HSG MBA and the Era of Hybrid
Last month I had the pleasure and an honor to teach at one of the most prestigious Universities in Switzerland - the St Gallen MBA. I am a lifelong student and as an alum, it cannot get any better than re-connecting with current students and other alumni by offering them my knowledge "from the fields".
The course "Customer-centricity and Marketing Analytics" ran for 3,5 days in a hybrid format and 21 current students and alumni were able to participate. What a joy was it to be connecting in a live physical environment again!
However, the highlight for me (apart from an immensely rewarding feeling of teaching, especially at this University) was a hybrid format of the class - half of the participants were actually sitting in the room and half decided to join remotely.
Now that several companies have already interviewed me about this new practice, I decided to share a few tips with the readers of this blog too:
apart from being a presenter, you will likely also feel like a TV show host :)
you'll need to get to used to the mic, to be "on mic" and "off mic" (and remember not to say anything embarrassing when you're on mic)
you'll need to master the art of frequently looking in different directions and points - people's eyes in the audience, a TV screen with the online participants, and a camera (it's tricky and tempting to be willing to only look at the TV screen though!)
you might likely have a specially designated area, in which you're advised to move and not step out of, else you won't be visible for the camera
you'll need to masterfully engage people in both audiences, sometimes giving a bit more attention to your "digital tribe", for example, by answering their questions first
In terms of technological setup we ended up with: a projector + a screen, 2 TV screens - one showing the online participants and another duplicates the large screen, 2 cameras - one to focus on the presenter and another to show the room, 2 microphones - one for the presenter and another for the audience.
All in all, it looks like hybrid is here to stay due to its flexibility and safety. So why don't we begin adapting to it right away? Good luck with your interactive experiments and if you need any support or recommendations, just get in touch with me. I'll be delighted to hear from you.