Inside Scoop: Mastering Becoming a Hybrid Meeting Expert

Hey there, welcome to Inside Scoop. I'm Paula Rizzo, and you know what? Hybrid work is here to stay. I've been saying it for a while. I love my remote work, of course. However, there's gonna be a little bit of both going on, right? We're gonna be going back and forth for a while, and some of your colleagues will be in the office, some of them will be at home, some of them will be on the beach, who knows? But it is so important to make sure that you adjust your hybrid meetings no matter where you are so that you can show up as your best self, of course, and also make sure that things get done. This is about productivity here. So we'll tackle how to become a hybrid meeting expert today with our amazing guest who I will introduce you to in just a moment. She's a fellow LinkedIn Learning instructor, and I'm excited for you to get to know her. But first, I have a free resource for you that I know will be helpful to put yourself at the top of your list. It's my list-making starter kit. You can grab it at paularizzo.com/list, and it's a great way for you to, you know, really make sure that your lists are working to their top capacity. This is very important as we're going back into a hybrid or whatever environment you're in. Lists will save the day for sure. And as I mentioned, I'm also a LinkedIn Learning instructor, and I have several courses that will help you. Several of those are actually part of the learning path path at LinkedIn right now about how to master hybrid work skills. And, you know, 3 of the courses that I have there, one on boundary setting so that you're not working all day, every day. The other 2 are all about how to be more productive in a hybrid world. And I'm going to bring on right now, you know, how you can contribute. I want to make sure that you're, if you're here, whether you're live or you are watching the replay, I want to hear from you. So leave us some messages below and we'll get back to you on those. We'll answer some questions at the end of the broadcast. But I want to hear, how is hybrid working for you? How is it not working? And what questions do you have about hybrid meetings specifically so we can pipe in and help you out on that? And tag a friend if you have a friend or somebody, a colleague who might be interested in this, please pop them down there in those, those chat boxes as well. So without further ado, let me bring on my guest. Her name is Lorraine Lee, and she is also a LinkedIn Learning instructor. She is featured on the Pathfinder series along with me, and she's also the head of editorial at Prezi.

Hello everyone, great to be here. Thank you, Paula Rizzo, for inviting me.

Of course, I'm thrilled to chat with you and hear all about, you know, hybrid meetings and how we can do them better, because this is a new thing. This is, you know, well, not everybody has done this before, and so we want to make sure that we're really doing it to the best of our capacity. What do you think about collaboration tools? Why is that so important when we're talking about hybrid meetings?

So I think it's important to first start off defining what a hybrid meeting is. Paula, you alluded to it earlier. Basically, a hybrid meeting is one where you will have colleagues in person in the office together and at least one person remotely or multiple people. And I think the thing with hybrid meetings, they're going to become such a big thing because many offices are choosing a hybrid model. Some people like to stay at home, some people want to go back into the office. And so these types of meetings are just going to be a way of life moving forward. And so when it comes to collaborating, obviously the experience of in-person and remote, they're different. And you can't have hybrid participants doing one thing and remote people doing another thing. The virtual collaboration tools are really what's going to bring everyone together. Everyone's going to be working on the same platform or program, and it's going to allow for more productivity and just more team cohesion.

So what is it? What are we talking about when we say a virtual, you know, collaboration tool? What do you mean exactly?

I would say it's a tool that allows teams to simultaneously work together on something or something that increases engagement during the meeting.

Cool. Got it. So let's, let's go and dive into some examples. We're getting some hellos from all over LinkedIn. Hello everyone. We see you. We see you.

Hello.

Hello. So let's dive in some, some ideas here. What are some of the tools that, that might be benefiting us if we're having these hybrid meetings?

Sure. So the first one that I love is it's called Slido, S-L-I-D-O. And Slido is amazing, has a lot of different functionality. So you can ask questions or submit your questions ahead of time. People can upvote and downvote questions. You can use word clouds, you can have open-ended questions. And so it's just a really good way either before, during, or after a meeting to get that involvement. And I really like it for Q&A personally, especially for introverts. Sometimes you need a little bit more time to think about what you want to ask, ask about in your meeting. So, Sending that ahead of time is really helpful. You can see I'm using Prezi Video right now. I work at Prezi. So we have a really wonderful feature called on-screen responses where you can add text and GIFs and stickers and whatever you want onto the screen in real time during your meetings. And so that's a fun way to connect with each other and just add something a little bit more fun to meetings and personal, you know, it's like, it's your virtual life. I love that because I, for example, I love the show Schitt's Creek. Paul, I don't know if you've seen it.

