10 things to consider for hybrid meetings
Hybrid meetings are becoming increasingly more popular. Despite their mass adoption, organizations continue to make detrimental mistakes that hinder the success of their hybrid meetings. Unlike in-person or remote only meetings, hybrid meetings are designed to bring both in-person and remote employees together in one environment. The key to hosting a successful hybrid meeting is creating unison between in-person and remote employees in one easy to navigate, inclusive environment. This means the meeting environment is optimized and easy to use for both parties.
In this article, we’ll dive into expert tips and considerations that must be taken into account before hosting your next hybrid meeting.
- Provide attendees with ample notice prior to the meeting
Bringing together hybrid employees to meet cohesively in a shared environment can be difficult which is why it’s important to provide all participants with ample notice. While you should be providing a minimum or 48 hours’ notice prior to your meeting, creating a regular cadence and scheduling your hybrid meetings well in advance is much more effective.
- Select a facilitator and assign meeting roles
There are many moving parts when it comes to hosting a hybrid meeting which is why selecting a facilitator and assigning roles is imperative. Selecting a facilitator will ensure your remote and in-person employees are able to come together to collaborate and discus important topics with ease. The facilitator should prioritize creating a meeting agenda, inviting participants to the meeting with ample notice, and ensuring all participants both in-person and remote have the means to attend and participate in the meeting.
In addition to selecting a facilitator, you will also want to assign meeting roles. Assigning meeting roles not only helps the meeting run smoothly, but it also boosts morale and helps keep attendees attentive and engaged. Key roles include a host, a timekeeper, and a note taker. The host or facilitator handles everything from invites to direction during the call, the timekeeper oversees timing attendees when there’s a structured agenda, and the note taker is in charge of keeping track of key talking points.
- Be mindful of time zones when accounting for remote employees
Just because some of your employees may be gathering in person, it doesn’t mean that your remote employees are working within the same parameters. When hosting a hybrid meeting, it’s important to choose a time that works for both your in-person, and remote employees. Taking varying time zones into consideration when doing so is imperative. If you have remote employees that work in different time zones and aren’t sure what time works best for everyone, you may want to consider sending out a simple email or Slack message encouraging everyone to vote on their preferred times. What’s most important is choosing a time that doesn’t majorly inconvenience anyone so everyone can attend and participate to the best of their abilities.
- Design your meeting with both remote and in-person employees in mind
Hosting hybrid meetings means bringing together your remote, and in-person employees. In order to find success, you must take both into consideration. While you may have selected a meeting room for your in-person employees, it’s important that you do the same for those that will be attending virtually. Sending a link in advance and making sure they have a presence through technology is imperative. In order to make their presence known, it’s important to have a central screen(s) where they can easily be seen by those in person.
- Ask for employee feedback and suggestions
If you’re interested in gaining additional insights into how you can prepare for or improve your hybrid meetings, the best thing that you can do is seek feedback or ask your employees for suggestions. Oftentimes there is stigma around seeking feedback or asking your employees for suggestions, but you should feel confident enough to seek these insights from your teammates when necessary.
In addition, it’s important that you foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their feedback or suggestions. If your teammates don’t feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their unique insights, you may miss out on excellent ideas or contributions that could change the course of your meetings for the better.
Hosting hybrid meetings can also be a logistical nightmare. Checking in with your teammates and asking sure everyone is aligned and on the same page is a quick and easy way to make sure your hybrid meeting goes off without a hitch.
- Test your technology prior to the meeting
Hosting a hybrid meeting means there will be employees that will be attending in person, and employees that will be logging in virtually. As a result, technology is a must. There’s nothing more distracting than a technological mishap which is why it’s incredibly important to test your speakers and microphone prior to your meeting. As the meeting host, its imperative that you make sure all of your technology is running according to plan.
In order to ensure our meeting kicks off without a hitch, you may want to consider logging in 10 or 15 minutes early to ensure your camera is working and your microphone levels are just right. You may also want to double check your connectivity to ensure you won’t have any issues supporting a video call with multiple attendees.
- Ensure attendees have access to all resources that are discussed or needed during the meeting
If you're meeting regarding certain topics, it’s important that both your in-person, and remote employees receive any documents or resources pertaining to the subject matter in advance. Creating a meeting agenda and circulating it prior to your meeting will ensure all participants have what they need to prepare so everyone can actively engage and participate in the conversation. Providing attendees with pertinent information prior to your hybrid meeting also means they have the opportunity to absorb the information and come up with any questions beforehand.
- Encourage attendees to introduce themselves and tag the next speaker
If your employees don’t frequently meet or gather as one, you may want to consider having everyone introduce themselves and what team or department they work for prior to sharing their update. This is a great way to help everyone in your organization familiarize themselves with employees that work on different teams. This way they know who to contact or reach out when they have a specific question that requires insights from a department or team outside of their own.
Hybrid meetings can also be chaotic if the conversation isn’t structured. Encouraging attendees to pass the mic to one of their colleagues after they’ve completed their update will ensure there’s no downtime while also making sure everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the conversation and share their update.
- Circulate meeting notes and meeting recordings
Action items are arguably the most important part of any meeting meaning you must consider how you plan to record and follow up on any action items that are discussed during your next hybrid meeting. Whether you or the notetaker take detailed notes that are circulated post meeting, or you choose to record the meeting and email it to all attendees later, what’s most important is ensuring that all pertinent information is recorded and accounted for.
- Make your remote employees feel included
It can be extremely difficult to make remote employees feel included which is why it’s important to make the extra effort. Making sure that there’s an even playing field between. Those that chose to attend in person as well as those that will be attending virtually is key. This can be as simple as making sure all participants have equal opportunity to speak or as complex as creating unique avatars for each one of your remote employees.
Create human-to-human interactions with remo
The key to hosting successful hybrid meetings is preparing beforehand. Preparing prior to your meeting will ensure you’re able to create an environment where remote and in-person employees can come together to converse and collaborate in one space.
Tools like remo make mimicking human interactions seamless. For the first time ever, you can create a custom virtual meeting place that mimics your office. You can build your own environment or reach out to an expert that can help you create a virtual environment that mimics your in-person meeting space. This means that your remote and in-person employees will benefit from meeting in the same place. Remo makes it possible for you to connect with others in real-time by providing you with the tools you need to immerse yourself in an event, host round table discussions, create a workshop, or brainstorm with your teammates.
Remo is an immersive virtual event and meeting platform that empowers you to recreate natural interactions in any type of gathering, from global events to hybrid work meetings with your peers. We’re transforming the way people around the world experience meetings by humanizing online interactions. Host your next hybrid meeting with ease with Remo.
