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Recommendations for one-off Hybrid Meeting setup
Hello All. Thanks in advance for sharing your ideas and experience. I've been asked to help a small organization set up a hybrid meeting experience in about a month. There will be perhaps 20 pe...
I think the biggest challenge will be capturing everyone's audio. Even in U-shape, 20 people will be pretty spread out. The Poly Sync 40's can have two paired - that may give you extra coverage but you should also check out the room acoustics to see if it'll work.
I'd also utilise the external camera as well for your speaker. Laptops are usually placed a pretty low angle for presenters so it'll look odd if you were planning on using the laptop camera.
A second laptop could also be helpful. It means the presenter doesn't need to deal with any technical issues that may come up and gives you some more control over the speakerphones and projector.
If the Poly's are suitable, you could do something like this:
Set up meeting:
- Presenter laptop
- Connect external camera (and external mic if needed)
- Joins meeting with audio on, camera on (using external camera)
- Uses laptop mic or external mic so presenter is heard online
- Presents screen to meeting
- Control laptop
- Connect Poly 40's via Bluetooth and daisy chain them
- Connect projector
- Join meeting, with projector as second screen.
Running meeting:
- During presentation
- Control mutes speakers and mic on Poly 40's (to avoid delay between the presenter and the speakerphone speakers and potential feedback from speakerphones and presenter's mic)
- Online people hear presenter via laptop mic/external mic, in-person people hear presenter un-amplified (if this is an issue, we're adding more complexity)
- In-room sees presentation via the Control Laptop's screen, projected (use Focus on Content to hide other participants being on screen if needed)
- During discussions
- Enable speakerphones for everyone.
- Mute presenter's mic to avoid feedback. If presenter needs to participate, they could join a table
- Turn the external camera around so online people can see the room
That's assuming the speakerphones will be sufficient and you have someone in the room who can juggle things.
- Presenter laptop
For a hybrid meeting experience with 20 people in a hotel conference room and 10 people participating remotely, here are some ideas for a minimal setup using the available hardware:
1. Laptop with a projector: Connect the laptop to the projector and use it to display the PowerPoint slides in the conference room. Ensure that the laptop is equipped with a good quality microphone and speakers.
2. External microphone and camera: Set up the external microphone and camera on a tripod in the conference room. Connect the microphone and camera to the laptop using the Elgato video interface. This will help to ensure that the audio and video quality is good for the remote participants.
3. Microsoft Teams: Use Microsoft Teams to host the remote participants. Start a Teams meeting on the laptop and invite the remote participants to join. Ensure that everyone has access to the same presentation materials.
4. Screen sharing: Use the screen sharing feature in Teams to display the PowerPoint slides to the remote participants. The presenter in the conference room can control the presentation while the remote participants can follow along.
5. Two-way audio: Use a speakerphone or another audio device that can be placed in the conference room to ensure that the remote participants can hear the in-room discussions. Encourage everyone in the room to speak clearly and into the microphone.
6. Q&A: Use the chat feature in Teams to allow the remote participants to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. The presenter can monitor the chat and respond to questions as they come in.
Overall, it is important to test the setup before the meeting to ensure that everything is working as expected. This will help to avoid any technical difficulties during the meeting itself.
1. Laptop with a projector: Connect the laptop to the projector and use it to display the PowerPoint slides in the conference room. Ensure that the laptop is equipped with a good quality microphone and speakers.
2. External microphone and camera: Set up the external microphone and camera on a tripod in the conference room. Connect the microphone and camera to the laptop using the Elgato video interface. This will help to ensure that the audio and video quality is good for the remote participants.
3. Microsoft Teams: Use Microsoft Teams to host the remote participants. Start a Teams meeting on the laptop and invite the remote participants to join. Ensure that everyone has access to the same presentation materials.
4. Screen sharing: Use the screen sharing feature in Teams to display the PowerPoint slides to the remote participants. The presenter in the conference room can control the presentation while the remote participants can follow along.
5. Two-way audio: Use a speakerphone or another audio device that can be placed in the conference room to ensure that the remote participants can hear the in-room discussions. Encourage everyone in the room to speak clearly and into the microphone.
6. Q&A: Use the chat feature in Teams to allow the remote participants to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. The presenter can monitor the chat and respond to questions as they come in.
Overall, it is important to test the setup before the meeting to ensure that everything is working as expected. This will help to avoid any technical difficulties during the meeting itself.
Thanks for the response.
In point 5, how do you suggest configuring a speakerphone in conjunction with the other devices? Are you suggesting that a separate audio conference bridge be used in addition to the Teams connection or something else?
In point 5, how do you suggest configuring a speakerphone in conjunction with the other devices? Are you suggesting that a separate audio conference bridge be used in addition to the Teams connection or something else?
- Yes, in point 5, I suggest configuring a speakerphone for audio conferencing to avoid in-room dynamics and multiple interfering microphones.
One option could be to use a separate audio conference bridge in conjunction with the Teams connection. This would allow remote participants to dial in using their phone and join the audio portion of the meeting, while still being able to see and hear the in-room presentations via Teams.
Another option could be to use a speakerphone that has both USB and phone connections. This would allow the speakerphone to be connected to the laptop for Teams audio and also to an audio conferencing bridge for remote participants to dial in.
In either case, it's important to make sure that the speakerphone is set up and configured properly before the meeting to ensure that everyone can hear and participate effectively.