The idea of a hybrid event has taken hold of the performance and corporate event worlds, supported by amazing new and repurposed technologies that allow distributed production teams, artists, and presenters to serve up timely content and interactive experiences to people all over the world.

Presenters and teachers may now be speaking to some mix of live in-person, live online, future online audiences, with or without video and/or chat and/or social media interaction. I’d like to acknowledge that even two of these elements combined is a complex social activity. Creating a performance plan that acknowledges this social complexity can be helpful.

The scenario that got me parsing through this social complexity was the new challenge faced by my friend and student, Kara O’Toole, a terrific and accomplished yoga teacher at Tuladhara Studio. At the beginning of the stay-at-home order, Kara moved her teaching online, which meant a new need to both show movement and use verbal cues. Now that her city is slowly opening to in-person classes, she is teaching a mix of students in the studio and online. Managing these two audiences, plus thinking about the recordings that would be posted later, created a bit of a presentation puzzle. We talked about how to both support her in this complex task and to communicate more fully with her students.

Here are a few of the ideas that bubbled up.

Welcome and contextualize

It’s amazing what a simple, welcoming acknowledgement can do to foster an inclusive environment. Take a moment to verbally welcome both audiences to the experience, eg, “Hello, welcome to all of you at home, and to the three of you in the studio, how great that we get to practice together.” For Kara, building in just a couple more of these welcoming moments during her classes means that all students continue to feel included. I can also report that the recorded versions of classes feel more “live.”

Refresh the invitation

We’re social creatures. Even if the audience is a future audience, continuing to actively include them in your thoughts will add dimension to your presentation. In a way the intended audience is already a part of the show. If I try to pretend there is no audience, it will likely cause interference or internal conflict in myself that will be reflected in my performance. Actively inviting your audience into the experience will help you perform better, and will help people want to hear from you.

Remember you live in 3D

We imitate what we see. (Yay mirror neurons! Where would we be without you?) If you’re presenting at a computer, looking at a flat-ish thing, like a screen, you may start to behave as if you too are flat. Finding ways to remember that dimensionality can help us stay engaged and be more lively. Some quick ways to enliven that dimensionality are: 

• Put something fun and 3D between you and your screen or monitor. (I have a tiny plastic kangaroo that sits on my desk.)

• Look at the wall behind you in real-life and on screen and then again in real-life.

• If you are using Zoom or some other video conferencing, turn off self-view. This may help you be more conversational with your Zoommates.

Let the camera do its job

Once you’re happy with your angles and lighting, and you have your screens set up the way you like, let those light receptors in the camera do their thing. You cannot send yourself through the camera to your people. Your job is to communicate, and keep moving.

I think it is elegantly efficient that what helps us feel more ourselves is what helps us be better performers is what helps us communicate more effectively is what makes a better product.

Are you faced with new complexities? Book an inquiry call with me to see how you can create an actionable plan so that you can cooperate with your design and wishes so that you can do more of what you what you want to do.