Hybrid Facilitation

Hybrid Meetings

The word hybrid is in vogue at the moment. Hybrid offices, hybrid cars, hybrid golf clubs, the list goes on. But when it comes to facilitating hybrid meetings, many organizations face the fear of the unknown.

Let’s start with what it is. A hybrid meeting is a meeting with participants attending both virtually and in person. In other words, a group of people will be together in one room, while others will join the conversation through their preferred web conferencing app. It sounds simple, but a lot can go wrong given the number of variables that must go right for the meeting to be a success.

Beyond the technical aspects of running a hybrid meeting, there are a lot of factors to consider: how will you ensure participants who are joining virtually are able to contribute equally to those joining in person? Can you keep online participants engaged? How will you manage breakout groups, if required? What ground rules need to be established? Remember, being at home can have its share of distractions, and online participants are bringing their home life to the rest of the room. These are just a few of the considerations a facilitator will help address during the planning phase of any hybrid meeting.  

Intersol has been facilitating hybrid meetings since the days when the speakerphone button was the most cutting-edge virtual meeting software on the market. Today, we work to stay up to date with widely-used virtual collaboration tools. We will work with your organization’s preferred tools to design a meeting that suits your team. For many hybrid engagements, we use a secure, web-based electronic flipchart called FacilitatePro that allows the use of a wide range of decision-making tools, including idea sharing, ranking, sorting, and polling, both in person and online simultaneously.