What a ride the last 2 years have been, good people… it has been 16 months since I started blogging again… For different reasons, first because 2021 was quite busy for me and I tried to recover between classes etc. so in effect, I have only been quiet on the blog side of things for maybe a month or so and it probably feels like an eternity…
I have literally moved from 100% face to face, to full virtual teaching since August 2020… I must admit this happened forcefully, but for those who know me, they will tell you, that I don’t give up anything easily, and I especially see the glass as half full, well…most of the time anyway.
So what is the silver lining here after my two years’ experience?
1 – Virtual is not what you think.
It literally has been wrongly advertised as a mere replacement for face to face (F2F)… It is not. It is a way to deliver say, training, coaching, mentoring or even counselling totally differently. Not better, not worse, just …differently!
First, you have this total freedom to get organised from the comfort of your chosen space to take the session from. You don’t get to have that in a F2F venue… if you are lucky, you will be offered a 4 or even 5-star hotel conference room with the food that comes with it… My biggest client makes a point of offering such an environment, and I tell you it’s hard NOT to enjoy the glorious food we get 3 times a day…
Then in F2F, there can be, sometimes, the inconveniences of some noise if you happen to be in a busy venue that week… But in general, it’s ok. At home or in your office, it is what you make it I presume, unless you also decided to get some tradies to do some work at the same time in the room next to you… but that’s your choice I guess…
At home, you can dress very…comfy… set the air con or heating to your desire and pack drinks and food on your desk to your heart content… But you also have distractions and if you are the kind that disregard my advice and multitask while you are trying to learn, then it can quickly become a challenge…
Finally, I would say that saving on the huge time wastage of commuting to a CBD is a gift from heaven… many of my delegates in big cities certainly mourn the hours of their lives spent in traffic twice a day that they will never get back… At home, I heard some got out of bed barely 10 min before we start the class… Which can explain the unshaven look and crazy hair some of them adorn for the morning, but seem to take care of during lunch break…
2 – Virtual is easy….
NOT! In fact, I never worked so hard… even when I travelled extensively to get to my venue of training delivery, I never had to prepare too hard for it. I always adapt to any class, any personality etc. and in person I find this (now retrospectively) quite easy for me given my huge experience. Plus the body language is a huge help in F2F, but over a camera and with only what people give you to hear and look at, it is not easy, even for a super experienced trainer like me, to read you well enough to tweak the class instantly, with regard to speed, difficulty level etc. to suit each and all… In any case, trust me, it is impossible to please everyone all the time… Just accept that it will be too fast, too slow, just right etc. all that within the same day…
If you think you feel surprisingly tired at the end of a class, trust me, your trainer probably feels twice as much as you do… See, if the trainer falls asleep, everyone can tell… This means that the trainer (should) have plenty of tools, screens etc. to keep all those tools handy an operational, and switch between methods, media, etc.
This is so the trainer can alternate, vary and diversify your learning experience for your benefit… and apart from the investment on lay (in thousands if you take your job as seriously as I do) all of those tools need to perform seamlessly and represent a fair amount of things to control during the session on top of reading your chat questions and comments, making sure no one drops out of the session due to some technical reason… All the while keeping the flow constant and interesting and your attention optimised…
So for those reasons only, I think I earn my money even more so during Virtual Teaching, and you might now even agree with me….
3 – Virtual is a fad….
Wrong again. It is said now that no less than 80% of office workers do NOT want to lose the “privilege” of working from home. I tend to agree that we cannot revert to F2F only any more. We have adapted, invested and put up with the small inconvenience of doing so for 2 years and discovered that work still gets done just as well, maybe even better.
Some savvy employers also now have data to show them the huge savings they’re making by removing office space and corporate desktops they had to maintain… and let employees work from their own chosen equipment… With Citrix and the like products the control is total and the compartmentalisation of work sessions on top of someone’s personal system seems to be a must to keep things separate.
The benefits are huge and obvious now more than ever. The SaaS like Zoom, Teams etc. seem to agree and have spared no expense to make the Virtual sessions live and cool! I like the little props to change my appearance slightly as well, and it makes people smile, which is always appreciated.
We have learned (the hard way) that our lives should not be just about work, work, work and no play, and that we ought to thin the line between our professional obligations and our personal lives. We can now spend more time with our loved ones, for instance, or use the time we save from commuting to and from work to better use like kids, hobbies and chillaxing!
So enjoy online training people, just like you can enjoy working remotely. It’s one good thing (if any) that this mad world has given us over the last 24 months or so… But don’t forget to get some sun and fresh air as often as you can. Better still, move your virtual office to the terrace, the pool side or the verandah! I dare you to. Love and peace to all you good people out there. Until next time.