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Every company is asking the same question: does it make sense to meet in person, or can we handle this online? The right answer depends on what you expect from the event. And most people have not thought it through clearly before sending the invitation.

First, an uncomfortable truth about online meetings

Online meetings are more convenient. Nobody travels, nobody hunts for parking, costs are lower and more meetings fit into the calendar. But convenient and effective are not the same thing.

People in online meetings are physically present, but their attention is split. Hidden behind a turned-off camera, they check emails, reply to messages, eat lunch. Discussion does not develop naturally. Only one person speaks at a time while the others wait. The ideas that emerge spontaneously at a whiteboard or over coffee simply do not happen on a Teams call.

Research backs this up: studies consistently show that the majority of employees admit to multitasking during virtual sessions. That is not a character flaw, it is what happens when the environment does not demand full presence.

This does not mean online is wrong. It means it has its time and place, and mixing up the two formats costs companies more than they realise.

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What happens in-person that online cannot replace

Discussion and decision-making

Participants at in-person events engage in discussion far more actively. They are not distracted by their home environment or office inbox. They respond to each other’s body language. Debate develops naturally, ideas build on each other, and decisions that would take three online meetings to reach are made on the day.

Networking and relationship-building

The most valuable conversations do not happen during the agenda. They happen during the coffee break, over lunch, or in the five minutes after the session ends. An idea mentioned in passing, a contact exchanged in person, trust built through eye contact. These are things that online environments systematically eliminate. And yet they are precisely why companies invest in bringing people together in the first place.

Focus and presence

In-person events have one hidden advantage: they remove people from their usual environment. Participants are not in their office, their next meeting is not visible in the corner of the screen, and they cannot quickly reply to one email. They are here. And that shows in the results.

When hybrid format makes sense

A hybrid event, some participants in the room, others joining online, is not a compromise or a cheaper substitute. It is a deliberate decision that some people have the right to stay informed, even when they cannot physically attend.

In practice, hybrid attendance is most often used by parents on parental leave who want to stay connected with what is happening in the company, by people caring for elderly relatives or those with medical needs who cannot leave home, and by colleagues from other cities or countries for whom travel would be disproportionate to the length or nature of the event.

For those who cannot attend even online, because caring responsibilities simply do not allow focused viewing, we offer a recording of the event. They watch it when they have the space to do so, and stay informed even when they could not be present at all.

A real story from academy HUB

When hybrid format saves an entire working day

Some time ago, something happened that no event organiser wants to experience. Thirty employees of one of our clients arrived at academy HUB in the morning for a planned training session. The trainer – a specialist flying in from Italy – was not there. The previous day, his flight had been cancelled due to a storm at the airport.

It could have been a lost day for thirty people. It was not. The trainer connected online during the morning, the room had the necessary equipment, and the training went ahead. Thirty participants sat together in the room; the trainer led the session from a screen. It was not ideal. But thirty people’s time was saved.

Hybrid format is not just a buzzword. It is a contingency plan for situations you did not plan for.

When online is genuinely enough

There is no need to meet in person for every occasion. Online format makes clear sense in the following situations:

• Short information updates. The purpose is to pass on information, not to discuss it. The session runs under thirty minutes and the flow is one-directional. Nobody is making decisions, they are simply being told what is happening.
• Recurring status meetings. The team reports on task progress and the manager listens. No strategic decisions, no debate about direction. Purely operational.
• Follow-up meetings after an in-person event. Outcomes were agreed at the previous session. This is simply a check on progress. Relationships are already built, context is already shared.
• International teams with significant travel costs. If getting participants from multiple countries to the same room would take longer or cost more than the event itself justifies, online is the rational choice.
• Webinars and one-directional presentations. Pure educational content where participants do not need to interact with each other. The presenter speaks, others listen and ask questions in the chat.

A simple rule for choosing the right format

Before confirming the invitation, ask one question: Are we expecting a decision, a discussion or relationship-building from this event?

If yes, meet in person. The in-person format will deliver better results, faster, with outcomes that last longer than the meeting notes.

If no, online is sufficient. You will save time and cost, and the outcome will be the same.

Choose hybrid when some participants genuinely cannot attend in person, but their presence – even online – has value for them or for the company.

Running hybrid events at academy HUB

Hybrid format stands or falls on the quality of the space and equipment. A room where half the participants are squinting at a small laptop in the corner is not a hybrid event, it is an in-person event with an online viewer.

At academy HUB, our rooms are equipped for full hybrid events: quality screens, cameras and microphones that cover the entire room, and a reliable connection you can count on. Online participants see and hear everything happening in the room and the facilitator can work with them just as actively as with those present in person.

If you are planning an in-person training session, a workshop or a hybrid event in Prague, Brno or Karlovy Vary, we are happy to show you our spaces or advise on the format.

The format of your event is a strategic decision

Choosing between in-person, online and hybrid is not just a question of convenience or budget. It is a decision about what you expect from the event and whether that format can actually deliver it.

In-person events cost more. But they return that investment in the form of better decisions, stronger relationships and results that outlast the meeting notes. Online saves time and money where the outcome is information, not change. And hybrid format (done properly) can bridge both without leaving anyone behind.