We’ve all heard how Design Sprints can transform the way companies can work better — from solving big business challenges quickly to refining company processes to launching innovative ideas. 

Now, as companies adjust to survive and thrive in the pandemic-impacted world, Design Sprints are more important than ever. They were originally created to be done in person, but the working world changed in ways no one anticipated in 2020, and most businesses were forced to adapt to the virtual landscape. In response, facilitators had to rethink how to run workshops like Design Sprints with a distributed team. 

We’re currently facing another shift as many companies are considering a hybrid workplace, and workshop facilitation must adapt to accommodate hybrid events. In fact, prior to last year’s lockdown, Voltage Control had only ever facilitated one hybrid Design Sprint. After everything we’ve experienced over the past 18 months, however, we expect hybrid Design Sprints to become more commonplace.

How a hybrid Design Sprint differs from an in-person one

In theory, how a hybrid Design Sprint happens is not tremendously different from a more traditional in-person Design Sprint. While hybrid sprints require a bit more preparation — and technology — the overall framework is the same. At Voltage Control, we follow the five-day methodology established by Jake Knapp at Google Ventures:

• Monday Map the problem space.
• Tuesday Sketch big ideas, and take risks.
• Wednesday Decide on a solution and create a step-by-step plan.
• Thursday Build a prototype experience.
• Friday Test with real users and observe.

To be honest, the most obvious change in the shift to hybrid is using an online collaboration space like Mural vs. placing sticky notes on a whiteboard (more on that later). For the most part, thanks to advances in video conferencing, almost everything else can happen as it would’ve in 2019 — with an important schedule adjustment. 

Any Design Sprint with a distributed team, whether remote or hybrid, must move at a slower pace to accommodate remote attendees and give them the best experience possible. You don’t want distributed participants to spend more than four hours on Zoom as being chained to a desk and laptop for any longer can stifle focus and participation. Therefore, you must adapt the Sprint agenda for all attendees. This could mean supplementing shorter live-working sessions with asynchronous work that all attendees can complete no matter where they are (and on their own time). 

How to prepare for a hybrid Design Sprint

As companies reopen their offices, it’s a given that some employees will be hesitant to return. Their reasoning, however, will be radically different. Some won’t be comfortable complying with a mandatory vaccination policy while others won’t want to give up the comfort (and flexibility) of working from home. And those are just two of the many reasons people may not be eager to return to the workplace.

A hybrid Design Sprint can accommodate those who want to be in office and those who don’t. It’ll just require a little more forethought to ensure things run smoothly and no one feels left out. First, make a list of your ideal participants then verify who can attend in person and who will attend remotely. Next, think about the geographic alignment of these participants. Finally, identify the physical locations that will be required to meet in person. 

Knowing all of this will help you book any necessary physical meeting spaces, set up an appropriate number of video conferencing rooms, source the necessary A/V equipment and use physical proximity to determine the team structure for breakout sessions. As you can see, accommodating everyone’s needs will require detailed planning. This careful attention, however, will show that you equally value what everyone — regardless of their location — has to contribute.

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How to run a hybrid Design Sprint

The one hybrid Design Sprint Voltage Control conducted pre-pandemic was a last-minute change due to an employee’s sudden inability to travel to the meeting site. We managed it OK (and have learned how to adequately adapt since then). We diligently repeated things and drew our remote attendee into the conversation. We also had to adapt our facilitation approach when we got to heat mapping the sketches on Day 3. Our prototyper simply held a camera phone up to the wall so the remote attendee could let her know where to place dots on the sketches. 

Conducting this impromptu hybrid Design Sprint taught us an important lesson about inclusion. To foster connectivity with those not in the room, it’s a good idea to have more than one facilitator. In the above instance, I deputized the prototyper — who had facilitation experience — to stay on top of chat messages from the remote attendee so their comments weren’t ignored in favor of what those in the room were saying. 

This is why I recommend every hybrid Design Sprint has one facilitator for each physical environment and one facilitator for the virtual environment. I also suggest the co-facilitators have a separate online collaboration space where they can communicate or coordinate both prior to and during the sprint. Before the Sprint occurs, they can use this space to get in sync about the arc of the event, the necessary preparations, the potential pitfalls, and everyone’s individual roles. During the Sprint, the facilitators can use this same space to chat with each other about what cameras should be used, what mics should be muted, etc. 

The tools you’ll need to succeed

To make sure you’re capturing what’s happening in the rooms — and giving those who are remotely participating a way to engage — here are the tools and gear we recommend:

Video conferencing platforms

While you’ve likely used Zoom, Google Meet, and Webex in the past, there are also upstarts like Butter. While none of these are perfect solutions — we’d love to pin multiple feeds so we could specifically monitor those not in the room — each service has useful features.

Online collaboration spaces

While participants will each work on their own laptops, we also recommend the use of a virtual whiteboard like Mural or Miro. Working in tandem or asynchronously, each team member will be able to see what everyone else is doing — no matter where they are.

Project management software

While we’re partial to Trello here at Voltage Control, we’ve also used Basecamp, Asana, and Monday. Some of these services have steeper learning curves than others, so make sure you choose the one that works for the majority of your team.

Omnidirectional microphones

An omnidirectional mic ensures remote participants hear everything that’s said in the room. For a large conference room, you’ll want to link two of them together (positioning each towards the ends of the table). While Webex sells its own A/V gear, the Blue Yeti Microphone and Jabra Speakerphones are also worth considering.

