What It Takes to Run a Great Hybrid Meeting

Hybrid events are the new trend and another way to host events in the 21st century. The world is rapidly progressing towards digitalisation, with modern-day research and development taking place in the hybrid event platform and event tech industry, transforming the traditional roots of events.  

A survey suggests that more than 85% of businesses and event organisers are planning to commence their events in both the forms of in-person and hybrid. The drastic changes in the whole event industry are surprising and a little unusual for many, but for tech-loving guys, it’s something they’ve always wanted. 

Even after all these advancements, hosting well-organised hybrid events is still a tough task for all. There are great opportunities for attendees to lose interest or get distracted by many unknown factors, but simply a poor experience can be one till identified. By combining a great scope of knowledge and best practices, we have concluded some of the points that will be useful for running a great hybrid meeting. 

Improve Your Audio Quality

Audio is the connection between you and your audience, and poor audio quality will wrongly interpret the information, thoughts, and message. Most of the hosts work on the visual aspect as a necessity, but poor audio can waste those efforts too. 

Instead of repeatedly saying, “is my voice audible or not audible from the audience?” is not good for anyone. So, it is better to choose a place where there is no disturbance and has a good microphone (which can make sure of quality audio delivery). For this, there are many hybrid expo services on the market that can help you arrange such equipment. 

Deep Dive Into Research The New Technology

The world is rapidly changing and new features are being introduced, so make sure you use the trendy elements in the event and not just the old ones usually. Rely on a hybrid show streaming platform that improves face-to-face communication among remote attendees and provides an immersive experience. A new type of customisation in the meeting rooms, the background has been created and fully customisation as per the requirements has been offered by many event tech companies in the UAE. Lots of features, including live chats, hooting, emoticons, gamification, and interactive discussion, are coming into the market for you to include in your next hybrid event, making it look soothing and engaging. 

Think From A Remote Attendee’s Perspective

When thinking of designing your meeting hall, trade fair, conference or any other event make sure you are aware of how it looks to the remote attendees. During in-person events, it is easier to check and analyse how participants are handling documents or receiving the content. But to the remote audience, it is necessary to understand visually appealing content, shared presentations, infographics and others. Creativeness is the key to achieving at least attention, so try to bring all those in the virtual space, and in the form of an ‘in-room virtual meeting’ using hybrid event solutions

Make Remote Participants Feel Alive in the Event

Giving remote participants more presence in the room is another method to equalise their status. Set up two additional huge monitors, one on each side of the room, in addition to the primary screen in the centre, to display big images of the remote participants during the conference.

These prominent visuals serve as a continual reminder to engage distant colleagues in the dialogue and assist in-person attendees in accepting them as full participants. The voices of remote participants should also, whenever possible, come from the same monitors as their faces, as ceiling speakers tend to emphasise how artificial the setting is.

Do a Dry Test

Nothing kills the flow of a meeting like delays in finding a resolution to glitches or issues. So it is always preferred to choose a hybrid exhibition platform with good hardware, software, and technical team. Additionally, never believe in technology until you test it. So, test the audio-visual setup in the room and for remote attendees before a crucial meeting. 

To familiarise remote participants with what they will see and hear during the meeting and to go over any software features they may be required to use, schedule a 10-15 minute one-on-one dry run. 

Design Meetings for Everyone

Start by reviewing each and every activity and focusing on how both in-person and remote audiences will engage with them. To maximise their interaction with the in-room attendees, think about the tools and techniques offered by the hybrid fest platform. 

For instance, if you need to poll the group, you can use a mobile survey app like Poll Everywhere to gather opinions from everyone in real-time. Instead of using a show of hands or verbal feedback, this equalises remote participants. Use an online whiteboard (or focus a remote camera on a flip chart) to take meeting notes so that everyone can see what is being written as it happens.

Strong Facilitation Is Needed

It’s more difficult to run a hybrid meeting than it is when everyone is there in person or on the same hybrid event platform. The discourse should be led and kept on course by one individual, who could be a staff member, an outsider, or a meeting participant.

Despite your best efforts, it is still far too simple for guests who are present in person to control the conversation. A facilitator should engage the participants who are taking part remotely, keep them interested, and make sure their comments are heard and not ignored or talked over. To make sure that all participants’ voices are heard, the facilitator may occasionally need to contact remote or in-person participants.

Create an “avatar”

Sometimes it might be necessary for remote participants to be physically present in the room. So, for that, you can create a custom avatar for every participant, giving them a personal feel and experience that they have never had till now. 

Well, this point is not necessary, but if you want to make it to the next level, then leveraging a good hybrid event solution is preferable. All these points will definitely help you run a great hybrid event. Hope this lesson created some value for you and will help you to achieve something different.

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