Zoom post covid

[Citybreak1]

Anybody notice lots more over Zoom? Doctors, fitness classes, fear of flying courses, college courses? Yet some of these have buildings they had used before. Was this always going to be the future for me I really wouldn’t fancy a college course online.

 

[Huntergreed]

Anybody notice lots more over Zoom? Doctors, fitness classes, fear of flying courses, college courses? Yet some of these have buildings they had used before. Was this always going to be the future for me I really wouldn’t fancy a college course online.

Yes sadly I have.

My university course (small teaching course with about 20 in each year group) is still partly online, and I frankly can’t see that going back sadly.

The main issues I find with zoom are that (as a student) it’s significantly more difficult to retain focus for long periods of time (on a device which you can use to get other work done and listen passively at the same time), and (as a teacher) it’s almost impossible to gauge understanding or engagement levels.

A backwards step in my view, but one I can’t see being reversed (at least at my Uni)

 

[BJames]

Bit of both I think, but we're a bit at the other end of the spectrum to @Huntergreed - I've had it confirmed internally that my University will be returning to fully in person from start of summer term (3rd May) and the next academic year will be as normal (including a return to full length holidays, absolutely no "booking larger rooms than needed because of covid" etc).

As an aside - I prefer Teams to zoom, just find it more integrated and easy to share files etc. But this doesn't mean I want to be doing anything on Teams, I want to be 100% in person.

 

[DelayRepay]

From a business perspective, we're doing loads more on Teams than we ever did before (even though the technology was there). For most things it's great - I never really enjoyed travelling into London for an hour's meeting, and it was never easy to fully participate by conference call.

But there are some things - workshops, training sessions etc that do not work at all on Teams and I am glad that those things are now back to being in person.

I think Zoom (Teams, etc) have their place, but they shouldn't always be seen as a direct substitute for face to face interaction.

 

[island]

I think Zoom/Teams/etc. are great when used correctly – which isn't always the case.

However, "hybrid" meetings where half the people are in person and half are remote are a disaster.

 

[kristiang85]

However, "hybrid" meetings where half the people are in person and half are remote are a disaster.

Our hybrids seem to work fine (my workplace invested - finally - in some decent tech), but it definitely feels like those not in the room lose out a little bit.

 

[ainsworth74]

I rather suspect a lot of places have done the maths and concluded they can get more done for less money (or at least get more done for the same money) by doing more remotely via Zoom. I can remember sitting in a meeting as a humble customer service apprentice at the local council (the meeting was far above my paygrade but my department wasn't interested in the subject of the meeting and just needed a warm body to sit in the room ) where they were discussing the various costs of different ways of providing their Council Tax and Housing Benefit services to people who needed to speak to someone. It was like £10 per contact for a face to face, £5 for telephone, £1 for email (figures have long escaped me but to give an illustration). Of course when you looked at customer preferences the order was reversed with the majority preferring face to face, a decent telephone and a small number email. At that time (this would have be something like 2012/2013) doing things remotely via video call wasn't really on the table but I can well believe that it will still be cheaper than the traditional face to face methods.

Some organisations might still be dressing it up as being "due to Covid" but I rather suspect that for some, perhaps even many, they're just going to use it as an excuse to pivot to the cheaper way of delivering things. I wouldn't be surprised to see more commercial property becoming available as companies start to downsize their premises. Some already have but I imagine others are waiting for leases to come to an end before changing their physical arrangements.

 

[route101]

Never used Zoom. We use Teams at work and it works well when speaking to other specialists in the company. Downside of teams is people on calls in the office, everyone can hear you and I can everyone on their calls.

How well used was teams before Covid? Anyone use it before Covid?

 

[Dent]

Our hybrids seem to work fine (my workplace invested - finally - in some decent tech), but it definitely feels like those not in the room lose out a little bit.

The solution my office has chosen is to do all meetings online, even if some of the participants are in the same room.

 

[nlogax]

How well used was teams before Covid? Anyone use it before Covid?

Used both Teams and Zoom before Covid. Zoom won the popular vote in terms of features and call quality. We still use both and the easier O365 / Teams integration is slowly closing the usage gap. Teams is still a particularly clunky app from the MacOs perspective though although it has improved significantly over the last couple of years.

