Woman having online business conference or video call staff meeting. Young black lady sitting at office desk with computer talking to team of coworkers who work from home or have hybrid work schedule
Around the world, businesses are calling on employees to return to the office, often citing dissatisfaction with hybrid meetings as a vehicle for team communication. This is understandable considering that employees have reported virtual and hybrid meetings as the place where they tune out the most at work. Despite this, professionals still point to flexible work locations as a high priority. Corporate teams will also need to continue carrying out hybrid meetings to connect with other company offices, as well as external stakeholders including investors, partners, and customers.
Hybrid meetings have become a business critical mode of communication, so throwing in the towel on their effectiveness is not an option. Instead, corporate teams need to learn how to design meetings that use the hybrid format to their advantage. With these three strategies, professionals can create hybrid meetings that are even more engaging and productive than traditional meetings held around a conference table.
Transform passive observers into active participants
It shouldn’t be a surprise that one of the best ways to encourage active listening is to invite active participation. When meeting attendees know they have a purpose and stake in the experience, they know it’s worth dedicating their full attention. Meeting hosts can accomplish this by weaving in moments for interactivity—such as pulse checks, brainstorms, or feedback sessions—throughout the agenda. This can also help team leaders take the temperature of the meeting and gauge participants’ engagement, rather than simply hoping for the best.
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Ana-Gabriela Aguilar, Technology Learning Portfolio Lead at Capgemini, spoke to this challenge of delivering training in virtual and hybrid meetings: “Upskilling and reskilling in a virtual space is a world away from doing it in person. For example, how can you be sure that people are paying attention and not checking their phones and emails? So we knew we needed to create more ways to interact with them as participants.”
Power engagement through friendly competition
Nearly half of employees who deliver presentations at work say they struggle to keep their audience engaged, making it the top presentation challenge. Interactivity can be a powerful tool to reverse this trend, however, and one of the most popular and effective ways to make meetings interactive is with friendly competition. This can also make interactive moments more successful by giving participants a clear objective and way to engage, as opposed to simply opening the floor for comments and questions.
For example, Krissy Preble, Marketing Manager at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices N.E. Prime Properties, spoke about the challenge of using breakout groups for their annual company event: “You don’t always get as high of a level of participation as you might like. Sometimes people take advantage and leave.” After adopting an engagement strategy using friendly competition, “...people were excited. The music and the game amps up, it’s a game, people feel that vibe and want to be part of it.” Marisa Doria, Associate Planner of Meetings, Events, & Tradeshows at Teleflex, echoed this: “The audience knows that a chance for points or a prize is coming, so they pay more attention to the content outlined in the session.”
Leverage technology to create immersive meeting experiences
For many hybrid meeting hosts, technology is a minefield of potential distractions for participants. Research shows there is indeed cause to be concerned about this, with 55% of employees reporting that they check their emails during virtual meetings. However, if technology can be engaging enough to distract participants from a meeting, then it can also be used to hold participants’ attention within a meeting.
By using digital tools designed to captivate and involve all participants, meeting hosts can harness the power of technology and take advantage of what’s possible in a virtual environment. For example, some business teams are experimenting with virtual or augmented reality, challenging employees to quizzes, or simply creating space to contribute thoughts and ideas in a low-pressure—or even anonymous—context.
As Krissy Preble said, “Typically, people have side conversations, get distracted and look at their phones.” By engaging employees digitally, she continued, “...their phones are tied up because they’re answering the questions and paying attention to what’s going on – but really, it creates an immersive experience.”
With thoughtful design, technology can help shape hybrid meetings into collaborative, engaging, and productive experiences. Marisa Doria concluded, “Hopefully, as we move forward, we can find a happy medium with hybrid events, but I don’t see virtual or online meetings going away anytime soon. We need to partner with technology to make virtual experiences as human and interactive as possible.”
Hybrid meetings will continue to be vital in connecting distributed workforces and bringing stakeholders together. By tailoring meetings for hybrid environments, corporate teams can discover new ways to communicate, share knowledge, and collaborate with each other in any setting—not only improving meetings, but building a stronger foundation for workforce success.
Sean D’Arcy is Chief Solutions Officer at global learning and engagement platform company Kahoot!
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