weather or non-appearance of a key performer, event cancellation insurance can cover your losses. It can refund you for the prepaid, nonrefundable expenses such as catering deposits. Event cancellation typically protects against:

• Unexpected severe weather
• Earthquake, wildfire, or other natural disaster
• Labor strikes
• Venue unavailability
• No-show of key person

Event liability insurance

Liability insurance is crucial for third party bodily injuries and property damage. Traditionally, attendees can slip and fall on a wet floor or cluttered area, and then sue you for the damages. If your staff members accidentally damage the venue property, you would also be responsible for the replacement or repairs.

Event liability insurance can provide financial assistance for liability-related expenses, such as legal fees and settlements. Property damage coverage is particularly important if you are hosting the event at a historical or expensive venue.

Liquor liability insurance

Does your event serve liquor, for a price or for free? You need host liquor insurance. In some states with dram shop laws, any liquor-related incidents will be on you. If there is a serious injury or property damage, it could cost you millions of dollars.

Insurance is often overlooked in digital-first events because event hosts believe the costs and risks are low. However, just like in-person events, virtual events can be costly if something unexpected happens.

Risks in Virtual Events

Virtual events come with the potential of massive cost savings and convenience. However, it has its risks. Let’s review the main cons of virtual events.

Technology failures

Platform crashes: If the platform crashes due to too high traffic or other issues, it can cause an event cancellation.

Internet outages: An internet outage can be highly problematic. It can be due to network congestion, equipment failure, routing issues, and software issues. Cyber attacks and infrastructure damage can also crash your event’s internet.

Streaming interruptions: Live streaming comes with huge risks. The stream could be interrupted due to a wide range of problems, from profanity and violence to catastrophic tech failures.

Data breaches & cyber risks

Cybersecurity is a huge deal in 2025. Hacking, unauthorized access, stolen content, and privacy violations can cost you significant money and hurt your reputation. You would have to notify your stakeholders, consumers, and relevant parties, which can be expensive as well.

A proactive approach to cybersecurity is needed for events in the 21st century. It’s not as simple as downloading an antivirus on your event computers. You need to monitor cyber risks and train staff members on the latest cybersecurity measures, such as not opening suspicious phishing links.

Content liability

Event organizers are legally responsible for content presented at their events. Slander, defamation, copyright infringement, and other advertising injuries can result in costly lawsuits against you. When it comes to the content you’re sharing, the rights to distribute content can be a problem. You might have distribution rights for a certain platform and not another. A content rights lawsuits against you can take significant time and resources to combat.

If you mishandle a key performer or speaker agreement for your event, you might also incur losses.

Revenue loss

Ticketing system errors, sponsor disputes, or refund demands can result in the event host losing all of their profits and more. Event cancellations are also a major revenue loss risk for any event, even digital ones. For example, if your key performing singer gets into a car accident and can’t show up, you might have to cancel your event.

Risks in Hybrid Events

Team meetings, trade shows, conferences, and other events can have both digital and in-person components. In a way, hybrid events are the worst of both worlds. They have physical and digital risks, from property damage to cyber attacks. Let’s go over the main risks of hybrid events.

Venue-related risks

Your hybrid event can have accidents that involve physical injuries and property damage. For example, if you’re setting up an event at a computer lab where multiple people use a computer, it’s easy to accidentally damage the computers.

Technology dependencies

One of the biggest problems with livestreamed events is that any technological issues can affect thousands or even millions of global audiences. You can have problems with:

• Servers
• Connections
• Hardware

Technical and logistical failures at a hybrid event can hinder both the in-person and the virtual components.

Reputation risks

If you have a live stream struggle to stay fluid or some other issue at your digital event, this poor execution can damage brand trust. Advertisers may become wary of sponsoring you. If there is a data breach that requires notifying your consumers, that can make people less eager to attend your event in the future.

Balancing liability

There is a lot of potential liability problems between all your physical attendees and online participants. It’s necessary to balance your liability coverage between in-person and virtual event insurance so you have enough for both sides.

Types of Insurance for Virtual & Hybrid Events

Event cancellation insurance

Make sure that your event cancellation insurance has virtual coverage clauses. That way if your event is mainly virtual and technical difficulties, cyber attacks, or other incidents are the problem, your insurance can cover expenses and losses.

Cyber liability insurance

Cyber liability insurance is a specialized liability insurance specifically for data breaches and other cyber incidents. Specialized cyber event liability event insurance policies can cover:

• Litigation expenses
• Forensic investigations
• Cyber extortion
• Cyber crisis management

Any event that has digital components can have cyber liability risks, so cyber liability insurance is a good idea.

