Tips for hybrid events

• A slower pace is key to facilitate interactions between different spaces and experiences. It gives time to all participants to follow one another, and to moderators/facilitators to monitor the two spaces and troubleshoot if there are issues.
• You need to design the content, goals and timing for the slower of the two spaces, the online one.
• Prepare and copy on a flip-chart and an online pad/presentation written instructions for exercises in plenary or groups, questions to be answered, and in general anything that participants need to focus on and have access to beforehand for their effective engagement.
• Prepare group lists to facilitate rotation and interactions among participants.
• Remember that while it is easy to improvise on-site in response to body language and unforeseen situations, online participants will not be part of this interaction. Facilitators need to bridge this experience.
• Keep in mind that continual adjustment of content and pace might be needed if additional needs are identified once the meeting is in process.

When only the speaker/s is/are remote:

• Create a welcoming space for the remote speaker to help them feel like part of the conversation. 
• Have them be joined online by the remote moderator and two or three other participants. They can be people from the team or volunteers. Have them on video side by side with other people, not just the presentation. Explain to other participants why it matters.
• Give them a close-up view of the room so they can gain a sense of the space that on-site participants are sharing. 
• The facilitators and remote moderator can plan an opening and a closing activity to get on-site participants to use their bodies. Listening to someone on a TV screen is tiring and after 10 or 15 minutes, people will lose focus or interest. Think of interactive formats where participants have roles to play, such as a radio show: they can be interviewed or play promotional spots or sing. Fun brings back interest. Announce this activity the day before to create excitement in the room.
• Inform remote participants that they can choose which cameras to see, depending on the tool in use.