Technology Help - Hybrid Meetings

Welcome

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The information on this website is provided by members for members. It is provided to share knowledge, lived experience and best practice. The information is provided for guidance and is accurate as far as we are aware. But no guarantee can be provided that the information is correct or right for your particular circumstances.

Welcome to this website. We hope to expand it to wider issues in due coures (hence the title 'Let's Talk Tech') but for now we hope it will help you navigate the subject of 'Hybrid' or 'Blended' u3a meetings. By now virtually all u3as have at least experience of Zoom for lessons, discussion groups, monthly meetings and even AGMs with voting. Hybrid meetings are a step further and allows meetings in person with the simultaneous transmission of the event on Zoom or Teams or another video conferencing platform. Depending on the expertise of those running a Hybrid meeting all attending via video conferencing or in person can participate to a greater or lesser extent.

This is a new subject to many u3as and we realise it can be daunting. We hope this website and its references will help make the subject less scary and give you some support on how to use the new tchnology.

We initally produced a 'Shared Practice Guide' which has grown by the contribution from many u3as and is available from the national website or directly here: SPG-Hybrid Meetings. However this has become rather large and this website attempts to break the material down and provide an easier access to the relevant material for your situation.

There are two ways to access the material on this website. You can use the 'buttons' (the tabs) along the top tool bar to click on the aspect your are interested in, or you can use the links in the "Links" sidebar on the right hand side of each page.

Consider the 'Size of Meeting' and your 'Technical Skill & Confidence' level, then click on the relevant link:
Size of Meeting planned : Home Meetings / Small Meetings / Medium Meetings / Large Meetings

What we provide here is only a guide – what worked for one u3a might not be best for your u3a. If in your experience something is wrong or you disagree with something, please CONTACT us to allow an update to be created and published. It’s hoped this guidance will grow over time with more shared experiences.

We have tried not to overload the Guide and this website with jargon, but to describe the setups for the more complex Medium & Large Size Room Meetings requires an understanding of the technology involved which we provide on the KEY FACTORS webpage. Please use the buttons (tabs) on the top tool bar to select what is relevant for yourselves.

If your interest is in a simple Home or Small Room setup, then we recommend you read the relevant sections of this website. In order to understand how to run larger and more complex meetings, we advise reading both Medium Room & Large Room sections.

We want to be clear that setting up and running a Large “Hybrid” meeting can be very challenging, even for “techies”, and for a “lay” person it will require learning, researching and attempting to understand some of the technicalities in order to know how to deliver a successful meeting.

We recommend having a trial run before any meeting. Things won't go perfectly first time.

We hope you find this site of use in your u3a.