A Guide to Activities for Hybrid Sessions

Seventy percent of facilitators said they ran hybrid sessions in 2023, according to SessionLab's State of Facilitation 2024 report. Yet Myriam Hadnes, a "facilitation evangelist" mentioned in the report, sums up the frustration many facilitators have with hybrid sessions: "From my experience, hybrid sessions, though increasingly common ... often remain a last-minute solution rather than a deliberate choice."

Facilitators of hybrid training events have a lofty task to make the gatherings smooth, and it almost always takes more time than arranging a face-to-face or a virtual-only session. In addition to the technology, activities and interactions will make or break a hybrid event.

When arranging interactive, skill-building hybrid activities, keep in mind an ongoing attitude: Hybrid events should not favor face-to-face learners over virtual learners or vice versa. If virtual learners are simply observers, not participants, why waste your time with a live connection and all that technology? Just send them a recording.

Experienced facilitators know that preparing interactive training events takes more time than facilitating the event. With hybrid formats, it's often like preparing for two programs at the same time, so plan ahead and plan carefully to create and conduct effective participant-focused activities for hybrid training events.

When hybrid sessions are live, you are on double duty if you're interacting with all participants. Of course, assistants, such as co-facilitators and producers, can help balance attention and activities. However, you will still need to pay attention to your assistants (and note that it will take time to onboard and prepare them). No matter how many hands are on deck, these facilitation techniques can help steer hybrid programs.

Create, find, or adapt activities

In 2020, there was a boom of physical activities that L&D teams adapted for virtual environments. A common thought was that if it works in face-to-face sessions, there's likely a way to make it accessible in virtual sessions—and that is correct. The good news about identifying hybrid activities is if an activity works virtually, the technology solutions to make it happen for a hybrid course probably exist. The bad news is there may need to be two formats for a single activity to make it accessible to both face-to-face and virtual participants.

For experienced facilitators who have activities they've run in person or remotely, adapting tried-and-true activities for hybrid formats may be the path of least resistance. The instructions, goals, and expected outcomes are already familiar. Further, creating new activities from scratch may be easier than finding existing activities in face-to-face or virtual formats because you can shape them to fit hybrid sessions from the start.

The root of any activity, whether simply discussion based or involving more complex steps of interactions, is that it leads participants to learning something new. It may be helpful for you to forget about the complexity of hybrid arrangements when beginning to create or adapt exercises. If it can work for in-room learners, you can usually make it work for online learners too.

Plan for group sizes and formats

Once you have identified a suitable activity, map it out for an inclusive hybrid experience. These questions will help guide the next steps:

• How many total participants will attend?

• What's the breakdown of in-person and virtual learners?

• What if the numbers change or people decide to join in a different method (for example, a face-to-face participant joins from home at the last minute)?

• What group sizes does the activity need? (The entire roster? A few large groups? Many small groups?)

• How will participants report or debrief their results? (As the entire roster for shared facilitator feedback? In smaller groups to exchange ideas privately?)

• Should activity groups mix face-to-face participants with virtual participants, or can face-to-face learners work together while virtual learners work together?

Decide on separated or mixed activity groups

When conducting group activities, it's easy to see why separated activity groups (that is to say, not mixing face-to-face with virtual participants) are simpler to manage, with fewer chances for technological troubles.

Separated groups are less complicated to arrange. Five in-room attendees can assemble relatively quickly at a table while the facilitator places five online attendees in a virtual breakout room.

Having separated groups may make it easier for participants to focus. The reason is because they are all communicating in the same medium. Face-to-face participants won't get frustrated with (often) slower virtual communication channels or exclude virtual members.

Mixed activity groups will likely involve virtual breakout rooms. How and where will face-to-face participants join the virtual platforms? When multiple in-room devices are connected to different rooms or platforms, audio interference can derail whole groups and entire sessions. Having access to other rooms and distant spaces can add logistical efforts.

Despite the complexity of creating mixed activity groups, there are a few reasons they may be worth the effort. First, working together across locations builds necessary team rapport and trust. Team members may be cross-functional or cross-regional, and hybrid events are a chance to have people get to know one another outside of emails or written message threads.

Second, participants across locations may need to solve problems or innovate new ideas together. Different backgrounds in different markets can spark new and insightful ideas. Underrepresented or less-vocal employees may make more impact in small-group discussions, which leads to more inclusivity.

Third, some business goals may require specific employees, leaders, teams, departments, or branches to work together. The issue is no longer where someone is located; it's who needs to collaborate.

Plan physical materials

Consider what physical materials you will need to run and debrief the activity. For example, you may need specific physical materials to give instructions and demonstrations, record ideas, and debrief the whole class.

Imagine both face-to-face and virtual participants following facilitator instructions. If you've written content on a physical whiteboard, is the whiteboard big enough and close enough for a camera to see? Is there a glare from the room lights that obscure some areas? Are the dry erase markers visible and legible through video? Those seemingly small or easy-to-overlook details can derail an activity as well as a session's fluidity.

A common suggestion is to write on a virtual whiteboard that everyone can see. That's a great idea as long as all the in-room learners can clearly see the virtual whiteboard. Will you need one or more large screens in the room? Will people in the room need access to the virtual whiteboard, not just for viewing, but for participating? If so, there's physical technology to consider. How can you ensure all the face-to-face participants have technology available?

That leads to more material considerations: What will participants need to bring? Hybrid engagements may require face-to-face participants to have technology needs, both hardware and software. Further, hybrid activities may require virtual participants to have physical objects that require advanced notice to purchase supplies or receive shipments.

