Why Your Team Still Hates Hybrid Meetings
Sure, hybrid meetings sounded like a good idea, well, until half the team couldn’t hear a word, someone spent five minutes trying to unmute themselves, and the big client presentation looked like it was recorded on a toaster.
Like, so many businesses just don’t seem to understand why their business is getting all bogged down, but yeah, this is a major reason as to why (seriously, it actually is).
Actually, most setups were thrown together when remote work became the norm. And let’s be honest, some of them still look and sound like they’re being held together with duct tape and crossed fingers. Okay, maybe that’s a tad embellishment, but you get the idea.
For the most part, Slack, Zoom, and Teams are seriously not the problem here. Rather, it’s just that set up, and yeah, it’s probably time for some changes with that set-up too (ideally a glow up).
The Remote Team Shouldn’t Get Left Behind
Yep, this is the one that really needs to be the first point. Alright, so, there’s always that awkward silence when someone remote says something and the in-room crew doesn’t quite catch it. Then there’s the lag, the crosstalk, and that one poor soul who’s frozen mid-sentence. Bluntly put it; if the tech’s not pulling its weight, it doesn’t matter how great the agenda is. You’ll lose people before the meeting even gets going. Hybrid working should feel like one fluid conversation, not a patchy international phone call from the past.
Sound is Seriously Everything
People can live with an average video, like it’s not a big deal or anything. But bad audio, though? Well, that’s a fast track to tuning out. No, seriously, it absolutely is. When a mic picks up every rustle of paper but somehow none of the actual talking, it turns a normal catch-up into a guessing game. So, yeah, you really don’t want any of the tech to “steal the show”. But a hybrid space should just work.
Meaning that there should be no fiddling, no “can you hear me now?”, no tangled cables making a break for it across the floor. If you haven’t already, then it’s probably time to just go ahead and look into AV companies to help you out with all of this. The last thing you want is employees, and quite possibly clients, getting upset over a bad connection in meetings, so yeah, it’s best to make that investment soon.
Look Good, Feel Good, Work Better
It’s hard to feel sharp when you’re squinting into a grainy webcam or hunching over a tiny screen. But comfort isn’t some fluffy extra; it actually helps people focus. Get the lighting right, raise the camera to eye level, and make sure the screen’s big enough to read from across the room. But overall, little tweaks can make meetings feel less like a chore and more like, well, a meeting.
It’s Not Just for Team Calls
Circling back to what was briefly mentioned earlier, but hybrid work means a lot more than Monday morning check-ins. There are client calls, training sessions, onboarding, webinars, and the occasional last-minute pitch that needs to go off without a hitch. But a proper setup handles it all, so there’s no awkward reshuffles, no unplugging the coffee machine to make room for a second monitor. It’s flexible, fast, and doesn’t freak out when it needs to multitask.
