The jury is still out on hybrid meetings. Some managers believe meetings should be entirely in person or entirely remote, while others see hybrid meetings as a definite improvement of all-remote meetings.
If you’d rather avoid hybrid setups, that’s probably because you’ve experienced some of their common drawbacks:
One-sided conversations where meetings feel like webinars (at best)
Few chances for remote participants to chime in with questions or ideas
A general confusion and awkwardness – especially if not all tech is working properly (Who should speak now? Is my audio lagging or is it their microphone?)
While hybrid meetings have their shortcomings, they’re a must for hybrid work environments. Plus, they give team members the flexibility to set their work schedules, whether they’re in the office or working from home.
The recipe for successful hybrid meetings? It comes down to two things:
All participants are able to see and hear each other clearly
All attendees are able to participate equally
Each of these aspects requires adequate planning and leadership skills to get them right, plus, of course, the right tech. In this article, we’ll talk about all the things you can do to ensure the success of all hybrid meetings at your company, explain what tools you need, and give you our tips and best practices.
What do hybrid meeting technologies entail?
Hybrid meeting technologies require having the right tech setup. This includes:
High-quality cameras, speakers, and microphones for everyone
Virtual meeting tools like Google Meet, Zoom, MS Teams, or Slack
Virtual collaboration tools like shared whiteboards (think Miro or Lucidspark) and documents that can be edited by both sides in real time (think Google Docs)
This setup will help in-person and remote participants feel engaged, regardless of their location.
The host's must-have hybrid meeting equipment checklist
The setup for a remote meeting is simple – everyone logs in from their computer with their own microphone and speakers. If you use meeting software to run remote meetings (like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet), it should work for your hybrid meeting too.
However, hybrid meetings require a more technical setup on the host’s end, so in-room and virtual participants can clearly see and hear each other.
Let’s first understand the basic setup of a hybrid meeting, and then break down each component with examples and recommendations for different meeting types.
Basic equipment
Remote participants log into a hybrid meeting in the same way they would in a fully remote meeting: They open the meeting link on their device and use their own camera, microphone, and headphones.
In-room participants need to use one device (a laptop, tablet, or phone) to log into the meeting. The rest of the equipment will depend on the meeting’s size.
If it’s a small group (for example, of three to four people in the room), a laptop webcam, speakers, and microphone should be enough for everyone to see and hear each other clearly.
For a larger group, you’ll need extra equipment:
First, you’ll need one or more external cameras to capture all in-room attendees and the main speaker
You’ll also need to connect a laptop to a large screen, so in-room participants can see all virtual attendees better, and also view presentations, shared screens, or videos
Next, you’ll need an external microphone that picks up the voices of in-room attendees for remote participants to hear them
If your TV screen has speakers, they may be enough for in-room participants to hear virtual attendees; but if the speakers are not powerful enough, you may also need external speakers for remote attendees’ voices to be clear
Hybrid office meetings need different type of equipments to run
To sum up, you’ll need a few extra pieces of equipment to enable both sets of meeting participants to see and hear one another. Here’s a quick checklist:
External cameras
Microphones
Speakers
Large screen
Device to relay the meeting
First, you’ll need a main device to host the meeting from the meeting location. A tablet or phone works, but a laptop will be handier to switch slides and connect to different external devices. Of course, keep your phone or tablet as a hybrid meeting backup in case your laptop doesn’t work.
Connect your main device to any extra equipment, such as a screen, external speakers, cameras, and microphones.
Room and staff scheduling technology
If you’re hosting a hybrid meeting with more than three in-person attendees, you’ll probably need to book a meeting room and make sure everyone is at the right location at the right time.
If your hybrid meeting is only with two or three in-person attendees, simply ensuring you have an available desk is probably enough – but you need to make sure you won’t be disturbing other coworkers.
For hybrid offices, desk booking is a must for hosts, especially if you don’t want to be stranded with no desk and no equipment 10 minutes before your meeting starts.
Audio equipment
Since the goal is for everyone to have the same meeting experience – with clear sound and the ability to participate – consider that your remote attendees need to be able to hear everyone in the room, not just the meeting host.
Most conference rooms are equipped with microphones to pick up the voices of everyone in the room. If so, you don’t need additional microphones.
For small- or medium-sized meetings, you could pass around a hand-held microphone or invest in a wireless, omnidirectional microphone-speaker combo like Jabra Speak, placed close to all participants (more on that later).
For a large hybrid meeting, you might need more microphones or devices to make sure everyone can hear and participate.
Video setup
A single laptop webcam will probably not be enough to capture the room and all participants – plus, the image quality is usually not great. So, you’ll probably want to get an external camera or two, or also use a separate laptop connected as a “participant” in the meeting (if so, make sure to mute its microphone!). The goal is to show all in-room attendees and the speaker.
Depending on the meeting and the number of people, you could show multiple angles of the room, along with a close-up view of the presenter(s).
If your budget allows it, you could invest in a 360-degree camera like the Meeting Owl, which has a built-in microphone to capture the voices and faces of everyone in the room. (More about that later).
