Recently I wrote about online vs irl workshops and the key differences. But what about the other version - the dreaded hybrid workshop? This is where you’re facilitating a real-life session with people in a meeting space and at the same time, people join remotely via Teams or Zoom.

Last week I facilitated one of these sessions. There were 22 people in a room, whereas 2 others were dialling in. They were in separate locations and in different time zones.

When I heard about this my heart sank. It’s the worst possible scenario. How can we manage it, so that everyone feels equally engaged? This is what I learned.

1 You Need Great Tech

I’m not a tech expert so I’m not going to make any specific recommendations, but the single most important requirement is great audio. The people dialling in need to hear everyone in the meeting space. Obvious I know, but this was our priority. We were in a reasonably small room and we had a powerful microphone in the centre of the room. Everyone could hear the conversation, whether they were remote or in the room. Occasionally we moved the microphone around, but mainly we kept it in the centre of the room.

Then of course you need a great camera. We had one at eye level which we could move around the room. We had to do this manually, but it meant that the people who dialled in could see everyone. It was particularly useful for feedback sessions. We could zoom in on different parts of the room to show flipcharts or the people talking.

And of course, there’s a meeting room screen to project presentations. People on Teams could see what was presented to everybody.

Once the tech works, you’re in a good place. Without decent, flexible tech, the hybrid meeting simply wouldn’t work.

2 Create a Zoom / Teams Meeting

Even though the majority of the attendees were present in real life, we created a Teams meeting that everyone could access. The remote participants joined this throughout. The facilitator’s laptop also joined. This meant we could attach the microphone and the camera to the laptop. We also plugged the laptop into the meeting room screen and shared content when relevant.

Whenever we ran a break-out session, we asked one of the break-out groups in the main room to join the Teams meeting just for the exercise. So the IRL team and the remote team worked together. Everyone else worked with flipcharts as per usual. It worked fine.

In addition, we set up a WhatsApp group for everybody, so people could post pictures, ideas and banter at any time, no matter where they are. It helped bond the entire team.

3 You Need Two Facilitators

It’s very hard to keep an eye on the main group and the remote people. So we divided the tasks. I looked after the people in the main room, whilst my fellow facilitator kept his eye on the remote people via the laptop. Whenever they wanted to say something, they raised their hand and we brought them into the main conversation. Whenever they wanted to write everything, they used the Teams Chat and we transcribed what they had to say onto post-it notes.

I had to remember to pause regularly and ask ‘does x online what to say anything at this point’, but after a while, they simply joined in at the appropriate times.

With just 1 facilitator it would have been very difficult. It would be nigh-on impossible to stay engaged with the main group and the remote team at the same time.

Occasionally there was a technical glitz. One of us (not me!) was able to fix it whilst the meeting continued.

So what can we conclude?

Yes, it’s possible but far from ideal to plan and run hybrid workshops. It requires a lot of set-up, the right space, flexible tech and 2 facilitators. It worked better than I imagined. The remote people said they felt involved and engaged throughout.

My recommendation would still be to go for one type of session. Either online (I like a Zoom / Mural combo). Or IRL - old-school flipcharts and pens. If you are obliged to run a hybrid session then yes - go for it. It can definitely work.

I hope the hybrid meeting doesn’t become the norm, but I fear it will. It’s a sub-optimal experience for everyone involved. But no doubt, tech will continue to improve and as facilitators, we’ll become more skilled. Let’s wait and see.

If there are people who are experienced in planning and running hybrid workshops, then I’d love to hear your tips and tricks. No doubt the way we run them will continue to evolve.