We are moving again

We are moving again! We are moving to the terrain of virtual communication. The sharing of online communications raised promptly in the event of the pandemic, changed our world. It is a question if we are using new channels to communicate to each other or we are inventing new ways to communicate entirely?

Will our unproductive and boring face to face meetings continue in Zooms & Co or will we be able to find new products containing new concepts, ideas, and style? What is our drive to leave our comfort zone and start to search for the new solutions to the old headaches?

What is the best way to manage a virtual meeting and what is the difference between face to face meeting and the virtual one? How can we enhance our connections to colleagues and clients? What can we expect from the virtualization of business communications?

I decided to write this article to share with you some thoughts about it. Two roles appear to be essential for our Virtual Communication Event. VCE Master and Storyteller. They can be humans, machines or what is the most productive collaboration between machines and humans. It is up to you to conceptualize the new present and future. First, take a look at the role of the VCE Master. The VCE Master carries responsibility for the technology and manages the meeting. His strength is technology.

The VCE Master should inspect and prepare all communication channels and media you can use during the VCE including:

-video conferencing;

-chat;

-collaborative document editing

-screen sharing;

-whiteboard;

-slideshow;

-polls;

The right choice of the tools for each VCE is the best way to ensure that the VCE will be productive and using the selected tools, for instance the pools integrated in the videoconferencing software, that we can determine if our team shares the opinion of management.

VCE Master should be the person who will present software support for the Virtual Communication Event. The team will make the decision to determine which one is suitable for the particular event. The control of access to video and audio facilities should be restricted; at all times there should only be only one speaker and this speaker should have a time limit for her speech. I expect the questions “Why do we need any restrictions to live speaking” “Is it not disrespectful and in contrary with our agile principles” I would explain it this this way, we don’t limit opportunity to express yourself, we want to make our conversation more effective. Yes ’face to face’ conversation is one of the agile principles and it is right. A web call is always better than an email or a texting. A ‘face to face’ conversation is not the same as ‘faces to faces’, nevermind ‘face to faces’ or ‘faces to face’. Everyone of us has survived meetings which consisted of endless monologues, passive aggressive dialogues, or monologues and dialogues at the same time. A conversation of multiple participants conversation has lot of psychological traps. That why multiple conversations between more than two people have always been either strictly regulated or frequently finished with undesirable outcomes. Some channels of virtual communication events are not time limited. We are still able to share our thoughts in the chat window or publish files.

Another concerns would be “Don’t we give too much power to the VCE Master” This question needs to be clarified: the VCE Master doesn’t invent and impose the rules, she just follows them! For example, we have a speech time slot of three minutes and speakers’ line which we draw on the white board. While the speaker uses the time slot, people write their questions which they get to the speaker. Here the storyteller comes into the picture. The speaker should get the questions delivered and makes the decision how she can answer the questions.

The information flow on other channels should be unlimited. The VCE Master should work with flow and be able to give the team the first impressions of information and allocate questions to the right person. Technology is the strength of VCE Master. If the role of VCE Master or Storyteller are elective, team members need to consider who will do these jobs the best.

The storyteller keeps records from previous meetings and summarizes all information flows in a story. The strength of a storyteller-communication and focusing. The story is a footprint, overview of the present and plan of the future for the team. The storyteller respects each opinion. She is a records keeper and works with the database of the stories. It is very important to choose the right technology, but even more important is that every participant of VCE feels respected and everyone has a chance to share own views and to take part in the creation. The storyteller is the right person to approach.

Where can VCE Master and storyteller join their forces? An Example of such cooperation - to assess what is the most suitable communication channel for transmitting confidential information and its subsequent storage. It is a very big concern about security of VCE. IT security is responsibility of each of us.

Don’t fear losing control, the truth is you probably never had control over it! Be respectful and focused and aware of risks.

This is just a pre-concept paper. I would be happy to hear your feedback