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advantage of getting more immediate attention approaches and learn through feedback. When I
since they can physically walk around the room. did a ropes course a long time ago, the instructor
The Toastmaster (in person or on the screen) never said we failed, it was always good learning.
will have to carefully facilitate and respect both As you’re learning it will be frustrating and
environments with grace and patience. annoying at times, but if everyone does their
best to resolve issues, minor hiccups won’t stop
Technology - For a hybrid meeting to be the entire meeting.
successful, the technology must work. The
experience is significantly better with multiple Evaluate - After you refine your process
cameras and well thought out audio equipment. and complete several meetings then it’s time
This adequately captures the sights and sounds to evaluate. Survey your Club members and
of all the speakers so everyone can see and see how they feel about the new hybrid format.
hear them. This is especially true if you have a Is it working for them, do they feel engaged,
speaker in-person and their evaluator is online. overwhelmed, or not so bad? If you find it doesn’t
The in-person speaker will have to ensure they work for your group right now, you could go back
aren’t so focused on their in-person audience that to meeting online or even switch to in-person
they appear to ignore their online audience or again. It really depends on what is going to work
vice versa. It’s two audiences, and two viewing the best for your Club members. The goal is to
options that are melding together. ultimately make the experience engaging and
fun, not frustrating.
Hybrid Hiccups - Expect that something Hybrid meetings are the design option for
won’t work perfectly and that’s OKAY. You’re creating the best of both worlds. It will take
not doing a televised broadcast for millions of teamwork, patience, technology, evaluation,
people. It’s one meeting of several. And just like and navigating the hiccups to go from making
everything else in Toastmasters, you try new it work, to creating a new meeting
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