I’m not designed for social events online

I’m not a cat

By now, most of us have seen the hilarious viral video of lawyer Rod Ponton entering a court video meeting with a filter of a kitten. The lawyer/cat seems to get more and more distressed as the video meeting goes on, seemingly unable to find the setting preferences to change his appearance back to a more professional human one. Rod, (who by the end of the viral clip is still a cat), is confused, embarrassed and tells the judge he’s ready to go forward with the meeting despite his appearance.

We need new tools for virtual team building and socialising

It’s likely that Rod Ponton was virtually socialising the night before, pretending to be a cat and getting a chuckle from his friends, talking about a big court case he had in the morning. It’s easy to find ourselves in tricky spots when the tools (and the accounts!) we use  for work and socialising are the same. Things can easily get mixed up, we can forget we have to manually reset our platform so that it’s ready for work mode next time we need it. And this is one part of a wider issue when it comes to the video conferencing platforms that we currently use. They weren’t really designed for social interaction, or collaborative events. They weren’t designed for inclusive team interaction, or spontaneous interaction either.  Video conferencing tools like zoom and microsoft were designed with a highly controlled and predictable corporate environment in mind. Where interaction between people is information and work focused and recreation isn’t a key factor. Of course as the these video conferencing tools developed we found lots of uses for them, connecting with family, connecting with friends, playing quiz games. However, as the pandemic has forced us to socialise and host collaborative events online, we have found that video conferencing tools have their limits. They can’t do everything. And they certainly have a hard time creating a social or collaborative environment where remote teams or even general users can interact in a more natural way. Zoom has integrated some fun features, to make socialising easier but as Rob Ponton found, some of those features can be a liability in a work setting.

WeNetwork

Creative Events have been coming up with an online event platform solution that helps remote teams and groups of people collaborate and socialise in a more natural way .

WeNetwork is an online event platform we have developed, with a better virtual social and collaborative experience in mind. WeNetwork brings the charm, nuance and fun of a live venue to the virtual medium.

Our Online Event Platform includes unique features such as allowing guests to move freely from table to table and even, from room to room, just like in a live venue.The background chatter feature feeds a low hum of audio from realtime conversations going on around the venue. Resulting in no more awkward zoom silences!
The shuffle function randomises who goes to which table which is great for Ice break. WeNetwork offers a fluid experience for teams and it’s design lends to more wholesome virtual team building and collaborative events than traditional video conferencing platforms.

Creative Events are here to help you and your team connect and interact! Get in touch today at hello@creativeevents.ie for more information on all our Virtual Team Building Events!