开云体育

ctrl + shift + ? for shortcuts
© 2025 开云体育
  1. F4c-Response
  2. Topics

Request: tools for hybrid meetings? (half in-person, half remote)

 

David Ehrlichman:

We have an upcoming meeting next week that people are pulling out of right and left.?We are switching to a 2 day combined in person and zoom experience. However, our room isn't wired for video conferencing.... has anyone used an Owl Pro or any other webcam setups that could make a 2 day zoom call bearable for people participating remotely? And how did it go? The last event hosted at this space had some remote participants and they said the speakerphone only picked up half the onsite participants....
?
Thanks for any advice you can provide.

Responses (latest response at the top)

Hi David. My suggestion: put everyone in Zoom, even people co-located. It will enhance the experience for everyone. Just need one (own) device per participant.
?
Break the program into sessions 1:30 long maximum, and plenty of breaks. You may also let people co-located do part of the work F2F while remote have a break.
?
Cheers,
Fernando Murray Loureiro

Hi David. I run hybrid meetings frequently, and it's never easy creating a level playing field among all participants. But it's absolutely vital. A few ideas/tips: Have everyone participate the same way - i.e., all remote with no mass in one room. Otherwise you have an inherently unlevel playing field. If this is not desirable or possible, design an agenda where work can be done in 90- or 120-minute chunks all together, and then have subgroups do work for awhile and then come back together, etc.?

Above all - get the audio right. Have a high-quality system (many conferences spaces now have mics that are hanging from the ceiling) instead of forcing people in the room to remember to stand in front of the phone each time they talk, repeat questions, etc. This makes for a protracted, frustrating experience for everyone. If you had everyone participating remotely, people could use their own headsets or VOIP.

As far as video, consider when and where the meeting will be enhanced by its use. If, e.g. the group is collaborating on something all can see (e.g. brainstorming in a shared virtual work space, or action planning, decision-making, etc.), then it might be more important for everyone to be looking at whatever they're doing together, vs having videos going. Having said that, I Iike to have both videos and a shared workspace visible to all, and people can decide what they want to focus on at any given time. Can people use videocams in their computers for video? This is another example where having everyone participating remotely could make life a lot easier. I sue BlueJeans, Skype, or Zoom for video most often.

If you want to have a brief chat later this week, we can brainstorm some ideas, perhaps.? Hope this helps. - Nancy

==
I assign people in the room to be "bridge moderator buddies" and pair them with remote participants.? The bridge moderator buddy is connected with the remote participants via the Zoom chat and fields any technical stuff.? Also, they might have them connect via an extra laptop or their phone be their eyes - move the laptop camera and sound close or angle it so they can see a flip chart, move them into small groups, etc.? Here's some??that I wrote up for the bridge moderator buddies.
?
Here are some photos of participants doing some small group discussions and reports.? ?In the first photo, the diagram is a drawing that the remote person draw, photograph, and emailed.? The printed it out and made it part of the report out poster.? In the second one, the remote person - who was on the laptop screen - did the verbal report.??

Beth Kanter

==
Hi David
?
Building on Fernando’s ideas and taking a slightly different approach - I have found the “1/2&1/2” as I call it, works best when there moments when people can be all together even if it is just a speaker phone plus conf call, then dedicated activities for the in person and virtual groups and then synching back up with lots of breaks. Trying to do it all together all day is too painful for everyone.?
?
Cheers, Liz
Liz Rykert
 

Another response copied over:

