New Recruit Workshop

Last night I went "live" with the new workshop.

(I decided not to call it a webinar... workshop

makes it sound more interactive...?)

Anyhow.

It was EXCRUCIATING!!!!

(And exhausting...)

Imagine.

50 people's names on a list on your screen.

You are asking them to do seemingly simple

tasks on their phones / tablets / laptops.

(open on YOUR computer the same website

I am projecting from MY computer and fill

in the blanks - mostly name / address / etc...)

And then once I have given them an assignment,

I ask them to click on the "raise hand" icon on their screen

so I know when they are done.

22 of them raise their hands.

Anybody else out there?

(Lower hands)

Ok, let's do it this way...

if you are still working on the task and need

more time, raise your hand...

Crickets.

So I decide 22 is going to be my "baseline".

Next task.

Ok, raise your hands when you are done.

5 hands.

8, 9, 12, 15...

Meanwhile I'm rambling on about random

stuff nobody cares about just to fill the air.

19... 20.... 21.... 22!

FINALLY!

Next task.

Rinse, repeat!!!!!

It was a VERY long 2 hours.

At the end, I asked everybody who FINISHED

the tasks to raise their hands and gave them a

shout out by name. (There were 5...)

Then I told everybody who wasn't still working

to go ahead and log off... leaving (hopefully)

only those still trying.

Then I opened it up for them to raise their hands

so I could unmute them and we could talk through

whatever questions they had.

That was another 15 minutes.

With the BEST one being a darling lady named Rose.

Now, in my presentation, I project the various website

pages on your phone/tablet screen (via MY screen) so you can open

that website on your laptop and follow me (I should be

on your phone or tablet... so yes, you should have TWO

devices open... confusing, I know, but the ONLY way we

can do this...)

She misunderstood and was VERY frustrated that she

couldn't type anything on the form on her screen.

She was SO sweet and apologetic when I explained 

that the form on her screen was actually on MY computer

and she needed to open the same website / form on HER computer.

She was such a darling!

I tried really hard to help her not feel silly.

I could TOTALLY see making that mistake myself!

She may have joined the meeting late - after I explained

the process... but that's one of the downsides of this

whole "virtual learning" thing.

It's a challenge.

And our minds are S T R E T C H I N G.....

And I can't wait for it to be OVER.

I desperately want to be in a classroom again.

Teaching to ACTUAL HUMANS with

eyeballs and facial expressions!

But we are doing the best we can.

I spent 2 hours this morning sending an email

to each of the 50 people who were on the call.

And now I'm on vacation until the 16th.

YIPPEEEEEEEEE!!!!