Hybrid Presbytery Meeting – How We Did It

There are many challenges to creating community when one group is in person and another is online, whether it is worship, a session meeting, or a presbytery meeting. A number of people have asked about the technology behind September’s hybrid presbytery meeting. Here is our set-up.

Sound: Good sound is the most important part of any hybrid set-up and it was the thing that gave us the most troubles. In an ideal scenario, sound would enter the system through a single source (microphones) and would be fed to speakers for the in person audience and to a computer for the online audience. Initially we tried this set-up but were not able to make it work with the existing equipment. Our backup plan (always have a backup) made use of the built in microphones on the video cameras for the online audience. Audio from Zoom was routed out of the computer and into the sound system so everyone in the room could hear.

Video: The video for the zoom feed was provided by two high definition camcorders connected to an AVMatrix video switcher. This particular video switcher connects to the computer using a USB cable and is detected as a standard web camera. Once I selected the camera in Zoom I used the switcher to make sure the people online could always see the person speaking no matter where they were in the room.

Projection: Another piece of the puzzle was making sure the people in person could see the people online. Using a projector as a second computer monitor, the Zoom gallery view was projected onto  a screen in the front of the room. When individuals made presentations from zoom the presenter view was used instead.

Shared Screens: The last thing we had to figure out was what to do about the meeting slides and videos. Fortunately, we found a simple solution. The slides were all done from a second computer (Sonja) that was connected to a second projector. When Sonja shared her screen on zoom, it was also projected onto the screen in the room. The audio was then played through zoom and through the room speakers.

Bringing it all together: In order to make sure it didn’t feel like an in person meeting watching a video or an online meeting watching an in person event, the people leading the meeting intentionally alternated between Zoom and the room. They also included people in person and on zoom in worship leadership. The goal was to make everyone feel they were part of the gathering, regardless of their location. We think it worked out pretty well for everyone.

As you can see, there are a lot of details but with a little planning, you can make hybrid work for you. If you have any questions, please contact Steve (steveh@highlandspresbyterynj.org).