For in-room participants to clearly see remote attendees and anything that they need to share (presentations, screens, and so on), you’ll need to connect your laptop to a large external monitor like a TV or a projection screen via HDMI.
Collaboration tooling
In hybrid meetings, collaboration tooling simply refers to the digital tools that enable everyone to work together efficiently: Ask questions, add comments, make notes, give feedback, and so on. This helps you ensure everyone can contribute fully and be in sync with others.
Think document collaboration tools, digital whiteboards, chat and instant messaging tools, file sharing, and more.
Now, when you have multiple in-person participants in the same room, it’ll probably be impractical for everyone to use their own laptops to log into each tool; in this case, the meeting host will probably need to open each collaboration tool on their device and use it there.
Hybrid event platform (the big guns)
Now, if you need to host a very large meeting or a webinar, the tech solutions we listed above probably won’t cut it; in this case, you might need to invest into a hybrid event platform. This will typically be an all-in-one solution for hosting large events where some of your participants are joining in remotely, while others are with you in the same conference room.
Those are definitely the big guns of hybrid meetings and in most cases, you won’t need them – but if you do, make sure they have the right features for you, such as deep analytics, attendee tracking, the ability to add your branding, and so on.
Top conference room & staff scheduling technology for hybrid meetings: Officely
Hybrid meetings require solid organizational and planning skills from hosts – but if you have the right tools at hand, everything becomes much easier. First, you should consider apps that enable you to book conference rooms and align staff schedules, and this is exactly where Officely can be super helpful.
With Officely, you can quickly tame the usual hybrid meeting chaos, as it enables you to:
Book desks or meeting rooms directly from Slack or MS Teams
Share meeting information with all attendees (again, in Slack or Teams, without asking them to log into a different tool)
Book equipment
Check team members’ schedules and where everyone is working from to estimate attendance and plan for the right space and tech
Officely makes it easy to organize effective hybrid meetings and see where everyone will be joining from
Usually, meeting hosts or office managers are in charge of all that – or they might need to work together to plan the meeting. Officely syncs all data in real time, so collaboration is very easy.
And, if you want to know more about office management in flexible workspaces, check out Officely’s New Office Management Handbook, which will help you create a hybrid office where everyone can thrive and do their best work – including during hybrid meetings.
Try Officely Today
See who's in the office, organize socials and events, and increase your office attendance all within Slack.
Whenever you have more than two in-person attendees to a hybrid meeting, you’ll need to make sure remote participants can see and hear them clearly. Meeting Owl is a handy little piece of tech that helps you do just that. It’s a smart 360-degree conference camera, speaker, and microphone system designed specifically for hybrid meetings that captures the entire room and all participants.
It automatically focuses on speakers by zooming in, and shifts the focus whenever someone else is speaking. This helps remote participants follow the conversation easily, without struggling to figure out who’s talking or see them clearly. The device’s microphone is built to pick up voices from the entire meeting space, even if some team members speak softly or are far from the device.
And it’s compatible with popular video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet, so you can simply plug it in and get going, as you use other familiar software tools.
For smaller rooms, you could also use Jabra PanaCast; for mid-sized meetings, Poly Studio X Series is a great alternative (none of them have the 360° capabilities of Meeting Owl, though).
Leading collaboration tool: Slack
Slack is a great choice for collaboration during meetings, as it’ll help teams prepare, set clear expectations, share agendas, docs, and meeting notes, and follow up.
This helps make each call more to-the-point; because, let’s face it, nobody likes being stuck in endless Zoom calls with no clear agenda or goals.
During hybrid meetings, Slack channels serve as a live backchannel for participants to share quick updates or post questions without interrupting the speaker – and you can also use built-in polls to make decisions together in real time.
If your team is not already on Slack but, say, on Microsoft Teams, then Teams is the obvious choice.
Top choice for audio equipment: Jabra Speak
If crisp audio is a top priority for you, the Jabra Speak series is a great choice. Models you should consider are Jabra Speak 750, 510, or 710.
All the Jabra portable speakerphones have excellent audio and are super easy to use. They’re best for small to medium-sized meeting rooms and can capture voice from all directions, even if attendees are speaking quietly. All those devices are compact and wireless; you can connect them to your setup via Bluetooth or USB.
The Jabra Speak 750 has full duplex audio, allowing participants to speak and hear at the same time, which helps have a more natural conversation. (After years of remote meetings, at last you can get a tool that has this feature!).
The best hybrid event platform overall: Bizzabo
If you need to organize large hybrid events, Bizzabo is a great option. It offers customization, data analytics, and branding to help you set up everything and track performance.
With it, you can add your branding at all attendee touch points, such as registration pages, email marketing, landing pages, and the event itself. You can track attendance for both in-person and online participants easily, and also use interactive features like chat, polls, and Q&A to make sure everyone can participate.
The platform supports live, pre-recorded, and on-demand video, too, which means you can stay very flexible with the actual delivery of your content.
