How can I design and run engaging and productive ‘hybrid’ events (where some participants are co-located, and others are joining remotely via phone or video conference)?

Hybrid gatherings have been happening for years, from the team meeting where we arrive and hear that ‘Mary is going to dial in’, to a company wide ‘all hands’ meeting where national teams convene in conference rooms around the globe. Many organisations are starting to plan for hybrid gatherings in anticipation of at least partial lifting of lockdown.


This 2 hour, highly interactive masterclass will examine the facilitation challenges and opportunities posed by ‘hybrid’ events. Taking the view that hybrid events pose two fundamental challenges – ‘coherence’ and ‘connection’ – we will explore ways of maximising these two dimensions.


By treating a hybrid event as effectively three events comprising: the people co-located in a physical space or spaces (the ‘Roomies’), the ‘remote’ people who are joining by phone or virtual meeting platform (the Zoomies), and the meeting where you as facilitator are trying to link all of these participants together, we will identify a range of tips, tools and techniques for optimising hybrid events.


Because each hybrid event is uniquely challenging and complex, we will examine a series of case studies to see how participants can be ‘stitched into’ a unifying and productive shared experience. We have worked with extremely low technology solutions and therefore the emphasis in this masterclass will be on facilitation, rather than technology challenges.


This session is primarily aimed at experienced facilitators, though it will provide actionable insights for anyone involved in commissioning, designing, delivering or producing a hybrid event.

Our Trainers

For this course we are pleased to be working in partnership with Orla Cronin, who has designed of this course and brings extensive online knowledge and experience. See here for her profile.

See also Lead Trainer Orla Cronin’s blogs on this topic:

Design Principles for Humane Hybrid Events

and her Case Study: Facilitating “hybrid” offline/online events

Please visit our course schedule to see the next dates for this workshop.