General liability insurance for in-person hybrid events

If you have any in-person components to your event, you might want to obtain general liability insurance. General liability insurance can cover medical expenses and legal fees if a third party’s injured at your event. At hybrid events, guests at your event in person can still be vulnerable to injuries and illnesses.

Errors & omissions insurance for content-related risks

Errors and omissions insurance (AKA professional liability insurance) protects you from claims that arise from your professional mistakes or negligence. For example, if you were meant to deliver a project by the event date but failed, resulting in thousands of dollars of losses, E&O insurance can cover the expenses.

Non-appearance insurance for keynote speakers or talent

If a key person, such as a speaker or performer, doesn’t show up, that can be a huge problem for the event. The host might need to postpone or cancel the event, losing out on deposits, contract penalties, and other prepaid expenses.

Why Organizers Should Still Consider Insurance

Perception that digital events are “risk-free” is misleading

It’s hard to break a literal leg when talking to coworkers on Zoom at a digital corporate event. However, digital events still have plenty of risks. Data breaches, tech failures, and other digital risks can cost you a hefty amount of money. Your reputation can also take a hit if you don’t adequately deal with the issue. At the very least, any event runs a possibility of being cancelled. In-person events can be ruined by bad weather. Digital events can be ruined by internet problems, cyber attacks, and key person no-shows. Having event insurance can protect you from significant financial setbacks. In the event planning world, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Growing regulatory focus on data protection

In the past decade, there has been an increasing focus on data protection with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act). Companies are expected to provide more details on how they store and use private information. If you mishandle sensitive customer data and it gets lost, or if a malicious cyber attack steals their information during your event, it is important that you can manage it.

Sponsorship contracts may require proof of insurance

Your sponsors and advertisers might require that you carry sufficient event insurance. It is a general rule of thumb for brands to require proof of insurance for better financial protection and less risk. A Certificate of Insurance is a clear, convenient way to show your sponsors and partners that you have enough insurance for the event.

(Similarly, you can also expect vendors to carry their own insurance for events.)

Financial protection against unforeseen disruptions

Any unforeseen disruptions to your digital or hybrid event can cause cancellations or lawsuits against you. People have a vested interest in your event going smoothly. Vendors, sponsors, and participants will likely all spend resources and money for your event.

Practical Tips for Event Planners

Assess the scope of your event

If your event is fully virtual, you might want a virtual event insurance policy that focuses on cyber risks.

If your event has hybrid, in-person components, you will benefit from standard event insurance coverage options. General liability insurance is a valuable tool to protect your event.

Consult insurers with event-specific digital coverage options

Your event insurance company might offer digital-specific insurance policies that cater to cyber threats and other digital event risks. These specialized policies may be more cost-effective and useful than regular event insurance.

Review contracts with venues, vendors, and tech providers

Read your contracts carefully to see what clauses there are affecting liability, lawsuits, and other scenarios. You can run through a key data security checklist for reviewing vendor contracts or other contracts. You want tech providers, vendors, and venues that are prepared for emergencies, both in-person and virtual.

Create contingency plans alongside insurance coverage

Insurance is great for providing financial compensation in case of lawsuits and event incidents. However, it’s best to have other contingency plans and security measures in place. Having security can prevent even worse incidents from happening at your event.

Future Outlook

Digital and hybrid events have been a thing since the Internet became accessible. The pandemic boom put more eyes on remote events than ever before, as masses of people began tuning in to livestreams, gaming competitions, digital conferences, and other virtual events. We can expect digital events to continue in popularity due to how easy it is to access them from anywhere in the world—perfect for getting more eyes on your event and sponsors.

So what about the future of virtual event insurance? What’s on the horizon? Let’s take a look.

New event formats

As new event formats become commonplace, the insurance industry is likely to adapt to them. The increasing demand for specialized hybrid event policies means better protection for event organizers.

Long-term normalization

In the long run, as more event organizers realize insurance is necessary for digital events, it will likely become standard for event insurance to cover digital, hybrid, and physical events.

Conclusion

Even though risks look different between digital and in-person events, they always exist. Virtual and hybrid events benefit from tailored insurance protection that helps covers losses and lawsuits related to:

• Tech failures
• Cyber attacks
• Hybrid risks

Insurance remains a smart safeguard, no matter the event format.