Remote depositions are here to stay; with many witnesses, attorneys, and court reporters spread all over the country and world, remote depositions have become a permanent staple in litigation. An emerging trend, with Covid protocols being lifted, is hybrid remote depositions. These are depositions where most of the attendees are fully remote, while others have several users in the same room. The general concept for success is to have one device that is responsible for the room’s microphone and speakers. This can look different depending on the configuration.

In many instances, each person has their own device that they are sitting in-front of; the key to not causing loud and disruptive feedback is to have just one of these devices used for microphone and speakers, while the other devices stay on mute with their speakers turned off/silenced. The ideal scenario with multiple devices in the same room is to have either a conference phone, or a central microphone/speaker that is omnidirectional for all users to speak and hear from. Then all other devices stay muted, and all other speakers are off.

Another common scenario is having one device and a large screen for display with a single device running the platform for everyone in the room. These setups are usually built into some conference rooms and a single device can run the deposition for all attendees in the room.

These are the two most common types of hybrid remote depositions, and each setup can vary. The best thing to do is to test the setup ahead of time, which can sometimes include calling your IT or vTestify support to assist with setup and ensuring that everything is working ahead of time to ensure a successful and on time deposition.