Are hybrid meetings the big topic at your guild meetings? I want to share as much info as possible with you about recent (March-October 2021) discussions among guild reps. We’ve been talking about:
- in-person guild events
- virtual guild events (let’s assume we’re talking about Zoom)
- what volunteers are capable of and/or willing to do
- equipment (new info October 2021)
- facilities that are no longer available to the guild
- “what we want” versus “what’s possible”, especially regarding regulations and facilities
- members who want to continue using Zoom because it’s their only social connection
Regarding HYBRID Meetings: there are too many complicated factors for ANY instructions on holding hybrid meetings. Your BEST option is to either buy or find a location that offers an OWL Device. Trust me, it’s the solution that will build your guild.
Guilds that are offering “A La Carte” meetups and activities are on a path of accommodation, adaptation and membership growth.
Let’s talk about that first. What are a la carte activities? They are multiple activities that are either in-person meetups or virtual meetups but they don’t try to combine the two. It’s the easiest way to succeed right now for very many traditional guilds.
By offering A La Carte Activities the guild acknowledges and accepts the differences between its member and their meeting needs and helps them experience meeting in ways that are best suited to them. Guilds can offer as many meetups and get-togethers, virtually and in-person, as their volunteers are willing to coordinate. Members choose the opportunities that suit them best, just like dining at a buffet or off an “a la carte’ menu.
Guilds may adapt and add new menu items (let’s add “machine quilting Wednesday” for example), they’ll take away the stale and ignored items, and watch membership happily grow and thrive. Guilds that are doing this right now are seeing membership growth. That means it works!
A La Carte means as many meetups as your members want:
- in-person {in-park or picnic style show and tells}
- parking lot meetups such as ‘Trunk Treasure jumble sales’
- informal sit & sews (virtual and in person)
- virtual board meetings (almost all guilds are doing this)
- fewer all-membership meetings (some guilds only meet quarterly, some bi-annually)
- split attendance meetups. Some guilds do business and show and tell in person, programs and challenges virtually. Only your guild can choose what’s best for your own Guild A La Carte Menu.
Why hybrid meetings are not easy: it takes a lot of work and coordination of equipment that your guild or facility may not have or the facility may not be willing to let your guild use. Volunteers may not be willing to learn more about using or running unfamiliar equipment (this is almost the universal consensus among the members I talk to – they’ve done enough and aren’t interested in tackling hybrid meetings). Site bandwidth issues are important to understand and you may not be able to control them. Microphone/sound issues are critical for a successful meeting and take experience and training to use, set up and funnel through a sound board. Professional program speakers may not want to appear both in-person and on Zoom (I’ve seen it done and heard them say “never again“). For a really good look at what it takes to create (technology only) hybrid meetings please watch the Rotary, International videos on YouTube.
October update: I’ve been to MANY hybrid meetings recently and only ONE was good. I’ve heard MANY reviews from attendees of hybrid meetings and 99% were NOT happy with the experience. The ONE good hybrid meeting that I attended that was done well was in a new facility that had an OWL DEVICE that managed the meeting via Zoom and in the room. The presenter was on Zoom, projected on a large screen and there were about 15 in-person and 15 on Zoom. The device was the key and the price tag for that device is $1,000 or more, depending on the model. The facility owned the device and allowed the guild to use it. Truthfully, many guilds can afford the device when you weigh the cost versus the cost of bringing in just ONE national teachers, with fees and travel expenses. Check out their YouTube for a better understanding. Here’s a link to the OWL on Amazon, where it has over 300 5 star reviews: https://amzn.to/3n7sAQA (this is an affiliate link).
Many guilds put in the effort to create a hybrid meeting only to find that members are not quite as enthusiastic to attend in person as they claim to be when it comes to actually attending. Hands are raised, numbers are counted and plans put forward, however cancellations happen and attendance isn’t always as high as expected. This is normal. No guild gets 100% attendance at meetings.
Keep in mind costs, efforts and attendance when planning a hybrid meeting and balance them for the majority of participating members, based on your volunteer pool and technology resources. Is all the work the best use of your volunteers?
Guilds are partnering with churches that are using virtual broadcast equipment when possible. Some guilds are hiring local media students to help with equipment and meetings. Are your volunteers eager to do the work? Is the equipment available up to the task? Tammy T. related a great story on a fairly new projector that produced disappointing and unacceptable results. Test, practice and test some more, she advises. Do you have a back-up plan? Cindy G.’s guild was all ready to go but they could not get the sound to work via Zoom. My best advice: If your guild MUST pursue a hybrid meeting, find a facility that has an OWL and rent their room. Even if you only use it for a year, you’ll save effort and frustration and please as many members as possible.
A good number of guilds have seen great participation in virtual meetups because:
- members are homebound or caring for someone who is homebound – in fact I often hear the quote “the Zoom meetings are a lifeline for me!” from guild members relating how successful using Zoom has been for some members
- members are snowbirds and unable to travel to their summer/winter guild
- they no longer drive or they don’t drive at night
- they have moved away but love being back with their friends
- they prefer to have their things around them.
- Programs are universally applauded in the virtual format because everyone can see details as if they were in the front row of the presentation
- Guild members love being able to “click and transport” themselves to a meetup without any travel time
- Guilds are able to bring in speakers from all over the country and world because they don’t have to pay travel expenses
- Many guilds are hosting virtual sew-in weekends, virtual retreats and other events that are very well received.
Guilds are using local presenters for in-person meetups (local charity recipients, local quilt shop owners, local teachers, guild member presentations, guild member trunk shows) and hosting national virtual presenters for programs, alternating them every other month or as their budget allows.
The content on this webpage will continue to be updated (as other web pages here are) with new information when any is available. Please subscribe to the Newsletter or join the Guild To Guild Network to stay up to date. Please share your story and advice – MMQuilts @ gmail.com [take out spaces] ~Marguerita All material is copyrighted (c) to Marguerita McManus, May 2021 Do not copy without explicit permission. Links to products are those highly endorsed by experienced users and may contain affiliate commissions.