KH@KH?kenhomer@...??googlegroups.com?
Wed, Mar 4, 6:36 PM (11 hours ago)
?
 ?
to?f4c-response
?
?
?
?
?
?
Hi All,
?
I’m already appreciating the wisdom on display here - thanks for organizing this Nancy!
?
Okay, I’ll add my 2? to the conversation:
?
I’ll echo the point about ensuring you have good audio. If you can swing it, have someone on your end who can troubleshoot any tech issues leaving you free to be fully available for the rest of the participants. I also find it helpful to have everyone who is not talking to mute themselves - this cuts down on extraneous noise.
?
Given the prevalence of electronic distractions in our lives, I find it highly useful to set a couple of conditions at the outset of a remote meeting.?
?
First, I remind folks that because we are not in the same physical space, it requires us to expend extra effort to sense the mood an feel connected to others during the meeting. Having a good check in question can help a lot here.
?
Next, I request that people please close all applications except Zoom (and maybe a simple text editor that they can use to take notes). Please don’t have email, IM and browser windows open because it is sooo easy to shift our focus to the app and away from the work we’re attempting on the call.
?
I also ask them to please silence their cell phones and only answer calls that are absolutely necessary during work periods -some ppl need to be available to handle family or work emergencies which is totally fine.
?
If people do need to step out for a quick bio break or a call, it helps if they type “BRB” in the chat window. That let’s folks know that during the time when they are away, decisions should not be made that require the consensus of the whole group. It’s especially important if they don’t have active video due to low bandwidth issues. In those cases, ask them to type “back” when they return.
?
It can also be useful to ask the group about their experience in conducting online meetings and what they have been particularly impressed with that has worked well in other meetings. This is a great way to get people’s voices in the room and sometimes we all learn about a wonderful new innovation.
?
Lastly, (in the category of learning from participants what works well) I learned a very cool way to keep people from talking over each other that’s surprisingly effective. When someone finishes speaking, count two heartbeats before you attempt to respond. For some reason this seems to synchronize people in a way where it’s rare for two people to jump in at the same time.
?
Kind regards,
?
Ken (Homer)
 

And here is a resource some of us put together back in 2017 with Pete Cranston, Susan Steward, Bonnie Koenig and myself.? Pretty basic, but we sometimes forget the basics!!
 

Hi David

?

Say more about the type of what type of meeting it is? For instance is it a reporting meeting or more of a workshoppy type of thing? How many people are involved?

?

Our experience is of running four-day synchronous workshops - mostly face-to-face participants and varying numbers of online participants. We use low tech so the model is easy to replicate. I’ve written a few blogposts about what we have learned – .

?

Now in 2020, what would I add, emphasize, or say differently to what I say in the blogposts…

?

Must haves:

  • A buddy system – every face-to-face person needs a buddy in the room. And you need to check in with the buddies to be sure they are doing their job (or have passed it on to someone who will)
  • A chat function that everyone has a reason to use – it gives online folk another voice in the room and makes them feel part of the conversations
  • Hourly (or two-hourly) pauses where everyone writes their insights and ongoing questions into a shared google doc. ??
  • A space for all the online folk to be able to talk/message each other. It gives an identity to online folk and emboldens them to stick up for themselves when it’s not working for them
  • Lots of time for small group conversations, sometimes mixed face-to-face and online groups, sometimes groups made up of only online participants and only face-toface
  • Guidelines for online participants about how to make the most of participating online (including things like – call for breaks if you need one, a playful attitude helps)
  • Guidelines for face-to-face participants about making the most of their participation with people participating remotely (including things like – say your name before you speak so online folk know whose voice it is, look into the camera when you speak)
  • We used to limit ourselves to a ratio of 2:1 face-to-face:online participants. The mics and cameras in personal devices are so much better now that I wouldn’t be so strict about that.

We’re not complacent, but the feedback over the last ten years has been 100% positive. “Exhausting, but worth it” pretty much sums it up. Many people do those four days across inconvenient time zones (e.g. participating between midnight and 7:00 a.m.). Some, who have done the workshop face-to-face and online have said they prefer participating online - it gives more time for reflection, they often form lasting friendships with other online folk or with their buddy, some report that they felt more special or more heard online.

?

On our part it takes a lot more work to do blended. And often a lot of stress :-). It’s not just the technology we are trying out but new and different social practices.

Bev
 

There is an online meeting tomorrow at 6am PDT/15:00 CET on templates for online meetings. Might be worth a peek?
 

Dear Nancy, the links seems not to work
Thanks
G.
 

Lots of great advice already. We have found it really helpful to create a shared google doc that we call our "virtual flip-chart" and where note-taking from small groups is clearly structured - tables with clear headings and written out instructions, different background colors for different groups.

If you have an issue where everyone has to work together to make progress on something, you can do a great shift and share if you have small groups (mixed online and in the room, external participants calling in to their buddy's phones) first work on an issue and fill in their chart together, then have an activity where they review and comment on everything everyone else has written.

Having a shared document can be especially useful in low bandwidth situations where spoken conversation alone is frustrating. And when they all write together there can be a different level of shared commitment to the result, than if you just have a large collection of post-its on a wall...
Good luck.
Eva

1 - 7 of 7