 yesterday I conducted a very large hybrid meeting. What do I mean by large? There were more than 100 attendees in the physical room and over 50 who joined online. The total amount I spent to conduct this event was $0. In this video I want to show you exactly how I managed to do this. So let's get started. Whenever you want to conduct a hybrid meeting at a paid venue such as a hotel or a conference room, the venue will most likely have the basic setup to conduct a large meeting. This should include wireless microphones, good loudspeakers and a projector or a large TV. If you can tap into this available infrastructure, you can host an excellent hybrid meeting without paying anything extra. The heart of any venue is its audio equipment, most specifically the mixer. It should have free ports that allow you to connect one input device and one output device, both of which will be connected to your laptop. Most mixers will have this input output facilities. The challenge is usually the connectors. Does the mixer have an XLR connector, a quarter inch connector or is it RCA? Knowing these answers and creating the right cable connection from your laptop to the mixer is the key in running successful hybrid meetings. In this particular scenario, I used two cables. On one side, the cables have 3.5 mm jacks that will plug into the laptop. On the other hand of the cable, one of the cable has an XLR jack. This will go as a microphone input into the mixer and the second cable ends with stereo RCA jacks, one for left and one for right. What happens if the mixer outputs through quarter inch and not through RCA? Then you would need an adapter like this, which converts an RCA into a quarter inch. Similar adapters are available that can convert one connector type to another. For example, this one converts a 3.5 mm jack to an XLR. If the venue has all of these cables and adapters, it's great. Otherwise, it's always a good idea to be prepared and have these cables and adapters with you. A final note regarding these two cables that need to be plugged into your laptop, one as a microphone input and one as a speaker output. Most modern laptops come with one audio jack. I found that the most reliable solution is to use an adapter like this. It's a USB adapter that splits the signal of the microphone and the speaker and allows you to connect both the cables like this while the other end goes into your laptop. To connect these cables correctly, make sure that the speaker cable from your laptop becomes the microphone input for the mixer and the output from the mixer becomes the microphone input for your laptop. Next, we look at the video. If you use a professional agency, they will use multiple cameras connected to a video switcher. Person controlling the switcher will select the right camera view to be shown to the online audience. We can achieve similar results by using mobile phones that are connected to the zoom meeting and placed strategically around the room and then using the spotlight feature of zoom, you can choose the right view to be shown to the online audience. For this hybrid meeting, I created a three-camera setup. The first camera, which has the main camera pointed at the stage was my Sony mirrorless camera. The camera has a built-in webcam functionality which is great. I did not have to do anything additional. For my second camera view, I placed an iPhone pointed at the audience. I also made sure that the phone is connected to a power bank so it would not run out of power during the event. An additional phone was placed at the back of the stage, also connected to a power bank. Both the mobiles were connected to the zoom meeting. The only thing we have to ensure is that this device is connected to the zoom meeting without audio. There is an option in the app called disconnect audio. Use that. This will ensure that there is no echo in the room when the meeting is going on. And finally, the display. I connected the laptop to the projector using a standard HDMI cable. For this event, I used a second laptop to connect to the projector. But this is not necessary. I thought it would be a good idea to have two laptops in case something happens to one. I could always use the second one. And as mentioned earlier, one of the laptop had its audio disconnected so it doesn't create an echo. And that's about it. The laptops connected to the existing infrastructure using the right cables. And it was a great hybrid meeting. Here is a short sample of the actual hybrid meeting. Good evening and salam alaikum. 400 million tons. Now, don't go on number. Just think what is the weight of one ton? CEO attending the conference at the same time. Just on one phone call to the DCO and manager, I could get it booked because they have that respect for SSP. So that we have to sustain. Members like us will be there for some more time than the new generation takes over but sustain that momentum which will sustain the chapter. Thank you. Good luck. And that is how I conducted a large hybrid meeting and paid zero dollars. I hope you learned something from this video. If you did, please hit the like and subscribe button. It encourages me to create more content like this.