Better in 30: Facilitating Successful Hybrid Meetings

Navigate the complexities of hybrid meetings by designing for two experiences—roomies and zoomies. Ensure inclusive participation, clear communication, and engagement across in-person and online interactions.

Identify and meet the meeting objectives, finish in the minimum time, and ensure participants are satisfied by fully contributing and benefiting from the discussion, whether in person, virtual, or hybrid.

Explore five biases that can impact hybrid meeting outcomes, including proximity, expedience, closeness communication, bikeshedding, and confirmation bias, and learn practical mitigation strategies.

Prevent and manage technology challenges in hybrid meetings by checking audio and video continuously, avoiding distracting slides, and coordinating in-room plus online support to prevent doing it alone.

Plan hybrid meetings in advance by crowdsourcing agenda items, assigning an in-room and an online advocate, and ensuring clear, concise written instructions and a tech run-through.

Facilitate an engaging hybrid meeting environment by using inclusive check-ins, round-robin sharing, polls, small groups, and a parking lot to deliver takeaways that connect in-person and remote participants to work.

Ensure post-meeting alignment and accountability by reviewing accomplishments, evaluating whether objectives were met, and defining actions; send a clarifying email, then plan the next meeting's purpose, objectives, agenda, and attendees.

Review the wrap-up and next steps, answer reflection questions, and commit to two to three improvements with a plan to measure success in your next meeting.

Identify productive reasons to hold a meeting, such as boosting participation and creating a common understanding, and avoid meetings for quick decisions, crises, emotions, or rubber-stamping.