Throughout the pandemic, many key workers have still been travelling to their places of work. However, a large proportion of the workforce worked from home and have only recently started to venture to work.

Many people have taken up hybrid working, for example, going to an office two days a week and working from home on other days.
This poses a challenge when holding meetings, as some people will want to join remotely, while others will attend in person.

Holding hybrid meetings is a challenge those. Here are some tips that can help.

1. Help ensure all attendees have a consistent experience by making sure the remote audience get a chance to speak. For example, call out each online participant at the start of the meeting.
    
2. Explain at the start of the meeting how questions and comments can be raised. Encourage remote participants to use facilities such as chat and the ‘hand-up’ button to help engage with the meeting.
    
3. Avoid using in-room equipment, such as whiteboards or flip charts, that are difficult for remote participants to see. If possible, use digital tools such as PowerPoint or online whiteboards that everyone can access.
    
4. Be conscious that conversations held pre and post meeting exclude remote participants, so ensure business is kept to the formal meeting.
    
5. Try to avoid in-person attendees from dominating the conversations. Allowing some silence will encourage the remote audience to speak.
    
6. Keep an eye out for subtle signals that indicate a member of the online audience wants to contribute. For example, people often ‘unmute’ when they want to speak up.
    
7. If you plan to record a meeting, ensure that everyone has agreed before hand and be clear what will happen to the recording afterwards. This is very important for Data Protection and legal implications, especially for union meetings.
    
8. Consider digital accessibility when running meetings. For example, do captions need to be turned on? Ensuring that people speak facing the camera can help users with hearing impairments. Checking for accessibility needs before a meeting can help plan for requirements.