The Key to Successful Hybrid Meetings

Successful hybrid meetings (made up of a mix of in-person and remote attendees) come down to a combination of three key elements:

• The hardware you’re using (both in the meeting room and remotely),
• software (the meeting platform), and
• skills (the ability to host the meeting, involve all participants and foster engagement).

If you’re experiencing ineffective hybrid meetings, it generally means that one of these elements is lacking. 

Some of the common issues organisations are having when it comes to hybrid meetings include:

1. Poor camera placement and room layout

If remote participants can't see all the people in the room, they’re going to struggle to follow the meeting.

During the pandemic, all meetings were run virtually, and we became used to seeing a participant’s labelled square light up when they were speaking. It was easy to identify who was talking. But now, one square in the virtual meeting grid might represent a whole room full of in-person attendees, making it challenging to identify who in the room is speaking at any given point.

Organisations have options to make it easier for remote attendees to see in-room attendees, including:

1. Multicamera setup. Multiple cameras from vendors such as Poly, Cisco and Crestron are placed around the room. Often, one camera is placed at the front of the meeting room, and the rest capture other angles of the room.
2. AI capture. AI software can identify in-room attendees and place them in their own square, or move to focus on the speaking attendee.You might also consider multiple monitors to display content and the remote attendees.

Telstra Purple can work with you to identify the best mix of audio-visual hardware to suit your meeting spaces and the types of meetings you have.

2. Poor audio

Poor acoustics can be very disruptive to the meeting. This includes too much background noise, choppy audio, echoes etc. When users experience an issue like echo, the person causing the echo often can't hear it. It then takes time to identify the culprit and fix the issue. Asking speakers to repeat themselves because you could only make out every third word, or telling someone to go on mute because the barking dog in their background is distracting is disruptive to the flow of the meeting.

Whilst the in-built features in meeting platforms (like Teams and Webex) are improving to help with background noise reduction, we’re also seeing new features introduced from hardware vendors that can improve audio quality for hybrid meetings. For instance, Poly offers an acoustic fence capability that creates a virtual boundary to block background noise. Similarly, Cisco offers multi-directional speech capture that only picks up speech from the active speaker/s and filters noise coming from other directions.

3. Issues dialling in and sharing content

Content sharing is a common area of frustration for remote and in-room attendees. Problems can result if you have different hardware and controls being used in each meeting space. If users aren’t sure how to connect to the screen, or which platforms the room is optimised to connect to etc, they’ll struggle to share content. They may even experience issues just joining the meeting from the meeting room.

Streamlining your set up, and conducting training sessions on how to use the room systems can greatly improve the meeting experience and reduce delays and hiccups at the start of the meeting.

If people in the room are using a physical whiteboard to brainstorm, remote attendees may not be able to see it, or see it well enough to follow along properly. Conversely, if remote attendees brainstorm using a virtual whiteboard or use the chat to share content, in-room attendees would need to bring their individual devices to the meeting to view the content. This means more time spent looking down at a screen, as opposed to looking at the camera.

To get around this, you might consider fitting your meeting room with interactive digital whiteboards. This enables the remote participants to see and interact with the same screen that in-person attendees are using in the room.

4. People problems

Not all hybrid meeting problems are technical issues. The people presenting and running the meeting are just as important to the success of a hybrid meeting.

It’s important for the meeting host to equally accommodate for in-person and remote attendees. Both should be able to easily ask questions and contribute to the conversation.

People in the meeting room are more inclined to engage with the people sharing the same space, while remote attendees are more likely to engage with each other. To combat this, it’s helpful to raise awareness of everyone participating in a meeting. For example, during a Q&A session, ask the remote attendees for their opinion first.

To facilitate smoother meetings and get the most out of participants, organisations should take time to experiment with what practices work for them. By trying different approaches to running meetings and soliciting feedback from employees, companies can create clear guidelines, where employees know the expectations for hybrid meetings and get used to interacting in an inclusive manner.

It's time to take action

Hybrid meetings require the right mix of technology and best practices to bridge the gap between in-person and remote participants. By leveraging the right tools and implementing effective strategies, you can help ensure your hybrid meetings are dynamic and productive sessions that drive collaboration and success.

As meeting hardware and software providers release new hybrid meeting technology and features, organisations should look at what can be introduced to improve and enhance meeting experiences and ensure that their teams are having valuable meetings and getting the most out of attendees – regardless of their location.

Telstra Purple can help with tailored meeting room solutions that perfectly meet the needs of your organisation. By partnering with industry-leading brands, including Poly, Cisco and Microsoft, we can offer a comprehensive range of high-quality products and services for creating optimal meeting environments. From video conferencing systems or audio equipment, to display screens, collaboration tools, or room management software, Telstra’s team of experts can curate the right combination of products and services for your specific requirements.

Learn more about our upcoming events or request a call to see how we can help you improve your meeting spaces.

Learn more about T-Rooms, our out of the box smart meeting room solution.

Explore our bespoke AV/VC capabilities to help create a more efficient, productive, and connected workplace.

Browse our conferencing solutions to suit your workplace and organisation’s needs