Onsite, Online, and Hybrid, Oh My!
In this week’s call, we cover tech, facilitation, and hybrid program design as we navigate the future of retreat centers. Our weekly Community Calls provide peer support, discussion forums and guest workshops for retreat center leaders and allied organizations.
Liz Walz, Arleen Peterson, Frank de Raffele, and Deepa Patel each share their experiences and insights.
These bookmarks allow you to jump to specific speakers.
10:20 upgrading Zoom tools in your facility (Arleen)
23:43 collaborative event planning (Liz)
34:04 learnings and challenges with hybrid facilitation (Frank)
51:31 community Q&A with peers
1:03:02 asking the big questions behind our programs (Deepa)
Key takeaways
Arleen Peterson at Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ
Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ is a Catholic institution that owns 1100 acres in northern Indiana, operates three centers: Lindenwood, MoonTree Studios, Illuminata House.
For hybrid programs, the biggest thing you need is the equipment
Consider your room size - how many will be participating in each session?
Our portable Zoom base includes:
TV with camera mounted on top
Conference room (we have 6 rooms, the largest fits 100 people)
iPad
Computer
Speaker system
Here’s a shopping list with pricing that Arleen created
The Zoom base
Is a little clunky, but does improve engagement with in-person group
Enables broader participation
Sophisticated audio system is already installed in the conference rooms
The additional speakers in the Zoom base help amplify the sound in the room
Tip: encourage remote participants to wear headphones for better sound, less noise
Typically the main presenter is on the TV, but if you need to see more people in the meeting, project the screen on the wall
Setup requires 1 or 2 people to manage tech / switch views
Liz Walz at Genesis Spirituality Center
Hybrid programming offers many different combinations
Each combo presents different challenges
Presenters onsite, and all participants remote
Participants onsite, and all presenters remote
Presenters both onsite and remote, with participants both onsite and remote
Tip: Begin sessions with a soothing moment in an anxious time
Embodied presence and participation is key to accessing spiritual quality of being together
Key questions for design:
Where is the focus? We’ve learned that cameras need to be pointed at both the presenter and the onsite participants to build shared presence with remote participants
Webinar (more formal, less interactive) or Meeting (more communal, informal)?
Do presenters want/need to be on-screen?
Lighting enhancements are often necessary
Sync sound from a laptop to the speakers in the room
Form a queue for the camera or microphone to be shared (line up to speak to the class)
Genesis mandated that all session links were no more than 50 minutes of talking. Need to take a stretch break in every virtual program
Encourage folks to go outside
Hybrid format for Breakout Rooms
Onsite retreatants would join Zoom individually via phone
Split into separate physical spaces to isolate audio
Converse with remote and onsite participants in a virtual Breakout Room
Frank de Raffele at Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing
Dharmakaya is based in Tibetan Buddhism, 90 acres, built in 2017, started programs in 2018, focus is meditation, yoga, reiki
Annual signature 5-day program is in September, typically live, but in Sept 2020 we offered it as a complex hybrid program
Hybrid = max 13 onsite
Challenges
Two simultaneous retreats, the onsite and the online
Multiple time zones, spanning 12 hours, with participants in Asia
Advantages
100+ retreatants overall
Global attendance
Concerns
Keeping online participants engaged
Keep it human-feeling
Enlisted tech professionals
Meeting vs. webinar - how interactive?
Pre-record portions?
Advance prep
Hired videographer
Boosted internet capacity and speed
Cam, mic, greenscreen, enormous tv
Slides for everything - intro, breakout rooms, etc.
Organized translators for Asia
Rehearse!
Key Learnings
Announce Announce Announce:
everything to people in the waiting room
Keep it moving
Explain and demonstrate everything
Stay connected
Keep practicing with tech
Keep switchovers as short as possible between speakers
Have a mailing list prepared to send the zoom link to participants at start of session
Deepa Patel at Zenith Institute
Ideas to keep the hybrid experience rich and engaging:
Connect by breath (sharing breath in the room to creating a chain of breath throughout the globe by virtual spaces)
Use more embodied practices in this globalized virtual space
The important question is “What do they really want to do? Do they know it?”
Then you can work out what technology you want to use (not the other way around)
What does this mean for your programming on all levels?
How do your values show through in your work?
How do we live life at this point with everything we are facing?
There’s a lot to learn about contemplative spaces and solutions that retreat centers can bring to technological advances
What we do with technology and embodiment as facilitators is so important
We need technology more and more to connect and do our work
This conversation can get us to where we’ve never been before
Find the niche that works for you
The Wisdom Way of Knowing by Cynthia Bourgeault
“How you get there is where you arrive” --Alice in Wonderland
Practice of retreat space infuses how we look at the world
What can you imagine as the impact of retreat centers in five years?
Ritual design courses at Stanford now
We already do this work at retreat centers
We can provide a sense of belonging--bridging virtual connections with physical spaces
If we get this programming piece right, people will feel built in to this connection/community
The hybrid space seems like the natural realization of our retreat centers' potential to help people bring the teachings/practices into their lives
What are people realizing they need in this new time?
Retreatants are much more discerning about where and when they’ll go on retreat. Climate change is a stronger factor in travel decisions
Looking for spaces to hold grief and loss
Creating retreat space in the home — connecting practices to lifestyle
Detailed notes/audio from today’s Community Call are available as open access files.