Great hybrid meetings? Think ‘MORE’

If you’d asked Kirsty Lewis (Founder of the School of Facilitation) a year ago if hybrid workshops could be productive, she’d have told you not to bother. Do them online or offline—not both.

But Kirsty is a convert… with the caveat that they take more time and effort to set up and require more people to help.

What works?

📹 Tech really (REALLY) matters

You need to plan how it will work very carefully, and you’ll need more of it than you think—more cameras, more mics—which all needs to be checked as you go.

👩🏻‍💻 Include tech support in your planning and delivery

That means you can be very aware of what happens in the room and, more importantly, how it is experienced by those outside of it.

🙋🏻‍♀️ Design a session that includes everyone

How do those offline share ideas with those online?

How do we interrupt?

How do we keep more of everyone’s attention?

Kirsty’s team is adding an extra half day of planning to all hybrid sessions and also recommends having an online and offline facilitator, so both experiences are represented throughout.

📝 Engagement is everything

Asking people to have cameras on helps (they may object, especially where wifi is patchy).

Polls, online white boards, chat functions and all other forms of engagement are essential. Be more creative about keeping the active engagement high.

If you want more (sorry), you’ll need to be signed up to the newsletter next week for the whole chat.

Next week

Everyone seems to be planning big changes this year…what do we need to know?

Christine

PS. check out ‘You Coach You’ by Helen and Sarah.