Hi Peggy, I have generally discouraged my clients from doing it for all the reasons you said. But knowing what an experienced facilitator you are, I imagine you had very good reasons for trying it. Apart from what others have said I think the ‘solution’ is probably going to be technical. I might ask the client if they are willing to hire a tech/audio specialist. Possibly the following - should be possible to wire (bluetooth) a handheld microphone directly into Zoom in the big circle - good quality uni-directional microphone to go with each ‘travelling’ lap top, with Zoom buddy. Each Zoom buddy is ideally going to be an external person who is not being limited in their own participation. This probably also relies on venue acoustics which is not to ‘bouncy’. - if the group is willing, the group could use a ‘talking circle’ practice in each breakout, where the Talking Piece is a mobile phone connected to zoom. The phone could have a small external speaker so the person who is ‘zooming’ can be heard by the rest of the group.(if i were trying a hybrid, and there was a strong commitment by the group to supporting their external colleagues, I think this could work pretty well. Like a ‘workplace’ scenario. Michael Wood Melbourne www.openspacecoachingandfacilitation.com Ph. +61 435 065326 > On 19 Jan 2026, at 7:10 am, everyone-request@oslist.org wrote: > > Send OSList mailing list submissions to > everyone@oslist.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > body 'help' to > everyone-request@oslist.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > everyone-owner@oslist.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of OSList digest..."Today's Topics: > > 1. Question about slightly hybrid Open Spaces (Peggy Holman) > 2. Re: Question about slightly hybrid Open Spaces (Birgitt Williams) > 3. Re: Question about slightly hybrid Open Spaces (Kathy Minardi) > <mime-attachment> > <mime-attachment> > <mime-attachment> > OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org > To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org > See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org

i haven't had to think of this sort of arrangement for a while, but it occurs to me now that there might be something of a hybrid-hybrid possible. yes, there is fly in the the three outliers. there is do it all online. but it doesn't make sense to take away all the chatting and connecting of in-person because three can't join. why limit all those who can? but the hybrid hybrid might be that everyone is online, using one earbud. everyone could have their phones or laptops, move themselves between online breakouts, so they stay very aware of those spaces where the off-site folks are. but they also run around the physical space talking to each other face to face. it might be a little weird at first, but OS itself is a little weird at first, anyway. what i'm imagining this setup would solve is keeping all the benefits of f2f, keeping everyone in the room aware of where they are (who they're with online), and everyone online able to hear every person like it was just the two of them on the phone. i think if folks used zoom on phones for this, rather than laptops, this setup could walk out the door, down the street, split into three different lunch spots, regroup, go out to dinner together, retire to a quiet bar together. m -- Michael Herman Michael Herman Associates 312-280-7838 (mobile) MichaelHerman.com OpenSpaceWorld.org On Sun, Jan 18, 2026 at 2:15 PM Michael Wood via OSList <everyone@oslist.org> wrote: > Hi Peggy, > > I have generally discouraged my clients from doing it for all the reasons > you said. But knowing what an experienced facilitator you are, I imagine > you had very good reasons for trying it. > > Apart from what others have said I think the ‘solution’ is probably going > to be technical. I might ask the client if they are willing to hire a > tech/audio specialist. Possibly the following > > - should be possible to wire (bluetooth) a handheld microphone directly > into Zoom in the big circle > > - good quality uni-directional microphone to go with each ‘travelling’ lap > top, with Zoom buddy. Each Zoom buddy is ideally going to be an external > person who is not being limited in their own participation. This probably > also relies on venue acoustics which is not to ‘bouncy’. > > - if the group is willing, the group could use a ‘talking circle’ practice > in each breakout, where the Talking Piece is a mobile phone connected to > zoom. The phone could have a small external speaker so the person who is > ‘zooming’ can be heard by the rest of the group.(if i were trying a hybrid, > and there was a strong commitment by the group to supporting their external > colleagues, I think this could work pretty well. Like a ‘workplace’ > scenario. > > Michael Wood > Melbourne > www.openspacecoachingandfacilitation.com > Ph. +61 435 065326 > > > On 19 Jan 2026, at 7:10 am, everyone-request@oslist.org wrote: > > > > Send OSList mailing list submissions to > > everyone@oslist.org > > > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > > body 'help' to > > everyone-request@oslist.org > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > everyone-owner@oslist.org > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > > than "Re: Contents of OSList digest..."Today's Topics: > > > > 1. Question about slightly hybrid Open Spaces (Peggy Holman) > > 2. Re: Question about slightly hybrid Open Spaces (Birgitt Williams) > > 3. Re: Question about slightly hybrid Open Spaces (Kathy Minardi) > > <mime-attachment> > > <mime-attachment> > > <mime-attachment> > > OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org > > See the archives here: > https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org > OSList mailing list -- everyone@oslist.org > To unsubscribe send an email to everyone-leave@oslist.org > See the archives here: https://oslist.org/empathy/list/everyone.oslist.org