TECHNOLOGY
Using Technology to Conduct an Effective Hybrid Meeting
By Bill Prewitt
Out of necessity, over the past few years, we have had to become comfortable with virtual meetings. But mixing a virtual meeting with in-person participation can become a stumbling block to participant engagement. Now there is technology that bridges the gap between virtual and in-person participants: the all-in-one conferencing camera-speaker-microphone device (AIOCSMD).
Combining Virtual and In-Person Participation
Since the pandemic’s onset, advisors have found platforms such as Zoom and GoToMeeting to be highly versatile solutions for meeting virtually. More recently, hybrid meetings have emerged because some people still prefer the convenience of meeting virtually, even as in-person meetings have resumed. In hybrid meetings, some participants are on-site, and the rest are online. The setup might include a U-shaped table for the in-person participants, a large screen in the room so the virtual participants can be seen by in-person participants, and a camera for the room so virtual participants can see who’s talking.
However, hybrid meetings introduce complexity that didn’t exist with all-virtual meetings. In an all-virtual meeting, all the participants appear on a computer screen as virtual participants. This makes it relatively easy to follow conversations because the computer screen identifies who is speaking. In contrast, virtual participants find it hard to follow the meeting because they struggle to tell who is speaking in the on-site meeting. Two factors contribute to this confusion. First, the microphone is usually nondirectional, making it difficult to tell where the sound is coming from. Second, the image of the room is usually small, so the virtual participants have trouble seeing who is talking. For the virtual participant, these gaps make for a less-than-satisfactory meeting experience.
A Phoenix Gang Challenge
The Phoenix Gang tackled the challenge of hybrid meetings for its gathering before NAPFA’s fall 2022 gathering in Denver. The Phoenix Gang consists of NAPFA planners who either have retired or are on a retirement glide path. Originated by the legendary Bill Bengen about 10 years ago, Phoenix Gang meetings are held in conjunction with NAPFA national conferences.
AIOCSMD was an entirely new technology for our group. NAPFA Director of Professional Development & Education Kristin Keith suggested making it available when we arrived at the site. NAPFA’s information technology consultant made all the connections, and we were immediately up and running. AIOCSMD quickly proved its value by enhancing interaction between both the virtual and the onsite audiences.
How It Works
NAPFA arranged for AIOCSMD technology—a Meeting Owl Pro from Owl Labs—that incorporated a built-in 360-degree camera and directional microphone. It worked well for our Phoenix Gang meeting. I’d be happy to use it again.
Using this technology is straightforward. A laptop hosts a Zoom or GoToMeeting session via an internet connection. The laptop connects to a projector that casts the desktop—the gallery of virtual attendees—to a large screen that all attendees in the room can see. The laptop also connects to an AIOCSMD device. When anyone speaks in the room, that activates the AIOCSMD. The device’s built-in 360-degree camera and directional microphone focus on the speaker, which becomes another image in the virtual participant gallery. The AIOCSMD device keeps up as the speaker changes.
Our Hybrid Experience
Our hybrid meeting using AIOCSMD exceeded our expectations. It didn’t matter whether the presenter was virtual or in-person. Their image appeared in the online gallery along with the images of all the other virtual participants. Knowing your image would be projected as soon as you opened your mouth was an incentive to think before speaking. During presentations, we used the “share screen” feature to project the presenter’s materials on the large screen, visible to everyone.
A survey we conducted after the two-day event reinforced our notion that technology did a great job of bridging the gap between in-person and virtual participants. Longtime NAPFA member Marge Schiller wrote, “As a virtual participant at that conference, I was pleased with the effectiveness of the whole operation.”
AIOCSMD technology has some limitations. For example, we found that the Owl Pro did not react as well if the on-site speaker was too far from it. The manufacturer claims an effective range of 18 feet, so consider this when planning a room arrangement.
You’re not limited to using an Owl Labs device. A web search of “all-in-one conferencing camera-speaker-microphone” will bring up an array of devices that you can compare.
AIOCSMD and Your Practice
Introducing AIOCSMD technology went a long way toward bridging the gap for the Phoenix Gang, and it can do the same for your practice. For example, I can imagine using it to run virtual client events or conduct meetings across geographically dispersed offices. This could help virtual participants follow an actual meeting by seeing and hearing who is speaking. Without the technology, virtual participants struggle to connect a disembodied voice to a face. AIOCSMD technology removes a hurdle to communication.
Interested in the Phoenix Gang?The next meeting of the Phoenix Gang will be held at the national NAPFA conference in Louisville, KY, in October. To learn more about the Phoenix Gang, contact the author or Bert Hughes (925-640-9915). To give you a flavor of what a meeting is like, here’s a list of topics and speakers from the fall 2022 meeting. Day One
Day Two
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Bill Prewitt, MS, CFP®, founded Charleston Financial Advisors LLC in 1986 and is on his retirement glide path. He works a two-day week, sails Charleston Harbor, and hikes in the North Carolina mountains.
image credit: istock.com/Ilya Lukichev