Innovative Pitching: How Hybrid Presentations Shape Healthcare Funding Decisions

A healthcare research body wanted to review multiple applications for funding in a 'Dragons den' style pitch, where each four person team of applicants had the daunting prospect of pitching their ideas to the fifteen person decision making panel.

They were running two simultaneous panels in adjacent rooms, and it was a packed program over two days, with meeting following meeting throughout the program in order to fit all the applicants in.

Each team was allowed precisely 8 minutes of presentation, with a further 20 minutes to answer probing questions from various members of the panel.

The meetings were a mix of in person and virtual presentations on Zoom, but one team of four were not all able to attend in person, so whilst two were able to present in person,  a further two attended on Zoom for a truly hybrid presentation.

It sounds complicated, but the reality was surprisingly simple.

We had one camera at the front of the room pointing toward the panel, and a second camera (on the right in the photo below) pointing toward the front of the room to pick up the two in person presenters.

Each camera was connected to its own laptop, and both laptops joined the call as separate participants. This allowed anyone on line to be able to see both the live presenters and the panel.

Audio can be a challenge when you have more than one Zoom participant in the same physical space, so to avoid problems, we simply muted one of the laptops completely and ran all the audio through the other one.

As always with an intense agenda that allows very little spare time to address technical problems, a technician was on standby in the room to provide support as required.

During the two days there were many virtual presenters. Inevitably one or two were late joining the call, and another had a relatively poor internet connection, and in all three cases some valuable time was wasted on avoidable issues.

The panel had a short session of deliberations immediately after each main presentation, and it was felt that the delays caused by late arrivals on Zoom contributed to what was considered a less than level playing field compared to those presenting in person.

Lessons learned here are simply that virtual presenters must turn up on time, and present from a place with a stable, and ideally wired, internet connection.

If you need a dragons den style zoom meeting, then contact us hello@confidence-digital.com to discuss your requirements.