Suddenly Hybrid

Chapter 6Strategies for Running a Hybrid Meeting

It's foolhardy to think, after so many months of flailing through figuring out virtual meetings, that the transition to hybrid will be smooth. No matter how much investment is made in hardware, software, room design, and training, the evolution to a whole new way of meeting is bound to come with some significant speed bumps.

“My concern is people are going to hate it and just give up on it quickly because it's going to be painful,” suggests Lisette Sutherland of Collaboration Superpowers. “Unless you have the right things in place, it's just not going to work very well.” At least, not from the start.

But what are the right things? Unfortunately, the answer may be a moving target. There isn't only one version of a hybrid meeting, and there isn't only one way to make a hybrid meeting work. Techniques will be tried and adjusted over time. However, we can steal plays from the playbooks of those who have already found success in their hybrid meeting methodology and approach. By the end of this chapter, you will have many more strategies/tools for being a leader of hybrid meetings that work.

In this chapter, we will explore:

• The extra emphasis placed on pre‐work in advance of a meeting
• Strategies to get people talking or at least chatting
• The importance of early acknowledgment of remote attendees
• How to prevent the “meeting after the meeting”

The Pre‐Work Mandate

In academia, there's a teaching methodology that's called a “flipped ...