Over the last 18 months we’ve had lots of practice at getting the best out of online meetings. With the lifting of pandemic restrictions people are returning to their offices which still working from home more than they would have done before March 2020. The result is that meetings are increasingly hybrid or mixed mode, with some participants present in the same meeting room and others joining by video or even the good old fashioned telephone.

Running hybrid meetings is not the same as running meetings that are wholly online or where everyone participates in person. We all need to learn yet more new skills to ensure that we get the best from hybrid meetings.

As with all meetings, preparation is critical. It’s important to think about how the meeting or workshop will be structured, timings and, critically, how you will ensure that those joining by video will be able to participate on an equal footing with those present in person.

An essential part of this planning is to make sure the technology is appropriate and that it works as expected. Can everyone see and/or hear each other? This will usually mean hiring (or using your own) specialist meeting rooms that are equipped with technology designed for use in hybrid meetings. However, many small charities and social enterprises will not have access to such facilities (which can be expensive) and great care will need to be taken to position cameras, screens etc so that everyone participates on as equal a basis as possible.

No matter how good your technological set up, there will be issues with digital delay. We’re all used to this in online meetings, but when some people are meeting in person and others by video, it is much more likely that they will accidentally talk across each other. Because the interactions between those present in person will be much more immediate, there is a real danger that those joining online will be or feel excluded.

Therefore, the chair or facilitator will need to take a more directive approach to ensure that everyone gets a say. They should check in with participants from time to time to check they are feeling included and be diligent about good techniques such as repeating questions/instructions and summing up..

Some techniques for wholly in person or wholly video meetings are unlikely to work as well in hybrid meetings. For example, use of a physical whiteboard or flip chart rarely works well because those joining by video are very unlikely to be able to see what is being written. Equally, unless everyone participating is comfortable using online equivalents such as Miro, Sticky Notes or virtual whiteboards, these may not work well either. Which approaches you use will depend on the technological and physical set up and how confident participants are at using online tools. Care and thought is needed to design the meeting/workshop to keep it interactive without access to some of your usual tools. Use of polls or quizzes can be particularly helpful and work just as well in hybrid meetings.

Making sure there are activities that work for introverts as well as the extroverts is still really important. In a previous article we explored how to do this with in person meetings. Some of those techniques work just as well in hybrid meetings, for example giving people individual thinking time on a topic before moving onto group or plenary discussions. Others, such as post-it note exercises, really only work if everyone is comfortable using online collaboration tools. Small group discussions need careful design. It may work best to have all the virtual participants in their own breakout groups online (most vide conference platforms have this feature now), with the in-person delegates also in their own groups. If you want to have hybrid breakout groups then you need enough physical rooms/space to organise that without groups disturbing each other with noise.

Finally, be aware that those participating online (and probably those in the room as well) will tire more quickly than they would for a wholly in-person meeting. Planning more/longer breaks and limiting the length of the meeting will help and it may be necessary to spread the agenda over more than one meeting.

If you’d like to chat further about any of the ideas in this blog or explore how we could help your charity develop it strategy and plans please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.