Running a hybrid meeting or presentation in a rented room

In a hybrid meeting, what breaks is almost never the picture. It is the sound: the people in the room can hear each other and assume the people at home can hear them too. They cannot.

Here is the short list of what to sort out beforehand, ordered by how likely each is to ruin your first twenty minutes.

1. Audio, which is the actual problem

A laptop’s built-in microphone covers one person sitting in front of it. Beyond three or four around a table, the remote participants hear a distant conversation with echo.

The cheap, reliable fix is an omnidirectional speakerphone, USB or Bluetooth, placed in the middle of the table. It costs considerably less than an hour of room hire and lasts for years.

If you do not have one: let only whoever is near the laptop speak, or have each person in the room join on their own laptop with microphone and speaker muted except when speaking. Two open microphones in the same room produce feedback immediately.

2. The video adapter

This is the number one cause of a late start. Ask the venue what cable is there — usually HDMI — and bring your own adapter even if they tell you one is available. Recent laptops generally need USB-C to HDMI.

One practical tip: do the connection test the day before, with the same laptop you are actually bringing, not another one from the office.

3. Room layout

A hybrid meeting has a camera in it. Decide where it goes before you seat anyone:

• If the camera is the laptop’s, put the laptop at one end of the table, not the middle.
• Avoid seating anyone backlit in front of a window; on screen they will be a silhouette.
• If you are projecting and running a video call at once, you need two screens: the projector for content, the laptop for faces.

4. Wifi

Ask whether it is open or password-protected, and get the password before you arrive. One person on video needs very little bandwidth; the problem starts when eight people in the room join the same call simultaneously. Where possible, let a single machine carry the video and audio.

5. Power sockets

A three-hour meeting with a laptop driving a projector will drain the battery. Find the outlets before you allocate seats.

A ten-minute checklist on arrival

1. Connect the laptop to the projector and confirm you have a picture.
2. Connect the speakerphone and make a test call with someone.
3. Check you can be heard from the far end of the table.
4. Plug in the laptop.
5. Write the wifi password on the whiteboard.

Ten minutes, not five. The difference between a hybrid meeting that works and one that does not is usually decided here.

Our large room

At WorkSpace.Cat, the 40 m² room has two zones: a presentation area with 30 tablet chairs and a work area with six chairs and desks. It includes a 4K projector, HDMI cabling, a 2 m whiteboard, wifi and air conditioning.

It does not include a microphone or speaker: for a video call with several people in the room, bring your own speakerphone. We would rather say so before you book.

The rate is €12/h plus €2 per person, a one-off charge. Excluding VAT, with a €20 minimum per booking. We are at Avinguda de Mistral 40, five minutes from Plaça d’Espanya. If you want to come early to test the connection, tell us when you book and we will open up with time to spare.