Hybrid Meetings as a New Form of Collaboration

Global lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic required urgent social distancing and self-isolation. In these circumstances, most companies have been adopting remote working scenarios, finding new formats for interaction with customers, suppliers, and between team members. As a result, communication has moved online, forcing people to e-meet using team collaboration platforms, e.g. WebEx, Microsoft Teams, TrueConf, Zoom, etc.

What is a Hybrid Meeting?

Relaxation of social distancing restrictions poses a new challenge for entrepreneurs and educators who need to bring their activities to the next level, namely to incorporate digital solutions into most in-person meetings. This is how communication gradually comes to the hybrid format that is able to solve current issues effectively.

Hybrid meeting is an innovative form of collaboration that incorporates elements of both face-to-face and virtual experiences into one joint event, serving all audiences in a viewer-friendly way. This term implies any kind of conference, presentation, seminar or workshop, where attendees can participate either virtually or physically.

Providing up-to-date content delivery and communication options, it facilitates participation between live and online guests who are equally involved in the discussion and stay focused on the subject matter. Everything happens in real-time mode, as if everyone is sitting side by side.

How Do Hybrid Meetings Work?

In order to understand how hybrid meetings work, imagine 10 people sitting together in the room, and another 30 people join them from remote locations using video-enabled devices. The speaker presents content to the mixed audience, and audio-visual speech is simultaneously streamed for online viewers. They may discuss the information while it is being presented without disturbing the speaker who can be addressed in text or video chat, or by digital hand-raising. This interactive feature allows virtual guests to contribute to the subject matter and get feedback by notifying the meeting host that they have a question or comment.

It is possible to distinguish two main formats of conferencing modes suitable for hybrid meetings:

• Symmetric. Local and remote teams interact with each other fully — everyone hears and sees each other, having the ability to communicate. It works well for small teams and roundtable discussions.
• Role-based. The virtual audience is divided into two groups — participants who hear and see presenters and those who, in addition, can be speakers. They are assigned by the host. This format is well suited for all-hands meetings.

As the hybrid combines the best features of both traditional and online meetings, it is commonly used to expand the reach and boost engagement, while ensuring safe experience by reducing physical attendance and still allowing the meeting to take place. It is able to unify multiple events that occur concurrently at different places, allowing remote attendees to participate alone or in groups from a comfortable location.

Benefits of Hybrid Meetings

Wide audience of virtual and live guests

Hybrid participants are not limited to a single room or venue — they can join online sessions right from the apartment, office meeting room, hotel and even while lying on the beach. Thus, this format contributes to a significant reduction of event costs, e.g. flights, lodging, meals, etc.

Decision for semi-remote teams

Due to coronavirus restrictions, many companies have switched to semi-remote working, when some employees are in the office, and the rest work from home. For such a mixed team, hybrid meetings are the only opportunity to meet and communicate.

All opinions matter

The hybrid puts online and live audiences on the same level, enabling remote attendees to develop an opinion and contribute to the discussion in a natural and comfortable way.

Adding a digital element

With the help of their devices, online participants can talk to each other, like and share information. At the same time, the speaker can host polls for both virtual and in-person attendees.