Idea submitted by President Dabney Tompkins and written by Charity Kuahiwinui

More and more activities are returning to some semblance of “normal” these days and at Host2Host, we would love nothing more than to see all of your bright, cheery faces in person again. That said, we understand that some folks are unable to or uncomfortable rejoining in-person activities so we’ve been experimenting with ways to offer a hybrid experience to be as inclusive as possible. 

Experimentation
Our Board of Directors has been trying a few ways to make our meetings engaging to both in-person and remote participants. At our multi-day Board retreat in January, we tried a few different approaches to including those who couldn’t make it “live” to the event and found it to be a resounding success. By having plenty of laptops set up to capture the in-person activity visually, the remote-based folks were able to feel as though they were in the room. With one computer showing video of all participants and a few others focused expressly on the remote joiners, plus only one computer picking up audio, in-person guests were easily able to be heard and feel connected to everyone in the meeting. 

Expectation
We are excited to be able to offer a return to in-person events more regularly in 2023 and are hopeful for at least a handful of get-togethers from April - October. Most of these events will include an online component, so if you can’t make it in person, you can still participate and contribute your ideas. I’m sure our approach will continue to be refined, and we look forward to your suggestions after each event to help us get even better! Hope to “see” you there!