I love it. Yes.

You know, throw up a Schitt's Creek GIF and like you'll get a lot of messages like, oh, I love that show too. And so it's just another nice way to connect with your team.

Yeah.

And I would say the last tool that I really like is called Figma. And Figma allows you to, it's basically a very big canvas, usually used for design, but I use it recently for a hack week that we did. We had this whole onboarding flow laid out and people could add Post-its. Virtually across the onboarding flow and add their ideas. And so that was really wonderful just to collaborate and do it in real time and be productive and get a lot of ideas out there.

It's important really to, to embrace technology. I know that's probably the biggest hurdle for a lot of people because they're, you know, first off it was the how do we connect to Zoom or to whatever it is. We're past that now. Hopefully everybody knows how to use it. But it really is about embracing the technology that will help your team come together. And I think that is going to be the biggest barrier here for sure, for people to jump jump in because, you know, if, if I, uh, you know, before the pandemic I was doing tons of virtual speaking, probably more virtual speaking than in-person speaking.

Yeah.

So I had always been like, I need more slides because I need to keep people engaged and make sure they're like, have nothing on, you know, one thing on them and I'm just going through them. But it's true because this is, this is how you're going to keep people's attention and really engage with everyone, is to give them a thing to do, right? Like we're talking about some of these collaboration tools. It really makes Makes a big difference, makes people feel included, and also, you know, it keeps them awake because they have to be on their toes.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

But the video fatigue is real, and this is something that, you know, I've spoken about a lot. It happened to me when I first started working for myself. All, you know, I've always, um, had a virtual business, and, you know, the first time I was doing Zoom calls, I did, I think, 8 or 9 Zoom calls in one day. I don't remember what I talked about. Yeah, I don't remember who I taught. I think I repeated myself 25 times, like It was— I had to like lay down and take a nap. So obviously people have learned we don't need to do that. But you know, what are some ways that we can combat having everything happen on this screen?

Yeah, so I think, I think, um, you know, one of the things I want to just call out first is that, you know, video fatigue— I don't actually think video is the issue. And you mentioned this earlier, Paula, when you were talking about the need to incorporate tech and additional tools. We are just tired of the way that things are being done right now. People are not moving beyond the status status quo, they are just simply doing kind of the bare minimum. You hop on video and you talk and there's not really a lot of focus and, and that's that. And that's why people are getting video fatigue or Zoom fatigue. And so really you need to push yourself beyond the status quo to, to engage your audience, to get people involved. Like you said, like include the tools, move through your slides more quickly. There's just a lot more that you have to do to kind of keep people's attention, keep them awake, as you said. And so there it is possible to break out of video fatigue. It just takes a little bit of extra work.

Yeah, it does. And knowing yourself, you know, it really is all about like, how do you make sure that you know how you feel after that meeting, you know? And, or maybe the meeting doesn't have to be a full hour. Maybe you can get it done in a half hour, 15 minutes. If you're really, really driven, you can, you can get it done. Um, we have a question, uh, that I want to pop in from Christiana on LinkedIn. Thank you for your question. She says, I'd love to hear tips on how to facilitate or lead a hybrid meeting so that those online feel that they too are sitting at the table? What do you think?

Well, that's a wonderful question, Christina, and I'm glad you're thinking about that. I think as a meeting facilitator, we have this additional responsibility now to make sure that everyone does feel included. And so, you know, one thing I would suggest is turning to the remote participants first anytime you ask a question. There's, you know, something called proximity bias where we're going to favor just the people who are in front of us, who are near us. And so to be able to more actively call out the remote participants, I think that's a really great thing to make them feel included. You can also emphasize, or kind of define, rules of engagement before the meeting starts. So make it clear, we want people to raise their hand, to use the chat. Don't just speak up out of turn, because I think the people in person are going to be heard a little bit more easily that way. So making it very clear how you want people to participate is going to ensure that everyone can get a fair chance and speak up and feel included at that table.

