If there's anything we can say about COVID-19 it's that we have all learned A LOT. We've learned how to work from home. We've learned how to pivot our lifestyles and our routines and we've seen how resilient we all are. We'e learned how to bake bread, homeschool, how to tweeze our own eyebrows and live with bad hairstyles. We've learned how to host webinars and family Zoom meetings when half of the group can't figure out how to get off mute.
In other words, we've been schooled. As a communications team, we too have learned a great deal about planning, strategy and flexibility. That word, flexibility, has been key. COVID-19 has been anything but predictable. So what do you plan for? To be flexible. As the twists and turns kept coming, we needed to keep our client's messaging relevant and important, not useless and tone deaf.
The use of social media likely spiked drastically these past few months, as people were glued to the news and the unraveling of society. People watched in horror with every new update, but they couldn't turn away. So how do you insert your client into their personal space? Be useful and helpful. Hold their hand, offer support and genuinely show them you care.
For us, this meant an increase in video production, because videos catch peoples attention and mean more that written word, at times. In addition, it was time to put our creative hats on and think about new programing, webinars, round table discussions, community engagement and pitching unique stories to the media that helped them also navigate the uncertain time.
We also learned a lot about Zoom and Microsoft Teams, how to host a meeting vs. a webinar, and navigated through the nerves of putting on a virtual news conference and our first virtual event. We practiced a lot. We researched a lot. We took demos and got on with customer service to offer our team and our clients a way into this new world.
We are still learning and growing as we adjust to this new COVID-19 situation. Our events and our client's events have all been either cancelled or shifted to an online platform. And because we are their "person", we do the work, learn the things and show them the way. So, thanks COVID-19, you've made us a much more versatile and flexible team ready to take on whatever lies ahead.
