I met a colleague – also a good friend – in person for the first time in two years yesterday.
We exchanged unexceptional greetings and got stuck in to work and banter before realising – a good ten minutes into our meeting – that we hadn’t seen each other face to face for a long time, and stopping to do the maths. It was a surprise to both of us that it had been that long.
This is important: Zoom* and your favourite messaging app aren’t a substitute for lots of things about in-person meetings, but they turn out to do more than we thought.
And if this is the case, what could you be using these tools to make happen?
Who could you be meeting up with that you’ve ruled out meaningful interaction with until now?
How does the way we flow between online and offline connections extend the possibilities of both?
Bring on (more of) your Zoom buddies, and the Zoom impresarios.
*I’m assuming Zoom. If you have a well argued position on why GoogleMeet or – help – MS Teams is actually better I’m all (sceptical) ears.