You know, it's funny, like in the old days, there used to be the conference room, right? Everybody was in the conference room together and then there would be like the one person who would call in on, and they would have them on speakerphone. Do you remember this? And so, and you would always forget about the person on speakerphone because you couldn't see them. And so then, you know, randomly some voice would pop up and they'd be like, wait, but I have a question or whatever it was. So how lovely to be like, let's first go to the remote people. And also you can probably see them now being that we're doing video, so they don't get lost on the speakerphone. But very, very good idea to just say, like, let's, let's handle this first. Now, what about as for yourself as the participant, right? So not as, as leading, but if you're the participant, what are some ways that you can prepare for hybrid meetings to make sure that you get your ideas across?

So I think any time a facilitator can send async prep or just some questions, food for thought ahead of the meeting, I think that's going to make your meeting that much more productive. So, you know, for the participants, Creating, watching an async video so you get the context ahead of the meeting so you're not sitting in the meeting just having the person, you know, talk at you and explaining the context. Get that ahead of time and then figure out the questions as the facilitator, what you want answered, and give those to the participants. The participants will then be able to join the conversation ready with ideas, ready to participate, and knowing what the goal of the meeting is.

Yeah, prep is always important no matter, you know, what you're doing, and especially if you're gonna create, you know, virtual backgrounds or something that's related to it, right? It's the whole presentation is the whole package. You really need to, to make sure to bring your best self. I want to bring up another— actually, it's a comment. I wonder if you've heard of this tool. It's called Miro, M-I-R-O. And we have someone from LinkedIn saying that she loves it. It has templates, allows you to copy your URL, and your participants can easily log in and start using the tool and work collaboratively. How have you used this one, Lorraine?

I think I've used Miro a long time ago. I think just once or twice. I think it's quite similar to Figma, which I mentioned earlier. So Miro, Figma, all of these are really great for collaboration. Yeah.

And there's another one and it's escaping me now, but I had done a keynote talk for Toyota last year and it was, you know, it was a great way to engage with them. They used it on their end, but it was, you know, some polls popped up and it made pie charts and it was like, it was really real. I have to find the name of it, but it was cool. I hadn't heard of it and they were like, oh, we use used it in all our meetings because we love it so much. And it's just this, you know, like a nice way to keep people engaged. But also, as the speaker, I fed them the questions, you know. And so I was like, I'd really like to know, because then it does— it changes what I'm gonna say, you know, or where I'm gonna go with, with the talk. Uh, so it was nice to kind of get that feedback in, like, live, right? Like, right at that moment. So that was, that was important. Um, I had mentioned this before, and if, uh, you have questions, everyone, you know, let us know. Questions, comments, if you have other resources, please leave that in the chat boxes below. We'll continue the conversation there. But I want to talk, Lorraine, a little bit about your course on, on LinkedIn, on LinkedIn Learning. Tell me a little bit about it. Yes.

So the course is called Virtual and Hybrid Meeting Essentials. I released it late last year. It was a topic that many of LinkedIn, LinkedIn customers have been asking about. And I think it's just been a long time coming.

A lot—

I mean, even last year, a lot of companies were starting to shift to hybrid. A lot of people just don't know what to do. We don't— there's no playbook for this or no best practices. And so, you know, I was really excited to get that course out. It has, you know, very high level of kind of the essentials you need in terms of planning and preparing, how to drive engagement during the actual meeting, and then what to do after the meeting is over. Because once you click end call, the meeting is not done yet. You still have to kind of follow up on those action items and make sure that you hit your deadlines and goals.

Ah, aha. And everyone can find it, any of our courses on LinkedIn Learning. So if you go to LinkedInLearning.com, you can type in our names and find them there. And be able to master hybrid work. You know, it's interesting that you mentioned, mentioned the end of the meeting, right? Because that is, you know, almost as important as going to the meeting itself because you need to have your deliverable, what you need to do when you, when you, when you walk out. So what do you, what do you suggest for people to do for the end of the meeting?

So the thing that I emphasize the most is that you really need to be specific after the meeting and you need to come up with clear deadlines. And Paula, with our journalism background, maybe you can probably relate to this, how important deadlines are. But after a meeting, if you say, you know, Paula, I want you to turn this in next week, what does next week mean? Right? And even if I said, Paula, I'd like you to turn this in on Wednesday, at what point on Wednesday am I checking in with you? Like, it, it just creates unnecessary work with me checking in and just misexpectations. You, you think maybe you had till the end of day, I wanted it midday. And so to be as specific as you can, saying, you know, 12:00 PM Pacific, can you get this done? So I like to also ask for deadlines like, is this reasonable within your schedule to kind of create it, create more of a team, a team approach versus me telling you, you know, when to turn something in. But as specific as you can get with deadlines and asking your team if that works for them, I think that's really key to making sure that things get done. And also just building trust within a team when we are remote and not face-to-face. Sometimes that trust can be hard to build, but I think hitting deadlines and being a reliable partner is one of those ways that you can build that really quickly.

