Thinking about rethinking.

As we all struggle to create a new (and hopefully short-lived) “normal,” organizations will be rethinking every aspect of their operations, including how they bring people together when physical proximity is not an option.
 
The key word in the sentence above is “rethinking.” One shortcoming of the large events I work on is the tendency of planners to start with last year as the template for this year. (I wrote a Mind Mint about the dangers of this phenomenon in the coronavirus-free days of 2015.)

Since there will be no large face-to-face meetings for a while, “last year” won’t provide much guidance. We need to start from scratch, by asking fundamental questions about why we want to bring people together, what we want to have happen when they’re together, and what’s possible given the available technology. Answering those questions will improve our approach, both during and after this crisis. 
 
It’s not unlike the questions we're all asking about how to structure our lives over the next few months. The absence of a roadmap forces us to rethink many of our daily choices. That rethinking is going to lead us in some positive new directions...or so I choose to believe in order to get through these first days of the crisis!
 
Wishing you the best as we move through these uncharted waters together. If I can be of help in any way, please let me know.