“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.” — Steve Jobs (1955–2011), Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc.

Hybrid and virtual meetings have become a permanent part of technical work, bringing together team members, clients, and stakeholders from around the world.

Technical professionals who adapt their communication style to these environments can improve collaboration, build stronger relationships, and ensure their technical expertise has a greater impact.

What follows are three ways to adapt your communication style to hybrid and virtual meetings:

Design Your Communication for Both In-Person and Remote Participants

A hybrid meeting should provide an equally valuable experience for everyone, regardless of where they are located.

Address both in-room and remote participants by making eye contact with the camera, acknowledging online attendees, and avoiding side conversations that exclude them.

Speak clearly and at a measured pace because microphones often reduce vocal clarity and make technical terminology harder to understand.

Pause briefly after important points to compensate for audio delays and allow participants time to process complex information.

When presenting technical material, verbally describe charts, diagrams, and demonstrations instead of assuming everyone can see the details.

This practice improves accessibility and keeps remote attendees fully engaged throughout the discussion.

When designing your communication for hybrid meetings, you may need to make compromises in how you design and present your slides.

Your goal should be to provide the same experience to in-person and remote participants as much as possible.

One way to adapt your communication style for hybrid and virtual meetings is to design it for both in-person and remote participants.

Another way is to encourage participation rather than delivering a monologue.

Encourage Participation Instead of Delivering a Monologue

Virtual and hybrid meetings become more productive when participants contribute equally, whether in person or remotely, rather than simply listening.

Ask open-ended questions, invite opinions, and periodically check that everyone understands key concepts before moving forward.

Use collaboration tools such as polls, chat, digital whiteboards, or shared documents to encourage interaction.

Although these cater to remote participants, you can design these tools so they can be used by in-person participants on their cell phones.

These features provide opportunities for quieter participants to contribute ideas they might hesitate to share verbally.

Regularly invite remote participants to speak before taking comments from those in the room. This emphasizes to them that they are equal participants in the meeting.

This simple habit prevents virtual attendees from feeling overlooked and creates a more balanced conversation.

It is difficult to include remote participants when there are many of them. You need to pay extra attention to them and include as many people in the discussion as possible.

Two ways to adapt your communication style for hybrid and virtual meetings are to design it for both in-person and remote participants and encourage participation rather than deliver a monologue.

A third way is to prepare your technology carefully as your presentation.

Prepare Your Technology as Carefully as Your Presentation

Even an excellent presentation can lose credibility if technical issues disrupt the flow.

I was delivering a presentation at a conference recently. I failed to check whether my slides would be properly displayed on the audiovisual computer.

The text on my slides was washed out. I took out my “top hat and cane” and “danced” through the presentation. The audience appreciated how I adapted to this unforeseen circumstance. The show must go on.

Test your microphone, camera, internet connection, screen sharing, and presentation software well before the meeting begins. I recommend doing this a few days before your presentation.

Position your camera at eye level and ensure your face is well lit so participants can easily read your facial expressions.

Good audio quality is even more important than video quality because audiences will tolerate imperfect visuals far more readily than poor sound.

Have a backup plan in case technology fails, such as a second internet connection, a printed outline, or an alternate device.

Being prepared allows you to remain calm and professional while minimizing disruptions. Audiences appreciate your ability to adapt to unforeseen situations.

Three ways to adapt your communication style for hybrid and virtual meetings are to (1) design it for both in-person and remote participants, (2) encourage participation rather than deliver a monologue, and (3) prepare your technology carefully as your presentation.

Effective communication in hybrid and virtual meetings requires more than technical knowledge—it requires intentional engagement, thoughtful facilitation, and reliable technology.

Technical professionals who communicate inclusively, encourage participation, and prepare thoroughly will make a stronger impression, build greater trust, and achieve better results regardless of where their audience is located.

Hybrid and virtual meetings will be with us for quite some time.

Learning to excel in both cases will make your presentations more successful.

Call to Action

• Address both in-room and remote participants by making eye contact with the camera, acknowledging online attendees, and avoiding side conversations that exclude them.

• Ask open-ended questions, invite opinions, and periodically check that everyone understands key concepts before moving forward.

• Test your microphone, camera, internet connection, screen sharing, and presentation software well before the meeting begins. I recommend doing this a few days before your presentation.

“Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts.” — Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747), French moralist, essayist, and philosopher

References

• Gallo, Carmine. Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2014. Carmine Gallo is a communication coach and bestselling author specializing in leadership communication. His work emphasizes concise messaging, audience engagement, storytelling, and presentation techniques that improve both in-person and virtual presentations.

• Reynolds, Garr. Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. 3rd ed. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2020. Garr Reynolds is an internationally recognized presentation consultant and former Apple executive. He advocates simplicity, visual clarity, conversational delivery, and audience-centered communication—principles that apply directly to hybrid and virtual meetings.

• Duarte, Nancy. Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform Audiences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Nancy Duarte is founder and CEO of Duarte, Inc., one of the world’s leading presentation design firms. Her research demonstrates how audience-focused messaging, storytelling, and purposeful visuals create engaging presentations across both physical and virtual environments.

• Harvard Business Review. Neeley, Tsedal. “15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered.” Harvard Business Review, January 16, 2020. Tsedal Neeley is the Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and an internationally recognized expert on remote work and global collaboration. She discusses best practices for virtual communication, inclusive participation, and maintaining engagement in distributed teams.

• Microsoft. Work Trend Index Annual Report 2024: AI at Work Is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part. Microsoft Corporation, 2024. Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index draws on surveys of tens of thousands of workers, Microsoft 365 productivity signals, and LinkedIn labor-market data. The report highlights the importance of effective communication, inclusive meeting practices, and collaboration skills in hybrid workplaces supported by digital technologies.

Being a confident, engaging, and effective STEM speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent STEM speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at [email protected] or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks