 As we try to adapt to the new lifestyle of social distancing, hybrid meetings can provide the right balance between online and physical connections. In this video, I am going to show you how to create a perfect hybrid meeting. Let's get started. Hybrid meetings allow some members to meet in person while the rest join online. As toastmasters, we have already mastered the art of physical meetings over several decades. In the last one year of COVID pandemic, we have mastered online meetings. As we slowly recover from the pandemic, extending this technology to conduct hybrid meetings is the next logical step. Let us look at the building blocks of conducting an effective hybrid meeting. I recently conducted a hybrid meeting in a corporate club. Link is in the description below. I will use this meeting as a reference for this video. Let us start with the laptop. You need a decent laptop as the entire meeting depends on this device working without crashing. It also requires to be connected to a stable internet. A disconnection would disrupt the entire meeting. If you think about it, all you need to conduct a hybrid meeting is a laptop connected to the internet. The experience will not be optimal as we will find out, but you can theoretically do it. The first area of improvement for a quality hybrid meeting is audio. Participants will forgive bad video, but if your audio is not good, they will tune out. In this example, I could use the built-in microphone from the laptop. Modern laptops come with great microphones. If I place this laptop closer to the speaker, I might be able to get away with it. I wanted high-quality audio. Here, I placed a road wireless go. This is a great microphone, as you can see from the example. Good afternoon, everyone. I welcome you all to the third official meeting of DOC's Toastmasters Club. You can consider a cheaper wired option like the Boya M1 that cost around $15. It comes with an extra long cable of around 6 meters, which is sufficient and provides good quality sound. The next area of improvement is to focus on the video. Once again, we can leverage the camera installed on the laptop. For example, by placing the laptop at the correct angle, online audience would be able to see the speaker. In this example, I wanted a high-quality video feed. I mounted a Sony mirrorless camera connected to the laptop via an HDMI capture card. You could place a quality webcam to achieve similar results. I always show love and I always show care and I always tell them that you are the important one. I care, I do care about you and how people look at you. So this is why I was the chosen one. The online audience will appreciate a wide-angle view of the physical meeting. This can be provided by connecting another device to the meeting. Here, I have placed a mobile device on a tripod. The device is connected to the meeting without audio to avoid audio feedback that happens when two devices nearby connect to the same meeting. You can place multiple devices around the room using the same concept. The moderator can switch the view using the spotlight feature. Pick up the keys and go see the car and start fixing it. This is the first thing I do. So I was the chosen one in this case for my sister. The next focus is the display. You want a good view of the online audience to interact with them. Once again, we can use the laptop by placing it in the right location to ensure all attendees in the room can see the online audience. You can even use multiple laptops connected to the meeting provided they are disconnected from audio. The ideal scenario is to hook up the laptop to a large display or a projector. This will provide the most immersive experience. In this example, the laptop is connected to a Cisco conference display. The final piece of equipment you require for an effective hybrid meeting is a sound system. Once again, if the laptop has decent speakers that can be heard by all the attendees in the room, that may be all you need. Alternatively, you can connect a large speaker to the laptop to provide beefier sound. Cheap speakers are available which you can connect either via Bluetooth or using the 3.5mm audio cable. In this scenario, the large display had built-in sound and that is what I used for this particular meeting. Thank you everyone once again who made today's meeting a success. Thank you everyone. I now adjourn this meeting. So there you have it. The tools and technology required to conduct an effective hybrid meeting. Feel free to experiment and implement what works for you and your club. But give hybrid meeting a try. I wish you all the best.