How Covid-19 Transformed The Way We Communicate!

How Covid-19 Transformed The Way We Communicate Hi, you are listening to the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Our Lives from Podcast Pioneers. Podcast Pioneers is a Toastmasters club dedicated to sharing stories with the public. While COVID-19 pandemic since 2020 drastically altered the lives of people around the world, it quickly introduced new ways of communicating with one another. Many of our club members overcame these challenges and learned to improvise. During this first season, we have been publishing stories about these experiences. Season 1, Episode 21 - Podcast Pioneers - Bipin Chandriani I was forced to return home from India on March 9th 2020 as we started hearing about this dreadful disease Covid-19 was affecting lives and threatening to shut down nations and mobility. Just a week after I got back home, we saw borders being shut down, scheduled air services also being severely restricted. While many communities had ordered non-essential people to stay home and limit contacts with others, people were being isolated from human contact. First time I heard about now ubiquitous video conferencing tool Zoom was in mid March 2020. Instead of meeting family and friends in person, people started using video calling features on their phones and other video conferencing tools such as Zoom. Zoom and such tools allowed Families/friends gather on one screen irrespective of their geographic location specially when they could not meet in person. I arranged multiple zoom sessions to connect with my family located in 3 countries across 2 continents. Celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, festivals and more either on a video call, a drive by parade or met outdoors in a park. Toastmasters clubs that met in person had to improvise and start meeting virtually on zoom. My in-person Toastmasters club in District 38 also started virtual meetings on ZOOM. While we were learning to conduct meeting on Zoom, we saw more members/guest were able to attend meetings which was convenient as they could attend from anywhere with internet access and also without having to worry about not able to make it due to caring for a child/adult or if they were running late from work Companies/schools found they could conduct training/meeting over zoom. Virtual meetings created opportunities for participants who were introverts could now participate by chat or video if they preferred Budding and veteran artists (musicians, magicians etc.) started collaborating and streaming live rehearsals/concerts to entertained people who were forced to stay home during the pandemic. That was a first! Doctor visits started happening on video conference calls I am a Relator and we were able to do a virtual home tours and replaced in-person meetings/orientations with our clients by Zoom during the pandemic and have now become an important feature to all homes being listed for sale/rent. In-person meetings temporarily were replaced by zoom meetings. Suddenly people and companies started using video apps and platforms to “Reach Out & Touch Someone” “The dramatic and sudden shift to synchronous online video formats like Zoom paradoxically made many people feel both connected and isolated,” said Elizabeth Outka, an English professor and an expert on pandemic literature. Zoom fatigue was the word people started hearing as people craved in-person contacts. At we come close to the end of 2022, we now feel a lot safer, we have seen various new ways of communication has opened up opportunities allowing people who can work remotely to either move closer to family/friends, areas with lower cost of living or follow their passions. I hope that you found this episode helpful. As the podcast project manager, I have had the tremendous pleasure of working with an amazing team consisting of Su Brooks who has kindly created outstanding graphics for all 20 prior episodes and Neerja Purang for her unwavering guidance and support in integration and publishing of the episodes. Ple