Hybrid meetings
We were in a meeting room with four colleagues, hooked up on Teams, and three more participants distributed around the country. Our focus was on growing our shared sales activities during a 1.5 hour session. In the room, we were facing the screen and the host of the session who was in the meeting room with us. In actual fact, we were facing the back of the host because he was talking to the camera. The host was asking for comments in the chat from the people participating online, which those of us sitting in the room couldn’t read or post in because we didn’t have our own devices. Also, the participants online had trouble hearing what was said from the physical room as the microphone did not catch all our voices. This meeting was not high quality – nor was it very effective.
This is just a brief illustration of how frustrating it can be when you’re in a hybrid meeting. We have heard many stories similar to this one and noted how people feel frustrated and/or left out, either because of poor quality sound from the physical room, feeling alone because they are not physically part of “the group” or due to a lack of connection with the facilitator. Yet hybrid meetings are the future! There are two reasons for this: first, there are many organisations with a main office and satellite locations scattered nationally or internationally. Second, there are more people working from home to save on the cost of commuting and to give greater flexibility around their working lives. This is why we think this is an important format to look at and improve.
We define a hybrid meeting as a meeting where some participants are physically together in the same room while others are physically apart. However, everyone is connected via a virtual platform. In this chapter, we’re going to explore how you can facilitate a meeting where the participants are together in small clusters and collaborating virtually across locations.
The following is our advice for designing and running hybrid meetings.
Before a hybrid meeting
Our key principle when we look at hybrid meetings is to make all the participants equal. You need to design your hybrid meeting to accommodate all the participants. Don’t make one or other group feel forgotten or “second class”. Your setup and process should work just as well for the people in the room with you as those who are participating alone via the internet. Be aware that the people participating online can feel more alone or as though they aren’t really part of the meeting because of the fact that they are physically disconnected from the others in the group.
Plan for the process to include all participants. This includes ensuring that each person has their own device – including those who are in the room – and an appropriate setup as discussed in Chapter 4. You especially, as the facilitator, should be aware how you set up your computer if you are present in the room. How are you positioned compared to the other physical participants? Even though you have multiple screens, it can be odd not to face each other.
Top tip: In your invitation, be very clear on the fact that participants are expected to be on their own devices with video turned on.
Design your process to allow for people in the physical room joining online breakouts and collaboration platforms, and be aware that you might have sound issues if the discus- sions from one person in the physical room can be heard and therefore interfere with one of the other breakout rooms. Think about asking people to have their own earphones as well as their own device or consider using a walk and talk for open discussions in breakout rooms. This also provides some extra energy in the meeting.
If the hybrid meeting is recurring, we recommend also reading Chapter 23 about recurring meetings and using the tips from that. Especially regarding how to design and plan once and then reuse the design.
During the hybrid meeting
Be on top with an appropriate technical setup
One key to success is to have a technical setup that enables you as a facilitator to run the process equally for all participants. Locate your setup (camera etc.) in a way that allows you to speak both to your audience in the room and the people online. Consider using several screens if you need to in order to make sure that you are seen and that all participants can see the screen.
Ensure engagement through individual presence
During the session, be sure that you are all present to ensure engagement from everyone. Be on video – personally – all of you. Sitting alone watching some people as close-ups and others as a pixelated group does not support a good meeting. Everyone needs to ensure a proper individual setup, and it’s your job as facilitator to help and remind them.
When you check in, do it in such a way that everyone is included and gets to speak. Do a round where everyone checks in if you are few in number. If there are more than 6-8 people, then organise into smaller breakout rooms, preferably with a mix of people connecting to the meeting virtually and people physically present in the meeting room. Take care not to exclude either the “physical” or “online” participants.
Connect people in different ways
We recommend connecting people in different ways instead of going for the “physical together and virtual together” option. You can get the participants who are physically together to discuss something, but you should also mix and match across the physical room and the virtual space.
Visualise it so everyone can follow
We prefer to document everything online so that everyone can see it. This means that you need your own device as the facilitator. If you choose to go for old-school documentation, make sure that it is visible and readable on screen. It could be using a flip. Be aware that everyone can contribute – not only the people able to grasp the pen – e.g. you as the facilitator can write inputs on the flip.
Top tip: Use a walk and talk if you want to have breakout conversations between physical and online participants, if you need some fresh air, you want to inject some energy or if the sound is an issue.
After the hybrid meeting
As with any meeting, you should ensure that you get feedback and follow up with participants. As hybrid meetings can be difficult to handle, we strongly recommend that you add time for feedback – both if this is a one-off session or a recurring one. This allows you to get even more inputs on how to ensure high-quality interactions while still providing the flexibility that hybrid meetings offer.
