Are online video meetings losing sheen?

                                    Are online video meetings losing sheen?

I have been hosting a good number of Online Video Conferences and meetings as well as participating in many such events. Covid situation during the last one year or so has given a great fillip to this change. Senior Citizens Associations like Senior Citizens Forum, Secunderabad; Association of Senior Citizens of Hyderabad (Lions Bhavan); Indian Society of U3s, Udaipur; are some for whom I host meetings. Events that I participate are courses, meetings, lectures, demos, recreational, participative and interactive opportunities. The benefits that accrue are immeasurable. In fact, there are so many events organised at the same time that choosing the one to attend and the ones to sacrifice is indeed very difficult.

Having said that, however, I tend to believe that the interest in participating in video conferences and webinars is facing a downward trend.  Both Zoom and Google Meeting allow up to a hundred participants even in free version. But the organisers are unable to enjoy decent participation. Hardly about twenty attend such meetings even though the topics are very vital to the target audience, organisers are top institutions of great reputation, the timing is not inconvenient to most etc.  In a recent meeting on dementia there were just seven attendees including the speaker and host & his colleagues.

What could be the reasons for this appalling diminishing trend in attendance? Far too many events being organised? It is easy to organise at no / least cost? Speakers and lecturers are aplenty as they can participate without travel? Necessity of showing activity under abnormal situations - one more event to include in monthly report? 

Lack of certain minimum standard / quality of the show, maximising the use of appropriate technological facilities of the meeting platform (Zoom / Google Meet Cisco), poor quality of internet connection etc may also be seen. In some events the audio is awful making people strain their ears. I have not seen people using emoticons to register their reactions, or use chat effectively. Lot of background info can be shared as attachments – never seen this being done. Have you seen the use of white board effectively? Or effective use of Polls?

Organisers should strive to make events interesting, participative and fun. Incentives for people stay from beginning to end, to those who ask meaningful questions or to those who supplement the speaker’s presentation etc may be offered. Offering video recording of most interesting portions will also help. Encouraging people to joke occasionally will help. When I take a screen shot, I end up mostly with glum, sleepy or tired faces – how to get a group of cheerful, happy, smiling attendees?

How about sharing your views whatever that could be?