UKC

Does anyone have experience running or attending a "blended" club AGM?  ie some attendance in person and some virtual.  Any comments or tips?  Pros/cons?  I see that the AAC lectures are going to be blended.  What technology works best?

Not AGMs, but in business meetings, those physically present sit in front of a laptop with Teams on, and discussion mainly happens via the laptop.

Worked OK

I can see that working well for a handful of people.

Not AGMs, but I've been doing some teaching like that, catering to students who can't come in because they are isolating. It's stressful, but it does kind of work.

I use Zoom - not sure if it's the best, but it's the University-mandated option for online teaching. Project my screen on the projector for those in the room, and also share it for those on Zoom - sometimes needs some faffing around with resolution to make it work for everyone. I always make slides available to download as well in case there are problems for those who are remote. I use a headset to be sure those who are remote can hear me properly.

It's really helpful to have a helping hand who can monitor Zoom for hands up/chat comments etc. It's really hard to keep an eye on a room full of people as well as Zoom.

That only works if everybody is using headsets; otherwise, if people are using normal mikes and speakers (e.g. ones built into the laptop) it's audio chaos if more than one person ever wants to speak.

It can work, it just needs a bit more management of how things operate, ie someone has the floor for a while, then comments from the room, then questions from online use a react or hand up function and go round.

To answer the OP - Zoom works pretty well for this, as for ancillary tech it depends a bit on how many people are there. I've done something like this for an event with two cameras (connected via USB, can change between them using the drop-down menu in Zoom) and a PA system with a couple of mics to hand around. If you're adding any tech on the audio side it's very important to not send the Zoom sound back to itself, it can be helpful to draw a picture of how things will all connect and interface 

Based on my direct experience using MS Teams for hybrid meetings, it doesn't work if more than one person in the same room has their laptop speakers on and their mike open - you get bad audio effects.

yes, needs to be very strictly one device on per room (unless the second has audio disabled, or one is being used for mic and the other speakers etc). It's definitely useful to have someone responsible for the streaming bit poised to mute anyone who's causing feedback or unhelpful background noise

We did a club social / slideshow thing like this last month. Used Zoom. One laptop and a projector in a room with the audience. Another dozen people remote. Zoom does all the clever screen sharing and switching focus for you. 

We initially tried two laptops but the sound all goes wrong.

One laptop and one audio output. Suggest mini speakers would be best. We used the projector inbuilt speakers and they weren’t brilliant. 

Obviously you need reliable and decent WiFi for it to work properly.

I think it works better if the dialled in folk are on a big telly, helps give them more presence. Easier to be ignored on a 15” screen.

My experience of blended is it's very good until any discussion.

The trick is to ensure those of online can hear the presenter and any questions/comment (2nd microphone) and someone monitoring the online chat to allow questions to be raised (mute otherwise).

I've not used it, but others in my work have raved about using an owl for blended meetings.

https://uk-shop.owllabs.com/

I've attended a few both in the room and joining from the virtual end using microsoft teams. google meetings and zoom.

They all work well if the chair is strong and retains control, nut like most meetings become chaotic if the chair is weak.

It is useful to have someone in the real meeting watching the screen for questions from the virtual attendees and feeding this information to the chair.

Interesting.  Friends in the NHS have told me the same thing