Surprisingly normal

 Last week I attended a workshop.  

It has been nearly a year since I sat in the same room as my work colleagues and while some of us have ventured into the office occasionally over the last month this was the first time we had purposefully come together with a shared agenda.  The event nearly didn't happen when the easing of lockdown in England was delayed to 19July but with careful consideration of appropriate social distancing measures (including 2 colleagues on video who were unable to travel) we did manage to meet.

Reflecting on the event:

• it was lovely to get out of the house and see different views
• I'd forgotten how tall some of my colleagues were
• it was so good to be in a room where multiple conversations were able to happen simultaneously - the digital enforcement of bilateral conversation was not missed!
• Being able to overhear many different conversations meant I could glean gems of information to add to the breadth of understanding
• it was lovely to return to the familiarity (security?) of my own home office desk

What did my colleagues observe:

• it felt surprisingly normal
• you have to be present at all times (and can't sit hidden by the screen and do your emails)
• really appreciated the opportunity to sit and chat with colleagues (and watch the football together) - the social element is so important and has been missing over the last year in spite of efforts to run social events on video