How To Host Hybrid Town Hall Meeting

by Mayra Shaikh Social Media Marketing Executive/Manager

Town halls are becoming mainstream in the corporate world. And if you are a working professional, chances are you might have attended one yourself. But earlier, the concept of the town hall was limited to American politics. When the presidential candidates used to answer the questions of the people.

The motive behind hosting a Townhall for an organisation is to connect with employees. And to share the performance and future goals of the organisation with them. Also, it lets the upper management of the organisation share their vision with the employees.

Last year, when the pandemic began, people were forced to continue their life from online space. It also included hosting or attending events virtually. Thus, we saw virtual events gaining traction. However, events will return in their physical form post the pandemic. But they will still support the virtual audiences. Hence, we will see Hybrid events replacing regular physical events. But what are hybrid events?

Format of the Hybrid events

Hybrid events are those events that take place in the physical world. And these events host virtual audiences apart from live audiences. Since these events contain the elements of both live and virtual events, these events are called Hybrid events. Also, a hybrid event allows attendees to attend the event virtually. Or to have face-to-face communication. Thus, making Hybrid events the best of both worlds.

One can host a hybrid event by using a hybrid event platform or hybrid event software. And just like virtual event technology, hybrid event technology is also flexible. It means you can host a broad range of events. For instance, one can host a Hybrid product launch, hybrid conference or hybrid exhibition to begin with. But today, we are going to focus on the hybrid town hall.

Hybrid Town Hall

A hybrid town hall is a town hall that happens at a physical venue. However, this format also includes virtual audiences along with live audiences in the meeting.

Hybrid town halls are beneficial for organisations having employees working remotely or from different parts of the world. Not only has this, hosting a Hybrid town hall made sense in situations like the one we are facing right now.

If you are planning to host a hybrid town hall but don't know where to start? Then don't worry. I will guide you in hosting a Hybrid town hall.

Steps to host a Hybrid town hall

● Selecting the time of the meeting

The first step of hosting a hybrid town hall is deciding the time of the meeting. So start preparing by selecting the date, time and duration of the town hall. After deciding the time, you need to prepare the list of employees and how they will attend the meeting, physically or virtually.

● Deciding venue and platform

Now you need to find a place to host the town hall. Generally, the office is the most common venue for hosting a town hall. But you can also choose any other location. Apart from this, you need a Hybrid event platform to connect with virtual employees. While selecting the event platform, focus on things like interface, engagement features and networking tools.

● Notifying the employees

Once you are done with all the arrangements, you can inform employees about the town hall. For this, you can email the employees. Or can ask the department managers to notify their respective departments about the town hall.

● Providing platform tutorial

For a better experience, provide virtual attendees with a platform tutorial. And while doing so, try a get tutorial in the video format. Share this tutorial.

● Rehearsals

One of the last things that are left is rehearsing the event. You should review the schedule of the town hall. And check other arrangements like the venue and the platform. Also, try to eliminate any issues that you may find.

These are some simple steps to host a hybrid town hall.