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the main in-room presentation(any additional screens at the meeting)presenters who are sharing content
Hybrid Meetings
Conferencing is good for cutting down on travel, seeing name tags, making transcripts, sharing presentations, and asking questions at any time. However, it's not so good for building deeper connections, understanding body language, and having personal interactions.
Hybrid meetings can bridge the gap between virtual and in-person meetings.
Audio is paramount
The single most important factor, that will make or break the success of a hybrid meeting, is audio. Video is secondary. If the audio quality is poor, remote participants will not be able to follow or contribute to the meeting.
Make sure there's only one sound source. Everyone in the main room should use a microphone. This makes their voices come clearly from one loudspeaker. The video conference system should then use this loudspeaker to feed its input. Ideally, place a microphone directly in front of the loudspeaker to capture everything without any background noise. This makes it easier for remote attendees to follow the meeting. If you don’t have a separate microphone place your laptop close to the loudspeaker so that it drowns out other noises.
Wireless microphones can be used so attendees remain seated and a microphone is brought to them, but if that’s not possible then attendees should approach a fixed microphone in order to speak. Local attendees need to be informed they should only speak when/if they have a microphone — this fits well with Roberts Rules of Order, only speaking when acknowledged by the chair of the meeting.
In every hybrid meeting, someone will say they don't need a microphone because they can speak loudly. However, they don't realize that people joining online won't be able to hear a word they say without a microphone.
WiFi
Make sure your venue has adequate WiFi coverage, or bring your own hotspot (you may be able to use a 5G smartphone).
Conferencing
If available, multiple clients can join the conference to provide different views of the meeting e.g. showing both featured speakers as well as the attendees.
Ideally, separate laptops can be used for:
Here is an example setup with multiple laptops and iPhones used as cameras in the meeting room.
Cameras
If you have any old smartphones, Apple or Android, use these as additional cameras. They can join the conference on WiFi, and you can Spotlight or select them to be shown to all attendees.
Smartphones can also make good microphones as they often have noise canceling features built in.
Equipment suggestions
Cable from Shure SM48 to laptop running video conference, and for connecting audio out to the PA system: USB C to 3.5mm Headphone & XLR Microphone -
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