![]() ![]() The use of videoconferencing created a more personal connection than teleconferencing, helping people to read each other’s reactions and thus creating a higher level of engagement and sharing. Despite some feelings of awkwardness from consuming food in front of one another, overall consuming food added to the feeling of informality and therefore the creation of an atmosphere where sharing ‘out of the box’ ideas was encouraged. One participant also thought consuming food encouraged her brain to think the session was ‘down time’ instead of ‘work time’. “I wouldn’t do this without food!” Participants noted that consuming food in front of one another helped to identify the meeting as a social gathering. This resulted in a notably democratic conversation. Participants thought that the real beauty of virtual socialising came from its unstructured nature, as ideas flowed freely without having a formal agenda: “I think the idea flows were much better and the conversation around (topic) was much better by not having it on our agenda.” No structure also created an atmosphere of ‘sharing’, where participants felt that they were not limited by a time allocation to discuss a particular subject. There are three essential components to a successful virtual socializing session: A lack of structure, food and videoconferencing are key to a successful virtual socializing session Although beneficial, virtual socializing sessions present some limitations, including scalability.ġ.Virtual socializing sessions encourage the development of innovative ideas.Virtual socializing sessions can normalize flexibility and drive employee engagement within a flexible workforce.A lack of structure, food and videoconferencing are key to a successful virtual socializing session. ![]() Interviews with the participants identified four key learnings: ![]() The Virtual Socialisation events centred around food (lunch or breakfast, depending on the time zone) and using Video Conferencing facilities to enable work participants to talk together in an unstructured way. Interviews were conducted with the lead in Dell who initiated the virtual socialising event with his team and three consultants (ranging from Partner to senior consultant) from Deloitte Australia who participated in a virtual socialising event. For Deloitte the aim was to create connectivity across team members located in different offices (Sydney, Melbourne) and different companies (Client, Deloitte). For Dell the aim was to create connectivity across teams located around the world and in different time zones. This case study aimed to understand the relatively new concept of virtual socialising including the practical elements of a VC “lunch” for teams working in different locations. ![]()
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