Recommendations for one-off Hybrid Meeting setup

[Dale_Hohm_pchp]

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 people in a hotel conference room and about 10 people wanting to participate remotely. 

• There will be presenters in the conference room who will be speaking and using PowerPoint to project slide decks
• They want to make sure the remote participants can see and hear the in-room presentations and also have the opportunity to ask questions and add to the discussion.
• The organization already uses Teams for remote conferencing and has Microsoft 365 E3
• There is no time nor budget to setup the environment with "Teams Room" hardware
• They want to avoid putting everyone in the room in front of a laptop (worried about in-room dynamics and multiple interfering microphones)

Available hardware:

• They have a laptop with a projector for the presenter and Internet connectivity should be good
• An external microphone and camera on a tripod (with an Elgato video interface is a possibility)

Would appreciate your ideas on the minimal setup requirements

[#2]

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.

[#3]

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?

[#4]

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.

[#5]

If they aren't going to pay for the equipment to do it well, then they will have to compromise.

Someone will have to operate the camera to spin it around and you will need a microphone to pass around.
20 people is a lot to put in a single frame

[#6]

Challenging! It would be good to understand a bit more about what your client needs.

What’s the style of meeting?
Is it an actual meeting where there’s discussion and everyone needs to be seen and heard? Or it’s it more like a conference/presentation with key speakers and an audience? (The latter would be easier!)

Is your mic cabled or wireless?

Do you have an emcee or other people to help with on the day?

[#7]

@HelloBenTeoh - thanks for the reply.

The meeting is primarily presenter-led, but there will be some discussion from the room and from the remote participants.

Having participants visible while speaking is actually not critical at this point.  Most important is being able to share the presentation, having all participants in the room and remote able to see the presentation and allowing audio discussion amongst those in the room and remote with everyone being able to hear.

The room will be set up with the participants sitting around the outside of conference tables in a "U" formation with a podium, laptop, projector and projection screen at the open end of the "U".

The meeting will be about 4 hours long with breaks.

The idea of a USB-connected speaker phone seems compelling. Does anyone have experience with these?  I find a link here: Speakerphones for Conference Calls | Teams devices (microsoft.com) but none seem quite right (none seem to be for a larger room).  Amazon has a lot of them to cull through.

We could have the speakerphone hooked up to the presenter's laptop and be a mic for the presenter/room and a speaker for the remote participants when they come off mute. The presenter's laptop would also be responsible for sharing out the presentation to the remote participants as well as projecting in the room (we'd probably want to have a second monitor there so the presentation could be on one screen and the Teams console on the other.

What's the reaction to that setup?  Any suggestions on a speakerphone that would fit the bill? (I know I said there was no budget, but I meant there was not an appetite for an elaborate Teams Room A/V setup).

Thanks

[#8]

Based on the setup you described, it sounds like using a USB-connected speakerphone would be a good solution for your needs. It can be connected to the presenter's laptop and serve as a microphone for the room and a speaker for the remote participants.

In terms of recommendations for speakerphones, there are many options available on the market. Some popular brands include Jabra, Poly, and Logitech. When selecting a speakerphone, consider the size of the room and the number of participants, as well as the features and capabilities you need. It may be helpful to read reviews and compare specifications to find the best fit for your specific needs and budget.

Regarding your setup, it sounds like using a second monitor in the room for the presentation and Teams console is a good idea. Another option to consider is using a wireless presenter remote to control the presentation from a distance, rather than having to click through slides on the laptop.

Overall, your setup should work well for your needs and provide a good hybrid meeting experience for both in-room and remote participants.

[#9 · Accepted solution]

@Dale_Hohm_pchp 

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. 

[#10]

@HelloBenTeoh - that nails it.  Thank-you.

I have an external microphone and camera, but for simplicity's sake, will test first without them to see how well it all performs.  The Poly Sync 40's are a good recommendation and match what I was zeroing in on based on my own research.

Laying out the scenarios in the meeting and the specific configuration steps required was above and beyond what I was expecting for a response.  Thanks so much.

Dale

[#11]

Happy to help! I haven’t had personal experience with these Polys and based the comment on their spec sheets. But they sound like they could be a good fit. Hope it all works out!

[#12]

A quick tie out. The hybrid meeting based on this configuration was a success!

The Poly 40+s worked very well and the remote participants were able to both hear and participate in the meeting intuitively.

We did not use an external mic for the presenter, nor did we use an external camera. We never had to mute/unmute the speaker phones - they remained live the entire time and remote participants were able to interject easily. We DID have to be very careful that none of the other participants in the room had their mic or speakers unmuted - we were punished with brutal feedback until everyone figured it out.

On the Control laptop, we set up the projector (or big screen TV) as an EXTENDED monitor. Once sharing started from the presenter laptop, we clicked "Pop Out" in Teams on the control laptop, dragged the resulting sharing window to the second screen and maximized it. It worked great and seamlessly transitioned when different presenters shared from their laptops. We simply lost a little real estate at the top of the screen for the "Take Control" icon - not sure if there is a way to get rid of that or not. Once the control laptop was set up this way, we didn't need to touch it again.

Thanks for the support and ideas - it went very well.

Dale

[#13]

@Dale_Hohm_pchp that’s fantastic. Great to hear it went well!