Being epic, part 1

A huge failing of many online programs (and honestly, just many schools, programs and conferences) is their lack of consideration for the moments that count. It appears that when reflecting on our own education and past it’s easy to pick out the things that meant something during school - at Smith College we had tea every Friday, a highly personal experience that brought together all members of the house [Smith doesn’t have dorms] for an afternoon break.  My MBA had a charity auction to benefit the Special Olympics - community members could bid on experiences with their classmates or professors - one bidding war for our finance professor ended in a $2,000 dinner for 10 at his house.  Thankfully, that bid I dropped out of early. (Though I’m sure it was a lovely dinner.]  

Even as seminal as these experiences are for so many of us, when it comes to online we seem to have fallen into the trap of both 1) trying to make an analog experience digital and 2) giving up when nothing seems to “fit” in the same way.  First, if there is anything we have all learned after Covid, it is that Zoom happy hour sucks.  Apologies to fervent Zoomers, but it just does.  Zoom events were good enough when there were no other options - I am forever thankful for my virtual birthday dinner in 2020 with friends who care enough to spend time with me, and to send me a Jean-Georges black truffle pizza!  Given the opportunity, however, none of use think that’s the optimal way to spend time together.  For a FTF program transitioning to online, it can feel impossible to equal the experiences seen as foundational to the culture.  This is another reason why an experienced online program director can make all the difference, though certainly not all of them are creative. 

As will be the case time and time again, the answer is to take past learnings and experiences and then turn them on their head.  The best online experiences occur when the digital nature is embraced and highlighted, rather than being a passable imitation of in person.   Allow the technology and the experience itself to shine.   Consider classroom polls in the ‘old days’ - maybe you all raised your hands to be counted - this is slow and clunky and potentially embarrassing.  Certainly my high school health teacher quickly learned not to do any polling during our sex ed classes - there is no way we were answering truthfully!  Now consider the polling experience you can have with cell phones or computers, in a class or even a keynote speech.  It’s highly participative, super fast, has a great visual display for all to absorb, and allows for near total anonymity - welcoming perspectives in class that might not be shown otherwise.  [S/O to Smith College for mailing out Smith branded tea to alumnae - brought those memories rushing back!]

Online happy hours certainly do not translate in the same way that a poll does - so don’t try. For many of us in programs/student services, we have what I call an illusion of parity problem.  We want all students to have the same experiences without considering if those experiences lend themselves to that student group, or even what we are hoping to achieve with those experiences. It’s time for a deep dive into the why before the what.  Priya Parker’s incredible The Art of Gathering is a great inspiration/jumping off point.  First consider what you’re trying to achieve, then plan the gathering that will best suit this goal. 

Our in person immersions at a past school were well known to have fantastic networking.  In synchronous class sections then limited to 15 maximum [this has changed], you really get to know your classmates.  Immersions were a chance to see those familiar faces and meet new friends.  During immersions, we changed the seating arrangement every day so that students could mingle and learn from other colleagues.  Great idea, right?  Agreed.  However, it wasn’t until about my 4th or 5th immersion when a student came up to tell me exactly how we had failed.  You see, the seating changes were the same for every single immersion - day 1 was alphabetical by last name, day 2 work industry, day 3 was geography.  It took Andy telling me that as much as he liked his colleague/neighbor Nicole that he was tired of sitting with her at every event and wanted new friends for me to even consider that we should have changed it .  My apologies now to Andy  - I didn’t run the logistics of those events and didn’t convince my colleague to make those changes.  What a simple thing to miss out on.  This was around the time I read Parker’s book and started to think about the changes we could have made - why not have students come into the events on a red carpet if we wanted them to feel special?  With some more work we could have collected hobbies in advance and seated them by interests, or favorite holiday, or really any way.  A little creativity and extra effort would have gone a long way - instead, what should have been epic quarterly events [we went to Johannesburg and Mumbai and NYC and Budapest] felt stale.  If things feel stale in Mumbai, you’re doing it wrong.