Virtual meetings are now a thing

Today we scheduled a meeting with a colleague at a major corporation. We knew we were not going to be there in person, so we were ready to settle for the second-class status of an on-line meeting.

But then our colleague said that their entire company was going virtual. Today they are working out how to continue operations with everyone working from home.

At that moment it occurred to me that there is suddenly nothing second-class about meeting remotely. When the entire world is meeting virtually, then all meetings become equal.

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, as long as you have internet connectivity. Whether you are using Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype or something more exotic, you are as present as anyone else.

It looks as though this outbreak is going to last for a while. Perhaps enough time for people to build and adopt new tools and practices.

Maybe, after this is all over, we might see a permanent shift in how people choose to work together. A few years from now, the idea that meetings need to be in person might come to seem antiquated.

I have no idea whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. But it’s definitely a thing.

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