I'm a big fan of, of the deadline for sure. Absolutely. And you're right, it is, you know, the journalism background, it's ingrained in us to have those deadlines. But it does, it does really help. I mean, I literally had this conversation yesterday with, with my assistant. Um, I said, oh, I need to do this thing. And she said, okay, I'll put it here. I said, yeah, but you got to put it on Monday at 3 o'clock or else I definitely won't do it. You know, I won't even look at it. I'll forget all about it. It won't, it won't be a thing. So to really look at your calendar and say, okay, when could I actually do this? And, and really go that extra step and put it on the calendar is really important. Um, we have a shout out for Kahoot, which I actually have used Kahoot also, which, you know, it's—

I have as well.

Yeah, you can use your, your, um, your mobile and you do, uh, questions, right? And so you're able to, to vote, um, or to answer questions. Uh, we did this actually for my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. It's very fun. So it was not work-related, it was fun-related. Um, but yeah, I could see how it could be really helpful for a work environment too.

Yeah, and I love that the audience is chiming in with tools. I mean, I know I, I speak on this topic, but I'm always learning something new from the audience. So thank you everyone for jumping in.

Yeah, some fun stuff. Um, and also just one more comment about time zones. You know, it helps when you're working with a variety of people in time zones to have very specific deadlines. Um, you know, I really like to use Asana. I don't know if you have other, you know, project management tools that you use,. But that way it's nice. Everyone can see what's happening, when it's happening, when is it due? Everybody knows what's going on and you cut down on email that way too, you know?

Exactly. Yeah. That's a great, great tool as well.

Yeah, for sure. Well, this has been fabulous. And if anybody has any more questions, you know, if you're watching the replay and you're like, oh, I have a question, I have a comment, I have a thought, leave it below. We're still, we're still gonna be checking here and, and wanting to hear from you. So absolutely do that. And Lorraine, I wanna send people to your website so that they can, they they can grab, you know, your newsletter. I know you do share a lot of content. So if they go to your website, uh, lorraineklee.com/learn, they can grab that. So tell us a little bit more about what's the kind of stuff that you, that you send out.

Yeah, so I would say my— I have a few, um, areas of expertise. So I like to talk about video communications and virtual presentations. I talk about virtual and hybrid meetings. And then of course I worked at LinkedIn, so I like to talk a lot about LinkedIn and kind of building your presence there. And, you know, all these are skills that are needed for standing out, for being visible, for thriving in the virtual office. And so these are essentially quick actionable tips. I always want to make sure that you walk away with something useful, something tangible. And so it's just a quick tip of the day through these emails. About once a week you'll get them. And I hope you'll subscribe and give me feedback. Let me know what's working, what's not. I'm always happy to hear it.

Fabulous. Sounds, sounds great. And absolutely, you know, everyone check out our LinkedIn Learning courses. Of course, if you go to LinkedInLearning.com, you can check out all of our courses that are on the— they call it the Pathfinder series. So, you know, you will, you will find all of our courses together there, which is very, very nice. And, you know, I have a freebie too about list making. You know, I love, love my list. So I just want to tell you all about that one more time. It's PaulaRizzo.com/list. You can get my list making starter kit to get, you know, more organized, less stressed, and especially as we're doing meetings, I have an entire course actually on LinkedIn about note-taking because notes are really important, right, when it comes to, to, to what you're, you're, you're bringing into and out of a meeting. And, you know, how do you, how do you do that in a really effective way? It's actually kind of a fun course. It sounds kind of nerdy, but it was, it was really fun to put together, you know, from my background as a TV producer. And I hope you guys check it out for sure. And Lorraine, thanks again for being here. Thank you.

I'm gonna check out that course. That sounds interesting.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I think you might, you might enjoy it. Um, and to all of you, uh, thank you for being here. Looking forward to seeing you next time. Thanks.

Thank you.