Hey Teamwork Lab community!
In my corporate world, everyone seems much more inclined to meet in-person, though we still need to involve others across Asia Pacific. It often creates the situation where the majority will be in a room, with a handful of others in different offices joining virtually.
Frequent challenges with this format tend to be:
- The Laptop Barrier: When everyone (both in-person and remote) has their laptop open, engagement tends to drop. It's easy for participants to get distracted by emails or other work, disconnecting from the workshop itself.
- Participation Imbalance: Our in-person attendees often dominate discussions and activities, while virtual participants struggle to contribute equally. This can create an uneven experience and limits the diversity of input we receive.
An example of when I felt a hybrid workshop went really well was a client workshop when we had three rooms from three different countries. For the ideation parts, we had the client 'pair up' with one of our employees and which help in a few ways:
- Client didn't have to be onboarded and 'learn' the virtual whiteboard tool.
- Kept both the employee and client engaged in the activity, rather than checking mail in the background.
- Helped our employees build better rapport with the client, through forcing discussion and teamwork on the problems.
To kick off the discussion, I'm keen to hear from the community:
- What's been your most successful strategy for ensuring equal participation from both in-person and remote attendees in hybrid workshops?
- Have you discovered any unique or creative activities that work particularly well in a hybrid setting?
