Hybrid meetings are becoming increasingly popular as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes but there are challenges to holding them effectively .
Hybrid meetings are becoming increasingly popular as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes but there are challenges to holding them effectively that are different to holding purely online meetings , as well as some that are the same . These challenges are not all overed by existing guidance and so the Faculty User and Carer Liaison Group developed the guidance shared in this report to help those in the Faculty who are involved in organising and attending hybrid meetings .
These recommendations have been mapped to the UK Standards for Public Involvement and are summarised in section 4 as a checklist .
The recommendations checklist covers preparing for hybrid meetings , chairing hybrid meetings , hybrid meeting etiquette , and debriefing after hybrid meetings .
Key points are the need to test the audio-visual set-up before meetings , ensure everyone can use it and that the meeting room configuration suits hybrid meetings . Pre-meetings and debriefing meetings for public contributors are also recommended .
Chairs of hybrid meetings have a critical role to play in ensuring that online and physically present attendees have equal opportunity to contribute , and chairs should recognise that this requires continual effort throughout the meeting to achieve .
The recommendations introduce the ‘ 4AM code ’ as a hybrid meeting etiquette for the Chair to explain at the start and maintain throughout : Agree a way for attendees to show that they want to speak ; Adopt an ‘ online first ’ approach , e . g ., invite online attendees to respond first ; Allow people to finish what they are saying to avoid people talking over each other ; Avoid side conversations ; and Mute microphones when not speaking .
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