Hybrid meeting? It's not that simple. Tips for better hybrid meetings.

Hybrid meetings are when you have a group of people physically located together in the same place and are meeting with other participants who joined via telephone or web conference. For meeting facilitators, hybrid meetings are some of the most difficult meetings to manage. For remote participants, hybrid meetings are some of the most frustrating to attend.

The people that are in person have an advantage:

• The meeting starts when the in-person group arrives.
• Those that are in-person catch up with each other as they walk into the conference room.
• There’s usually just one camera used for everyone in the office. In-person attendees can see everyone but remote participants cannot always see everyone..
• When someone in the office draws on a whiteboard, others in the office are able to read it.
• If a remote participant’s connection cuts out, the meeting continues.
• People in-person seem to speak first and often talk over others.
• In-person attendees can pick up on body language and facial expressions that are not clear to online participants.
• When the meeting is over, the people in the room continue to discuss things with each other in small groups.

Do you need a hybrid meeting?

In many cases, yes. You have some people in the office, and some who are remote, so of course any meeting that involves both groups means you’ll need to have a hybrid meeting. But just because some people are in the same building doesn’t mean they have to gather together in-person that also involves remote workers. It is optional to gather together in a room.

If the majority are in-person, then sometimes the benefits for gathering together in a room are worthwhile. But if less than half are in-person, then I recommend having everyone be “remote” so that all are attending in the same way. Doing so puts all attendees on an equal footing, and all the issues you are trying to mitigate will go away.

Extension has been doing hybrid meetings long before the pandemic, but we didn’t always do it well. As we move back to offices and in-person meetings and events, we are likely to facilitate and participate in more hybrid meetings and events than we did before. Below are some ways to improve the hybrid meeting experience for everyone.

Spend extra time planning hybrid meetings

Hybrid meetings work best if it is planned around the needs of the remote participants first. The agenda should also include ways you want people to prepare for the meeting.

• Is there pre-work they can do to make the virtual meeting more effective?
• How is meeting content shared with participants? Remote participants need access to any physical handouts shared in the room. In-person participants need access to electronic documents shared during the meeting.
• Think about what people will look at and focus on during the meeting. Planning the visual experience makes the meeting more engaging and prevents distractions:
• Will everyone need to see the same screen? Depending on the room you are in, it can be difficult for in-person participants to see content that is shared on the screen with remote participants.
• Is it important for participants to see each other? Ask your remote participants to have their camera on, at least when they are speaking. If your room camera cannot show everyone in the room, it is most important for remote participants to see presenters/facilitators. You could consider having in-person participants log into the meeting with their camera on, audio muted and use the in-room audio so all participants can see each other. 

Set expectations

Share your expectations with participants about how they can help ensure it is an effective, inclusive meeting. Cameras on, mute/unmute, active participation, etc. Ask all in-person participants to bring a device so they can contribute to shared documents, polling tools and virtual whiteboards. 

Plan interactions in such a way that everybody gets to participate and not let the in-person participants dominate the conversation. Go around the virtual room giving everyone a chance to speak. Have attendees, both in-person and remote, raise their hands when they want to speak. or when there’s a need to hear from everyone, the remote participants go first, for example.

Use interactive techniques and tools

If it’s important to hear from everyone, plan how to accomplish that. Use polls to involve everyone, have participants respond to a question in chat or have them contribute to a shared Google document. Use in person and online breakouts to give everyone a chance to contribute.

Consider using a virtual whiteboard (e.g. Zoom whiteboard, Miro, Jamboard, Mural) and have both the in-person and remote participants add content on their own device.

Allow for pre-meeting chatter

Does everyone know each other? Add time in your agenda for introductions if needed. Start meetings 5 minutes early to encourage casual conversation between your in-person group and remote participants. 

Side conversations and the meeting after the meeting

Remind the in-person participants that side conversations are distracting. If you must have side conversations, please stop to explain the comment, the joke or whatever was said so everyone is included.

Informal conversations and decisions that happen in the room right after the meeting can get lost if the information isn’t shared with the remote participants. How will the information from informal conversations be documented and shared?

Larger hybrid meetings, teaching and events

Facilitating hybrid meetings takes more effort than either all in person or all online. Hybrid meetings are basically three meetings in one: the in-person meeting, the virtual meeting and connecting the two to make it seamless and integrated. For larger, high stakes meetings, training and events, consider using a “webinar producer” in the physical room to manage your online participants' experience. The producer can help to ensure remote participants are connected and engaged with the in-person participants. Anyone who is confident with the webinar technology and is clear about the agenda and activities, can be a webinar producer for your meeting. 

Invite the right people

Be intentional about meeting invitations. Who helps fulfill the meeting’s purpose? Invite those people to the meeting. Who needs to be informed but doesn’t need to attend? Invite them as “optional”. Everyone attending should know why they are there.

Learn from each other

Gather feedback from meeting participants to find ways to improve your hybrid meetings.

What are some of your tips for better hybrid meetings? Please share them in the comments!