The post-it reads “Zoom, Teams, and Skype, oh, my. How far we’ve come.”
Yes, I definitely heard Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh, my when I was writing it.
These are video conferencing platforms. Kind of like FaceTime but you don’t have to be in the same room.
I’ve done a version of these since about 2015 when I first started with shared governance. The meetings had a Skype option if you couldn’t get to the meetings. And it was easier to log into the meeting than drive to the meeting, fighting traffic, finding a parking spot. After 2020 most of the meetings were online through Zoom. And then the hospital got way into Microsoft 365, which has Teams.
Schools also use these platforms. During the pandemic, college and universities, and schools, all the way down to elementary, used a conference platforms for classes.
I could go through how not every child had access to 1) internet access, 2) a computer with a camera, or 3) an adult who was savvy enough to sign them on until they learned.
The pandemic forced us to take a leap forward in a lot of ways. Including classes, funerals, weddings, and the humble check-in with our families.
All of these platforms are still active, by the way.
But the university and the hospital use Teams.
Tips for all of the conference platforms
- keep them updated
- Be patient with the technology
- Be patient with the people you are trying to connect with
- Sometimes it just plain doesn’t work
In my readings for school, a qualitative project had 2 conference meetings for an interview. The first was to make sure that the technology all worked. I thought this was very smart and I did the same in the interview that I had to do. It was a dress rehearsal.
Before the main event.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 