I have been reflecting on the interesting difference between Virtually Connecting (sync small group discussions broadcast live and recorded on YouTube) and blogging.
As someone who has blogged about health issues, a lot of people “know” me from reading my other blog. It can cause a bit of an awkward experience when meeting face-to-face because these people know me, but I don’t know them. It is worsened by me not being good at remembering names (which got a lot worse after chemo). So I often end up in conversations with people who expect that I know them when in fact we don’t know each other, but they have read my blog so they feel like they know me.
With Virtually Connecting I find the opposite to be true. I’m often not on the live Virtually Connecting session, but watch it later on YouTube. Watching the sessions gives me a sense that I “know” the people in the session, and yet I realize that we may have never actually met face-to-face or virtually. Because of the unpolished and authentic nature of Virtually Connecting (they are not scripted presentations, rather they are conversations), you get to know a sense of the person behind the professional identity. That is the beauty of Virtually Connecting. I find it interesting that I feel like I know people and they likely do not know me.
Does anyone else feel this way?
Feature image used under Creative Commons license. Images available from: https://pixabay.com/en/conversation-dialogue-interview-1262311/
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