 

[Mintona]

Never used Zoom or Teams at work, don’t really understand the benefit at all.

 

[BJames]

I've had just a handful of hybrid meetings and it always ends up being a conversation with the people in the room and the others on Teams sort of just listening in, and occasionally inputting, but they definitely lose out.

Teams has got a lot better over the last couple of years. I don't really enjoy either though, I do see the benefit in some instances (e.g. if I'm not on campus it saves me trekking in just for a 10 minute meeting - but this is usually a moot point as I'm in anyway). It's actually just incredibly inconvenient now, as there's nowhere really practical on campus to do online metings so its usage is notably dropping, as more and more people are opting for the in person meetings.

 

[gabrielhj07]

Never used Zoom or Teams at work, don’t really understand the benefit at all.

Lucky you!

The biggest problem with online video/conference calls is that they can be treated to some extent as a podcast, which leaves you drifting in and out of focus as you get other work done in the background. There was one notable incident during the second or third lockdown (so easy to lose count!) where a member of the call could be heard scanning a few items at the self-checkout. Makes a mockery of it really, and as both a student and a teacher on these calls, it's pretty clear that almost no work is done.

 

[VauxhallandI]

I've had just a handful of hybrid meetings and it always ends up being a conversation with the people in the room and the others on Teams sort of just listening in, and occasionally inputting, but they definitely lose out.

Teams has got a lot better over the last couple of years. I don't really enjoy either though, I do see the benefit in some instances (e.g. if I'm not on campus it saves me trekking in just for a 10 minute meeting - but this is usually a moot point as I'm in anyway). It's actually just incredibly inconvenient now, as there's nowhere really practical on campus to do online metings so its usage is notably dropping, as more and more people are opting for the in person meetings.

To be fair this happened a lot pre C too the only difference was we called it a conference call.

I have to say the on site use Teams and not come to the meeting room brigade don’t help. The meeting isn’t as good and the disruption to the area they are in is higher.

 

[ainsworth74]

I have to say the on site use Teams and not come to the meeting room brigade don’t help. The meeting isn’t as good and the disruption to the area they are in is higher.

Perhaps what they actually are is the "this meeting should have been an email" brigade and so are using a Teams as half way house

 

[350401]

To be fair this happened a lot pre C too the only difference was we called it a conference call.

I have to say the on site use Teams and not come to the meeting room brigade don’t help. The meeting isn’t as good and the disruption to the area they are in is higher.

Completely agree with this, however far too often, I dial into a Teams meeting and only find out at that point that everyone on the call is in the office, but no one realised this before, and so no one booked a meeting room. The problem is that “virtual first” has become the default way of working.

 

[DelayRepay]

One of the benefits of in person meetings was that you had to stick to the agenda, because the room was booked for a certain period and it was likely that if you over-ran, the next people would be knocking on the door wanting to start their meeting. Also if it was a VC meeting, the connection would automatically cut off at the scheduled end-time. Whereas with Teams meetings, people just seem to go on and on with no regard for time.

And the 'hassle' of booking rooms meant people used to think more about whether they really needed a meeting. Now, it is far too easy for people to set up meetings without really thinking about whether they are needed.

 

[philosopher]

Completely agree with this, however far too often, I dial into a Teams meeting and only find out at that point that everyone on the call is in the office, but no one realised this before, and so no one booked a meeting room. The problem is that “virtual first” has become the default way of working.`

I must admit I not that keen on this whole trend towards virtual communications. Yes they are far more convenient, however they have quite a few downsides. Video calls, particularly if there are several people in it I find quite draining as it feels like you have stare at the screen the entire time, whereas in a face to face meeting you naturally move your head to look at others in the room. If it is a non video call, the others on the call can easily get away with doing something else, which limits the effectiveness of the meeting.

Also in face to face meetings you tend to speak to the other attendees on a more personal level before and after the actual meeting, which allows you to get to know someone properly. With virtual meetings this tends to happen less. Say for example, I did Italian language course face to face, there would be a real opportunity to make new friends, if it was done online, that chance would be very much reduced.

Finally, while travelling to a meeting does cost time and money, it does provide an opportunity for exercise, e.g a walk to the station, gives the opportunity to see new places and breaks up the day a bit.

For these reasons, outside of work, I stay away from video calls or online meetings as much as possible and have not done any since last September.