> On 15 Apr 2020, at 10:59, Mark Tinka <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> The above is not to say that we should not try.. but we need to be aware of >> what we gain and what we lose in the process.. and shape the nature of >> events accordingly.. and evolve with all of that in mind. > This, here, is the meat. > The Coronavirus is accelerating and amplifying the shift in models; in > many cases, much to our chagrin. But, while we've all been talking and > hypothesizing about this for years, no one can claim delusion because, > well, we are all now living it, daily. > The outcome? To some degree, I believe there will be a huge drive for > improvement in efficiencies, because while we are struggling to keep > incomes coming in consistently on the back of all the lockdowns, our > CFO's are not going to be too unhappy to see that the 1st quarter of > 2020 saw a travel and logistics cost savings of well over 90%; and we > didn't all fall over and die. > So while physical interaction is certainly the holy grail, I anticipate > that we will be forced to be smarter about how we collaborate. I mean, > it's not like we don't have a live example. That cat's well and truly > out the bag now :-).
I agree to an extent. We have all collaborated online for decades. However, despite all that online collaboration, we all find it better when we are physically in the same place. There is something about face-to-face physical presence which .. for me at least.. is not met by just collaborating online. I think this is because we are generally social animals and spreading that collaboration over a longer period of time - say during the conference / meeting, and then over a relaxed coffee / drink / social setting - helps a lot. The call for financial efficiencies will certainly be coming from TPTB… but these are the same people who very likely do not understand education and knowledge sharing and the best way for participants to benefit from it. These are the people who very likely do not understand psychology. All they care about is the numbers… not the people. Most of them likely already do not send their staff to meetings and tell them to catch up some other time. These meetings are not only about learning either.. they are about building (good) peer relationships. While I am enjoying the slower pace of life, I must say that I do miss the meeting up with people. I am keeping in touch with people online, via various online tools.. but it is just not the same. Additionally, I am now getting online fatigue! I seem to be sat in my Home Office day in and day out, attending lots of online meetings and webinars, socialising online.. not getting the benefits I personally get from attending things physically.. and am starting to feel the overload.. things take longer.. and I do not think I am the only one. Although this does not really apply to me, the various “rest periods” which form part of usual working day pre COVID-19 are no longer there.. All of these need to be taken in to account, IMHO. Regards Denesh PS. Yes, VR is likely to be the way forward.. we just need to get better at it.
