Social Creatures Need Connections

by Mark Strathdee

here is a lot of talk about how most companies will go “totally virtual” after the pandemic. I think this is a huge mistake.

Don’t get me wrong. I run Sherpa Digital Media. We do virtual events and video streaming for a living. The pandemic has been absolutely stellar for our business. In 2020, we did more than 11,000 virtual events, which was well over three times what we did in 2019. Working from home, using remote teams, hosting virtual events—all of this is good for us. But we also realize that we need to make virtual events and video streaming a lot more engaging so people can connect with each other.

We Are Social Creatures

I love interacting with my team and our customers. This is what I miss the most about the lockdown, not having the team in the office. One of the benefits of having a company is it offers the opportunity to work with great people who come together to solve your customer’s problems. While the strides in virtual events, augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), and video streaming technologies have made it accessible to go virtual, I constantly think about the gaps between virtual and in-person audiences that allowed me to connect with my team and our customers.

Creating Magical Gaps During Your Day

While meetings, conferences, and just being in the office have a purpose, the gaps in between are where the magic happens. Things like the team lunch at your favorite Mexican restaurant, the ride to the airport, or the random stumble into a coworker while getting coffee spark the connections that create the next big idea. Those interactions are hard to reproduce virtually. Believe me, we are trying hard to do that. We’re getting closer every day, but there are limitations and challenges that virtual events and work-from-home (WFH) environments create.

For me personally, it has been a challenge to not pack the day with meeting after meeting. Before the pandemic, there were natural gaps in the day that allowed me to rest and reset a bit. Now, I have to schedule that time in my day. In fact, I purposely do not check email or interact with a device when I get up. Instead, I review my physical notebook page from the day before to level set my day. This gap before my day begins used to be my commute time, but now that everything is virtual the gap is gone, so I have purposely created the space.

Pay Attention to Cognitive Overload

One thing I see time and time again is a virtual event, be it a meeting or a full conference, where the event itself is great but the follow-up is not. The reason is that the natural follow-up mechanics are not present in a virtual setting: things like physical business cards, flyers, notes, connections over coffee, chance encounters on the show floor, and—my favorite—those “I’ll walk you out” moments. This stems from the fact that interactions at a virtual event often explode into cognitive overload because there are no wander-the-floor moments or natural breaks in the meeting.

Naturally, when you are in a physical space, you only have a certain amount of time and attention. With virtual events, it seems as though folks try to pack in more and more. While this can be more efficient, it’s overwhelming and actually leads to a less enjoyable event and workday. It is the same for virtual teams and companies.

As we look forward to a more open world, think about how you can encourage your employees to increase their opportunities to connect. Use technology to augment your culture, but don’t replace those priceless water-cooler conversations, drinks after work, or summer company BBQs.

Know Your Limitations

Studies have shown that work-from-home burnout is growing, and while technology plays a part, it’s actually the lack of connection to people that leads to fatigue and burnout. This connection is essential for humans, and while I’ll admit it can be more productive to work completely from home and cheaper for the company, the long-term harm to both employees and the company is not worth it.

I suffer from burnout if I do not purposely set a work-stop time or schedule gaps in my day. It’s always tempting to work long into the night on a customer presentation, but most of the time that’s not going to make the difference.

What I have found is that being physically and mentally rested makes all the difference. Sure, your materials or product has to look professional, but it’s how you come across that matters the most. I know I’m at my best when I have had downtime during the day to rest and reflect on what I’m doing.

Be Flexible as You Figure It Out

As the world opens up and we start to see people go to live events and return to work, I feel that it’s important to have a flexible attitude toward how that happens. At Sherpa Digital Media, we will be coming back in a safe, compassionate and caring way because we know it’s vital to our employees and our company.

This flexibility stems from what we have done to help our customers figure out how this hybrid environment (virtual and in-person) will play out. What we have seen is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. For some, it is vital that their teams be co-located as much as possible, while others want to experiment with a fully remote, almost office-less approach.

I would recommend asking your team what they want to do. I personally want to be back in the office, around my team and meeting customers. It’s what charges me up to do my best work. But I also know that some have different life situations that might make this less desireable or effective.

Harnessing the Power of Connection

Connection is a basic human need, like food, water, shelter and safety. We need to connect to our family, friends and coworkers so that we can do our best work. While virtual events and video streaming technologies give us a lot of flexibility and efficiency, it will be hard, if not impossible, to fully connect with our fellow humans without some face-to-face interactions.

As we look forward to a more open world, think about how you can encourage your employees to increase their opportunities to connect. Use technology to augment your culture, but don’t replace those priceless water cooler conversations, drinks after work, or summer company BBQs.

Strive to create and preserve those magical gap moments that inspire you and your team to do their best work.

Mark Strathdee is the co-founder and CEO of Sherpa Digital Media, a virtual events and video streaming platform that strives to create beautiful, engaging and scalable video experiences. Mark has spent more than 25 years building state-of-the-art software for the media and entertainment industry. His focus and passion are to build solutions that deliver advanced cognitive video processing and immersive video engagement.

sherpadigitalmedia.com

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