There was a time when a meeting meant walking into a conference room, finding a chair and hoping someone would bring doughnuts. Those days are apparently over. Today, the modern office meeting begins with an email invitation containing a link, a password, a meeting ID, a backup meeting ID, instructions for downloading an application and a warning that your microphone may not work. Lately, many of us have found ourselves participating in those marathon virtual meetings brought to us courtesy of system upgrades, new applications and the ever-popular “exciting new technology initiative.”
Welcome to the Future of Technology! That statement is usually followed by 45 minutes of explaining how to perform a task you previously accomplished with one click. Today’s lesson might be groundbreaking. However, there is always one person (DK) thinking, “I survived the birth of technology, bring it.” Perhaps the trainers should begin these sessions with a technology-history survey. Who has experience with the following: MS-DOS, Green-screen, floppy disk, command prompts or dial-up internet? Those who remember should probably be issued honorary technology veteran status! Which brings us to my latest proposal for workplace survival. Conference Call Bingo!
Every employee should receive a bingo card at the beginning of every technology training session. Squares could include: can everyone see my screen; this should only take a few minutes; let’s circle back on that; we’ll send instructions afterward; is everyone muted; can someone please help Holly get back into the meeting, she’s giving off Homeward Bound vibes and even Shadow, Chance and Sassy were successful! Don’t let me be the judge, it’s appropriate to make a new card prior to each meeting. But since the technology updates have decided that every meeting should now involve a screen share, a software update and at least one person saying, “You’re going to love this feature.” We deserve to engage in friendly competition during trainings. We may not understand every new application, but we were here before the cloud. Just don't ask me to download the app.