Best Practices for Hybrid Meetings- Part 1 of 2

Most events today are hybrid events, ones that combine live and virtual components. While is some cases they’re hybrid by intentional design of the meeting professional, they may also be hybridized by the countless participants with access to high quality video recorders and social media on their personal devices. Below are some recommended practices to help you to make the most of your hybrid meetings.

Commit to your timing: A late start can result in losing a large part of your virtual audience. Remember to start and end on time.
Work with experts: While a free platform may be suitable for some meetings, if your event success is relying on hybrid meeting technology, work with a platform specially designed for meetings, and experts in production.
Test and retest: Just as you would conduct a site inspection for a venue, remember to do a virtual site inspection of the platform you’ll be using and rehearse the use of the platform with your speakers. Remember to also confirm bandwidth capability at the venue, particularly if you’re planning live streaming.
Have a back up plan: Discuss a plan with your technology partner for what to do if either the platform or the internet connectivity are not available during your event. Remember to include a communication plan for your virtual attendees to keep them informed and engaged.

Design for two audiences: Remember that you have both a live and virtual audience and design the experience with both in mind.
Offer real-time, multi-directional communication: Designate a person to be moderate the conversation between the live and virtual audience. For example, monitoring the twitter feed and posing questions from the audience to the speaker. Also consider adding polls or surveys that capture responses from both audiences.
Script between sessions: Those times between sessions (such as coffee or meal breaks) are a great opportunity to provide specialized content for your virtual audience, such as having the event host interview speakers or sponsors.
Gamify engagement: Consider adding a gamification element to your event that tracks and rewards interactions between the live and virtual audience.

Speakers: In addition to orientation on the technology platform, remember to also provide training to your speakers on how to engage with the virtual audience. For example, ask them to use non time-zone specific addresses (welcome vs. good morning). As well, remind them to connect with virtual attendees during interactive elements of the live program, such as during small group discussions.
Sponsors and exhibitors: Help your sponsors and exhibitors to connect with both the live and virtual audience with some pre-event training. Encourage them to be active on social media, and to use the opportunity to build brand recognition. My favourite example to this day remains the Oreo Cookie tweet sent out during SuperBowl stadium blackout in 2013 by 360i, the company’s agency. That single tweet garnered incredible media attention and over 10,000 retweets in an hour – a very cost effective ad on a day when millions are spent on TV commercials.