Check out our free guides for even more advice

For additional insights on how to execute hybrid Design Sprints, I encourage you to download our 21-page Hybrid Work Guide. It goes beyond what’s above and covers much of what you’ll need to know to establish a hybridized workplace. We also have a Remote Design Sprint 101 Guide that can help you plan for the remote attendee experience. If you have any questions after reading — or want to schedule a consultation — you can contact us at hello@voltagecontrol.com.

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If you are thinking about running a hybrid workshop, there’s a lot to consider. The hybrid landscape is a new frontier for event facilitators and attendees alike; therefore, putting on a hybrid workshop will require a different approach and mindset than an in-person or virtual one. It will also require alternative tools and methods to create an equal and engaging experience for all attendees–no matter if they’re in the physical workshop room or Zoom room. 

The priority of any workshop should be to engage participants and help them get the most out of their experience to make a lasting impact. Focusing on connection in a hybrid workshop is even more important as you must create an environment that bridges the two worlds and equally supports in-person and remote attendees. People come first. Everything else trickles down from there. With that being said, the right tools and processes are also essential for a hybrid workshop to exist. 

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Hybrid Workshop Tools & Processes 

The proper tools and processes are a critical component of hybrid workshops–both practically to run an event smoothly and strategically to bring all participants together. A hybrid environment is more complex than an in-person or virtual one; therefore, a hybrid workshop will also be. That’s because you have two different types of attendees to consider: those in the physical room and those dialing in virtually, and you want an equal experience for everyone. Prep will require much more time to adequately organize all attendees and set them up with everything they need to thrive. First, you’ll need to decide on the event platform that will support all of your workshop’s needs:

• Live streaming support
• Integrations that offer the highest production quality
• Networking capabilities that allow easy attendee engagement
• Management capacity to run the event smoothly behind the scenes

Then consider the scene from which you’ll run the event:

• Will you be on a stage with cameras to capture the experience?
• Will you be in an office and operate more like a typical video conferencing call?
• Decide the best scenario that supports the event–from the background to the props that will appear in the frame–then gather the materials you need to bring it to life. 

While tech and hardware are the lifelines that make a hybrid event possible, the biggest challenge with remote or hybrid work of any kind is genuine connection. It’s the essential missing element of in-person connection that cannot be replaced by technology–no matter how innovative. There is no substitute for human interaction. To provide the same fidelity of experience for both in-person and remote attendees, you’ll need a tool that supports collaboration, like the virtual tool MURAL. We personally like MURAL at Voltage Control because it’s a customizable virtual whiteboard that supports interactive and collaborative work with a distributed team. Everyone can work together in one visual space, and you can create your own templates to support your specific needs. It helps to bridge the gap between being apart and working together, no matter where you are. For this reason, it’s a great tool for hybrid workshops.

Pro-tip: Check out our MURAL Cheat Sheet for a quick reference of how to use MURAL.

One method to foster connection with distributed participants is to have everyone join the meeting the same way or work together in the same place. Have everyone join the meeting on their own devices via a video conferencing tool like Zoom. This creates a more even playing field for remote participants; when everyone joins the workshop in the same way, there is a smaller feeling of division. Having everyone use MURAL via their own devices to work together is also an effective way to create connection and community. All participants can see each other’s work in real-time no matter where they are physically. 

Once you have your decided tools and location, you must set up attendees before the workshop begins. Preparing attendees may include:

• In-person walkthroughs to set the scene and ready cameras
• Lighting and other production gear
• Virtual walkthroughs on the virtual event platform to teach remote attendees how to navigate the space

If the workshop requires attendees to have certain materials to participate, please send them out in advance. This will ensure all attendees are on the same page before the workshop begins.

Hybrid Distribution

Hand-in-hand with tools and processes is the distribution of attendees and how they’re configured. There are endless configuration possibilities for a hybrid workshop. Here are a few examples: 

• 2 in-person workshop spaces with 10 attendees in each, 1 facilitator in each; 5 remote attendees
• Facilitators are in person and all attendees are remote
• 1 in-person workshop space with 1 facilitator & 10 attendees; 10 remote attendees

Note that it’s just as important to consider the configuration of facilitators as it is for attendees. You must decide where you’ll need facilitators and how many. For example, as in the second configuration above, you could have three facilitators in the same physical room, all with specific jobs, to backchannel together while the participants are remote. This could be a cool experience to lead and navigate the workshop with co-facilitators in person. All facilitators would be on the same page, and the focus of connection would then be on creating an excellent experience for all remote attendees. 

You can also use the distribution of attendees to your advantage. For example, are people who need to be together already in the same room? In this case, a lot of the leg work is already done to foster connection amongst attendees. The people who need to be connected have the advantage of being physically together. You could even have a facilitator in each room to help the groups navigate the conversation/work. Then it’s about effectively communicating each distributed group’s work to the other groups.

While there are copious permutations, keep in mind that each one is unique and will require different considerations and approaches. We’ll never have an exhaustive list of every possible configuration. The important thing is that you consider:

• How are people distributed?
• How is the environment shaped?
• What issues might arise and how might that benefit you?

Hybrid Workshop Resources

In sum, when planning a hybrid workshop, map out:

1. How your attendees are distributed
2. Where facilitators will be and how many are required
3. How collaboration will flow
4. What tech is required to make it happen
5. How the environment is shaped
6. Your point(s) of engagement

Then, when it’s time to start thinking about the experience. Check out our Workshop Design Templates to help guide you through the process. You can also find more information about running effective hybrid workshops, meetings, and events (including more configurations) in our free Hybrid Work Guide. Interested in talking to us about how you can effectively run a hybrid meeting or event? Let’s chat.

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