Business Traveler, Dec/Jan 2021
6 4 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1 Just because youre quarantining doesnt necessarily mean your brain stops On a screen near you theres a world beyond O ne of the by products of the necessary move toward quarantine from the coronavirus has been the growth of online communication and virtual experiences With fewer travelers and more of us staying home there is a heightened demand to discover new tech enabled avenues to help us work learn and grow To begin with employees have been forced to bring it on home literally as their businesses have closed offices even as work goes on remotely As a result online platforms for virtual collaboration have seen exponential growth Probably the app thats gained the highest profile in the public eye since the pandemic started is the modest platform called Zoom From 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 Zoom zoomed to 300 million participants in April and took along with it its company valuation However Zoom is by no means alone among virtual meeting platforms others have also gained ground in the midst of the pandemic including GoToWebinar WebEx Demio LiveStream Like people these platforms are more alike than they are different While Zoom seems to be the choice for teachers instructing remotely or any generic webinar group from book clubs to meditation circles LiveStream is more geared for business executives for whom presentation is as important as presence It enables multiple cameras and video editing Some of the platforms have interactive polling while others dont and some have screen sharing and call back features while others do not Ultimately the users can never have it all It would seem the imperfect live world is only matched by the imperfect virtual world REINVENT YOURSELF Despite the drawbacks the evident advantages of virtual connections in a world disconnected by the pandemic Live Learn in Lockdown SHUTTERSTOCK extend beyond just maintaining business employees are using it as a means of diversifying skill sets and thus expanding their options With the coronavirus driving massive unemployment and business closings job seekers as well as those in tenuous positions have turned to technology to boost their employment power through vocational technological and corporate training The fastest growing industries as well take advantage of the e learning as the need for trained
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