Your Guide To Leading Effective Hybrid Meetings

Here at CENTRL, we’ve seen first hand how hybrid work has entered the mainstream in recent years, and the many benefits it offers to both companies and their employees. That said, certain office rituals from the “before times,” like meetings, have proved a bit more difficult to pull off in hybrid settings.

The challenge of hybrid meetings, as opposed to in-person or fully remote calls, is that you have two groups with very different experiences of the meeting. But despite the eye-rolling they invoke, meetings are still important for keeping your team unified and getting work done.

With this in mind, it’s important to figure out how to help your remote and in-person team members communicate, build lasting collaboration practices, and connect with each other despite their contrasting environments.

But first, let’s ask a pretty big question:

What is a hybrid meeting?

Hybrid meetings are meetings where some participants are located in a physical location together, such as an conference room, while others join remotely via Zoom or a similar virtual meeting tool. This allows for a mix of in-person and virtual participation, facilitating collaboration among distributed team members.

While a hybrid meeting will have a similar structure to in-person or virtual meetings, a hybrid meeting requires a bit more planning since you will need to make sure everyone (both online and in-office) can easily participate.

5 Steps to leading a successful hybrid meeting

If done well, a successful hybrid meeting will make everyone’s work feel more productive and engaging — for both remote and in-person team members. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Create and share your meeting agenda
Hybrid meetings need clear agendas so that teams at home and in the office can prepare. Build an agenda or even a collaborative meeting document that outlines what will be discussed in the meeting. Review your planned activities to make sure that all attendees can actually participate in them.

Your agenda should include:
– The meeting’s purpose
– A list of decisions that need to be made:
– Any information participants need to review beforehand

Remember to share the agenda far enough in advance to give your team time to prepare.

Step 2: Create a communication plan
At its core, a communication plan sets expectations for communicating during hybrid meetings. This helps set some basic guidelines to improve the experience for everyone involved.

Here are a few examples of what to include in your communication plan:

– Remote attendees should stay on mute until they’re ready to speak
– When in-person participants speak, speak into the microphone and introduce yourself
– Share any material discussed on the screen so all attendees can meaningfully participate
– Use a virtual whiteboard so all participants can take notes and add ideas in real-time
– Broadcast audio in the office so all participants can hear the remote team members

Step 3: Assign a facilitator
A facilitator can help you be more deliberate, stay organized, and create a better flow in the way your team members communicate, both with the presenter and amongst themselves. A good facilitator can help “steer the ship” by keeping the meeting on-point, while also ensuring the particpants have equal time to contribute to the conversation.

Step 4: Engage all participants
Engaging all participants is essential for the success of hybrid meetings. Create an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and encouraged to contribute. Be mindful of the dynamics between in-person and remote participants and ensure that both groups have equal opportunities to participate in discussions and decision-making.

Utilize interactive tools and techniques to enhance engagement and collaboration. Incorporate live polls, virtual whiteboards, and breakout rooms to facilitate active participation and foster creativity. Encourage open dialogue and brainstorming sessions to generate ideas and solutions collaboratively.

Step 5: Follow up after your meeting
Concluding hybrid meetings effectively is essential for ensuring that objectives are met and action items are clear. Summarize the key takeaways from the meeting and highlight any decisions made or action items assigned. Clarify expectations regarding next steps and follow-up actions to ensure accountability and progress.

Gather feedback from participants on the meeting format, content, and facilitation, and use this feedback to continuously improve the quality of future meetings. Send a follow-up email to all participants summarizing the meeting outcomes, action items, and deadlines. Make sure to include any relevant materials or resources discussed during the meeting and confirm any scheduled follow-up meetings or check-ins.

Conclusion

Hybrid meetings can be harder to execute than you think. Dispersed teams can often divide along in-office and remote lines. Spontaneous socialization is less common, and so the relationships can be more tenuous.

As the person planning the meetings, your role is to remove as many roadblocks as possible. After using this guide, you’ll be on your way to holding better hybrid meetings and promoting more impactful collaboration within your team. If you’re thinking of holding any kind of meeting, we’ve got a wide range of meeting rooms for you here at CENTRL. As always, reach out if you have any questions. We’d love to hear from you!