Video conferencing has taken over our lives! Many of us are feeling the effects.

And the loss of human contact.

I was talking about this with a friend recently. She’s an expert in public speaking, and has been working with presenters to adapt themselves to the online format. The changes go a lot deeper than you might think!

When you’re sitting in a conference room, you can see the others all the time, but you’re not really paying attention to them. On a video call, everybody is right there in front of your face, and often you’re doing nothing BUT paying attention to each person’s face.

It’s like everybody is on stage the entire time.

It’s taxing, mentally and emotionally. You’re constantly aware that you’re being observed, and you’re watching others, and paying less attention to whatever presentation might be going on.

But there are wonderful aspects to this as well. We’re all relating to each other in a more human way, especially when we can see someone’s kids and pets and home environment. We’re becoming more forgiving that way.

With your team and colleagues, pay attention to the mental toll this is taking. Have a sense of humor about it, because we’re all making mistakes. And realize there are some powerful human changes taking place here.

Right in front of our eyes!