Note: If you are a Toastmaster trying to move your club to hybrid mode of operation, please move on to the topic 'Setting up a hybrid meeting..'.
What is Toastmasters:
It is a non profit organization that helps its members to improve their communication and leadership skills with a practical approach. These clubs are spread across the world. The members give speeches and participate in various contests (international) to improve their communication skills. They are given opportunities to host various events and take up roles to improve their leadership skills.
What is a Hybrid Meeting?
While the meetings used to be conducted in a meeting hall before the pandemic, we moved to zoom and other online platforms later on. Many of the clubs are operating in the online mode now. However, we are slowly in the process of moving to the offline meetings which are more exciting and in no way comparable to the online ones. The butterflies in one's stomach, just a minute before he/she steps onto the stage is a feeling that needs to be experienced and is unexplainable in words.
Hybrid meetings allow the members to participate either online or offline according to their preference. Many clubs hesitate to move to the hybrid mode, fearing the infrastructure, man power and technology required for setting up a Hybrid meeting. I was one among them until I decided to jump into it and get into action.
Setting up a Hybrid Meeting with Minimal Resources
A hybrid meeting can be set up with sophisticated arrangements for a better experience online and offline. But this article aims at explaining the basic setup required with minimal resources so that this might encourage the clubs hesitating to move to hybrid mode of operation.
All we need is the following:
1. Projector
2. Laptop
3. Microphone
4. Meeting hall
5. Bunch of enthusiastic members and excom team online and offline
Offline Speaker in action
Online educational session
TT Master - online
Group picture of the offline members
Preparation
1. It is very important to make sure we have enough man power before going for hybrid mode. It is good to have 2 excom members online and 2 offline to facilitate the meeting.
2. Coming to the venue an hour or atleast 30 minutes before the meeting, would be of great help. Opening the online meeting room and checking on the availability of the role players before 30 minutes will ensure that the meeting starts on time.
3. Make sure to invite and greet the guests online and offline as they come in.
4. Place a microphone near the laptop and connect to the online meeting (eg. Zoom). The mic has to be adjusted by the offline speakers between pointing to the laptop and pointing to them while speaking. With a powerful mic, they can move around the stage and speak as well.
5. Connect the laptop to the projector and position the laptop to capture the stage (You can also use a webcam if you have, for easy movement). This will allow the offline audience to watch the online speakers and role players on the big screen.
6. The Zoom master's role is crucial here. The zoom master should spot light the online and offline speakers meticulously throughout the meeting. This is the most important step in a hybrid setup to offer a good meeting experience to the members.
7. The SAA can offer a Google form to the online and offline members for electing the best speakers and role players for the day. Consolidating the online and offline results is tedious. So Google forms work well in hybrid mode.
8. Inform the offline speakers to watch the laptop for the display of timer cards.
9. If the timer is present offline, make sure he/she has a laptop to show the cards online for the benefit of the online speakers.
Benefits
While the hybrid mode has many challenges, it is definitely worth giving a shot. As a president, I was hesitant to start this due to many reasons including the fact that I had to travel 30 kms to reach the club from my house with 2 young kids and an exhaustive 5 days of work. But with lots of passion and support from my beloved VPE it was possible. The first meeting obviously did not go well, but we continued to brainstorm and made improvements in the process, which improved the quality of our hybrid meetings day by day. As we gained experience we also gained confidence in conducting the hybrid meetings.
It is definitely true that there will be more guest conversions compared to online mode. I have heard a lot of guests who had worked online for the last 2 years, badly wanting to network with people offline. Many guests would prefer the hybrid clubs over the online ones. And the most important factor is the butterflies in your stomach that may not be experienced online.
Get into Action
After putting all these thoughts to paper, I would be delighted if atleast one club gets inspired and moves to hybrid mode after reading this post.
One of our hybrid meetings on YouTube:-
Do comment below and reach out to me for queries, your hybrid mode experiences, learnings and suggestions.
Kavitha (Current President of Madras Toastmasters Club) kavitha.anbarasu@gmail.com
Online and offline members
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