However, it might not be the best fit if you need it for a single hybrid conference or a few webinars. Pricing starts at $499/month/user, for a minimum of 3 users, making it quite pricey for occasional users.
Why it's critical to run a successful hybrid meeting
Hybrid meetings are critical for any flexible workplace. If your team isn’t always in the office, you need to make sure people can collaborate with each other efficiently at all times, regardless of location – and that they have the right hybrid work tools.
When hybrid meetings are poorly planned, scheduled, and executed, they can quickly become chaotic and drain everyone’s time and energy. And we all know how easy it is to tune out during meetings that are not well organized or without clear goals… Or simply “forget” to show up.
So, to make sure your meetings actually serve their purpose and are engaging and meaningful for everyone, you need to ensure that you’re able to execute them well. This means:
Communicating with everyone in advance on each meeting’s objectives and agenda
Only inviting people who need to be there – and who are able to contribute
The last two points are essential for any meeting, but even more so in hybrid environments where building a solid hybrid culture can be a challenge. Meetings are the perfect opportunity to improve and maintain employees’ engagement and strengthen your office culture, so if you miss it, you’ll be missing out on a lot of things that go beyond the immediate goals of each call.
5 best practices for hosting hybrid meetings
Once you’ve nailed the tech, you can focus on improving participation. That requires more than just planning.
You’ll need to proactively encourage all participants to speak up – those who are in the same room with you and those who are joining remotely. If you've introduced your team to new software for your meetings, you'll also need to make sure you provide adequate training or have a step-by-step plan in place.
But first and foremost, you’ll need to go back to the basics.
1. Establish meeting rules
Hybrid or not, all meetings need to follow some ground rules so participants can get more value out of them and be able to participate freely.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the basic rules for any hybrid meeting:
Create an agenda: Send it to everyone before the meeting, so attendees come prepared
Stick to your start and end time: This shows respect for everyone involved
Invite the right people: If someone thinks the meeting is unimportant for them, let them decline
Limit speaking time: Assign a time limit to each item on the agenda, including questions
Explain the setup to in-room attendees in advance: They should know where the camera and the microphone are, so they know where to look and how to speak when they want to
2. Assign facilitators or in-room buddies
While most meetings have a host (like a team manager or team leader), hybrid meetings need more than that; they need a facilitator. A facilitator acts as a moderator, keeping an eye on comments from remote participants, relaying feedback, and making sure everyone sticks to the meeting’s agenda.
Facilitators don’t just read typed comments; they also watch out for other cues like someone raising their hand or unmuting themselves. For small meetings, facilitators may also double up as meeting hosts. For a large meeting, you might need a facilitator and a host or two facilitators to make sure all participants can, well, participate.
An in-room buddy for remote attendees can help them voice concerns they’re not comfortable sharing out loud, or simply ensure they get enough opportunities to speak.
3. Use interactive tools
If your hybrid meeting includes activities like polling or brainstorming, use interactive, cloud-based tools.
Miro is one of the tools that teams use to improve interaction during hybrid meetings
A virtual whiteboarding tool like Miro for brainstorming
Document collaboration apps like Google Docs, where you share links with everyone instead of simply putting them on the main screen, so everyone can read them better and add comments and suggestions
4. Go Remote-first for questions and comments
In-room attendees are at an advantage in a hybrid meeting: They’re actually present in the meeting room. The only way to level the playing field for remote attendees is to give them an added advantage, too: Go to remote employees first for Q&A sessions.
Ask remote employees for their opinions or comments before switching topics. Allow remote participants to lead meetings occasionally. Finally, pay extra attention to feedback from remote employees. Do they feel they get a chance to participate fully in all meetings? Is audio and video clear? Do they have additional suggestions or comments?
5. Test your setup
Before your first hybrid meeting (or before particularly important hybrid events), schedule a 10-minute dry run to make sure your equipment works fine, iron out any hardware or software issues, and make sure both sets of participants can see and hear each other well.
Your first meeting may not be perfect, and that’s okay. After the meeting, ask in-person and remote attendees for feedback on how to improve future meetings.
Preparation is core to a good hybrid meeting experience
Hybrid meetings don’t have to be complicated – especially now that you know how to organize them efficiently. However, they require more preparation and planning to get right than your standard in-person or remote meeting.
That preparation comes in the form of using the best tools for the job, including the right workspace management software (like Officely) to plan where and when your meetings will take place, who’ll be able to participate in person, and ensure you have the right equipment at hand.
For more ideas on how to better organize hybrid workspaces and meetings, check out our Guide to office management in flexible workspaces, an eBook we’ve created to help office managers better tackle the challenges of hybrid work.
And, if you’re ready to provide your team with a better and simpler way to book meeting rooms, desks, and equipment in a hybrid office, book a demo to see how Officely can help with all that – and more!
Try Officely Today
See who's in the office, organize socials and events, and increase your office attendance all within Slack.
Max is one of the cofounders and CEO of Officely, a flexible work enablement platform. He has helped thousands of businesses not only transition to flexible work but instil it at the core of their culture and brand.
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