Hello, Hybrid!
By Geoff Church, Co-Founder and Director of Dramatic Resources
Before the pandemic, it was hard for us to envisage delivering our training online – could our interactive, experiential approach to group work be successful on screen? Two years on, we feel proud to have conquered the virtual medium and, with more than half of our work being delivered virtually, DR is reaching new corners of the world. Now, with workforces divided between the office, at home, in co-working spaces, and on the move, a new challenge has arisen for 2022: Hybrid Training.
Why go hybrid?
One word: Community.
Participants want to learn together. In our increasingly fragmented working environment, people need to feel connected whenever they can. Online Learning is undoubtedly here to stay, but if people can be in a room together – they want to be. And if they can’t make it to a live session, they expect the option to join online – after all, the last 2 years have proved that anything is possible.
But there is no denying that Hybrid Training is a challenge. We’ve discovered that no two Hybrid Trainings are alike – maybe there’s a group of ‘roomies’ (live in the room) and ‘Zoomies’ (dialling in online), or the participants are all together in a room and the trainer is being ‘projected in’.
There’s lots of think to think about when planning a hybrid training event and so much to learn in order to make it engaging and impactful for all the participants. With this in mind, we’ve done what we do best at Dramatic Resources – we’ve experimented and rehearsed to find out what works. We are still on the learning curve, but this is what we've discovered so far:
The tech matters, particularly sound quality. It's crucial that the set-up allows all parties to see and, most importantly, hear each other well. Having a proper tech run in advance of the session (as you would with a conference) makes all the difference.
Have an in-person counterpart. If you are being ‘projected-in’ to a room of in-person participants, have someone in the room to be your eyes, ears and hands. This person should not be a participant and can assist you by giving out instructions and materials, organising people into groups, and re-capturing participants’ attention.
Create a collective experience. It's very easy to assume that because you are on- screen for part (it not all) of your session, you should go into broadcast or webinar mode. No! The participants want to be together and to work together. Above all, you are there to facilitate the participants’ learning and ensure that they have an experience together, as a collective - whether they are online or in the room.
Connect the ‘roomies’ and the ‘Zoomies’. Find ways to get these groups working together. One of our trainers, actor Aaron Neil (as seen in Landscapers and Paddington 2) came up with an innovative way of making this connection. In a session focused on virtual presence and impact, Aaron put the ‘Zoomies’ on a big screen. He asked the ‘roomies’ to give simple instructions to the ‘Zoomies’ regarding position, lighting, eye contact with the lens, etc. The ‘Zoomies’ not only improved their virtual impact, but this technique created a shared experience between the real and the virtual. Great entertainment. Great learning. Great connection.
Develop your 360° Awareness. DR trainer and improvisational performer Maja Mommert (based in Berlin) describes this as 360° Awareness. When you are improvising on stage you need to have 'eyes in the back of your head'. Why? Because you don't know what's going to happen next, and you have to be ready to respond. It’s the same in Hybrid Training – there’s a lot to juggle, so you need to practice spreading your awareness across the different elements.
Actor and DR trainer Jacky Defferary (as seen on The Crown and at Shakespeare’s Globe) compares it to filming a sitcom for television. You have to play to the studio audience and the cameras at the same time. After all, everyone’s experience matters.
So - Hello Hybrid. You are surely here to stay in this new world, and so we rise to the challenge.
What have your hybrid experiences been so far? Any big learnings? We would love to hear about them on Twitter or LinkedIn.