Plan technology, software, and apps

If an activity is virtual ready, it's likely adaptable to hybrid formats. Ensure that all participants, including the face-to-face learners, have access to the required technology, software, and applications. In many cases, a software solution will apply to both face-to-face and virtual participants.

For instance, accessing QR codes is quick and familiar, and learners can scan them with their smartphones to lead them to a set of instructions, surveys, virtual whiteboards, and app links. In other cases, solutions will only apply to virtual attendees, such as virtual whiteboards, while in-room attendees access analog materials, such as paper and pens.

Create two or more sets of instructions plus backup plans

Remember that one goal of hybrid activities is for them to offer learners similar chances to participate, not the exact same chance to participate. Varied groups may join a hybrid session differently and complete activities in various ways. Instructions may differ. Face-to-face groups may create group plans on large physical flipcharts. Virtual groups may create plans on a virtual whiteboard and need links or QR codes. While the activity goals may be the same, the specific step-by-step instructions may need to be distinct. "Go to a breakout room" may not give virtual participants specifics on who joins which room. Those small details make big impacts.

Given the nature of hybrid complexities such as technology issues and last-minute participant location changes, backup plans are crucial for hybrid readiness. Despite your planning and testing, technology sometimes fails. Content and sets of instructions sometimes require longer-than-expected timing.

Consider worst-case scenarios and make plans for participants who can't access activities. What can those learners do to make some sort of progress? For example, they could work alone instead of in a group; do personal planning on paper instead of accessing an app or website; or watch a sourced video about the topic during or after the session if they can't communicate in small groups with others. In short, if a participant doesn't have something to do, they will find something to do—and it will likely be outside the scope of the hybrid session if you don't have a backup plan.

Promote pre-session engagement

Tasks that participants complete asynchronously can enhance time for synchronous collaborations—and pre-session activities are crucial for hybrid arrangements, especially for technology checks and materials preparation. Consider asking every participant to submit ideas related to the session content and topics, such as their opinions, experiences, or thoughts to pre-session readings. You can invite them to send a personal video or audio file capturing ideas and answers to pre-session content that gets them to use their personal technology to ensure they're ready for the future live session. Participants should also test apps for function and familiarity.

All that preparation creates an engaging atmosphere by both contributing to pre-session activities and seeing, hearing, or reading other participants' contributions. Although face-to-face participants may not use a personal device in the planned hybrid course, having them access the same technology may help create expectations for working with virtual attendees and support the ongoing goal of egalitarianism.

Create codes of communication

Building toward equality and shared expectations, consider creating specific codes of conduct for participants. Doing so can alleviate communication obstacles due to technology or help you balance a large number of people in different locations. Guidelines include:

• Raise a physical hand to speak (face-to-face) or raise an emoji to speak (virtual).

• Start a response with your name and location, so it's clear to everyone who is speaking.

• Use mute when not speaking. That rule may be old hat for virtual participants, yet if there's in-room technology such as tablets or microphones, clear policies help remind face-to-face participants.

• Wait for virtual participants to speak first. The tactic helps ensure face-to-face learners don't dominate conversations while virtual learners wait for rare chances to speak up (or worse, start doing other tasks). Remember the goal of equality: There may be times to have in-room attendees start talking first. For example, if there are significantly more people attending in person, always starting the conversations with virtual attendees may feel unbalanced.

Plan and practice techniques for moderating interactions

Hybrid sessions can have balance and equal chances to participate if you create and keep the balance. Consider the following live interaction techniques.

Codes of communication will need moderation and enforcement, especially at first. Calling on virtual participants and pausing other quick-to-answer participants takes confidence and readiness if virtual learners are slow to unmute or shy to speak.

Equality among participants and groups of participants isn't always 50/50. Alternating between getting input from a virtual attendee and then from someone in the room may work when 10 people are in the room and 10 are joining remotely. When five people are in the room and 15 are joining remotely, however, that may be a reason to give virtual participants 75 percent of the chances to participate. If necessary, keep a tally to check off people's names or mark whether input came from a virtual or in-person attendee.

Leading by example will help you get behavior buy-in. A facilitator speaking their name every time they start a new dialogue may seem odd because most (if not all) participants know exactly who the facilitator is and when they're speaking. While it is unusual at first, the participants will have no chance to ignore the tactic. The facilitator raising a hand before speaking is another cue that attendees will quickly pick up.

Use visual cues. In addition to hand gestures and timing cards to help direct traffic and discussions, other visual cues that may help you include a sheet of paper on the back wall with the phrase "Virtual First" or sticky notes on webcams that read "Look Here."

Appoint roles. If you do not have a producer or a co-facilitator or your helper is otherwise engaged, ask a participant to monitor the chat box and alert you of any content or questions. Have someone enforce policies such as reminding people to state their names when speaking.

Use digital visuals. They should be visible in the physical room and online to keep attention, give instructions, and encourage interaction. As long as all participants can see the virtual tools, it's often easier to use them in a hybrid program than to use physical objects that you display effectively online.

Deliver different sets of instructions to virtual groups first. Virtual communication will typically take longer than in-room communication, so consider giving virtual groups their instructions first and clear time limits. It's also important to note that face-to-face attendees can get distracted or take unofficial breaks if they finish activities before other groups.

Prepare and deliver

To give hybrid activities the best chance of success, plan in detail and thoroughly test them. Ideally, ask testers in face-to-face and virtual spaces to try things out and give you suggestions. Finally, expect something to go wrong in hybrid arrangements, notably something related to technology. Have backup plans for activities that hit a wall and ways for learners to participate, even personally, if some issue cuts short their ability to fully engage.