And I always thought Zoom was just an ice lolly!

Photo courtesy of Lady Penelope and Lyons Maid

Back in the 1960s, the nearest thing we had to Star Wars was ITV’s Thunderbirds. A millionaire crime-fighting family complete with rockets, space station, submarine, and Lady Penelope and her chauffer Parker in the pink Rolls-Royce FAB 1. Merchandising was simpler in those days and Lyons Maid ice creams created a rocket-shaped lolly called Zoom. It cost six old pence, was multi-coloured and I, and millions of other, kids loved it.

Well, I forgot all about Zoom until recently, when it rocketed back to the rescue. Only this time it’s fighting coronavirus and saving our social lives in lockdown. It’s not an ice lolly anymore, but an application allowing us all to fly out into cyberspace to meet up. And it doesn’t even cost six new pence - it’s free.

I first came across the new non-ice lolly Zoom last year. A client in Luxembourg began using it as a way of involving me in meetings – without the expense of buying me a plane ticket. I was impressed and also began using it for meetings involving my other clients in different locations.

Come the arrival of Corona virus, the use of Zoom has changed completely. It is no longer a just a business tool; it is now a consumer product. One that we all need right now.

Take this weekend….

I am flattered to be invited to anything. Amazingly, Luisa and I were invited to not one, but two, parties last Saturday night. The first was for a quiz with friends from my days at uni back in the 70s. The second was for another friend’s significant birthday party. The clever amongst you can guess the birthday began with a number large enough that we wouldn’t want to miss it…. 

Normally, we would have had to turn one event down. But with Zoom we could attend both! 

The joy of Quizzes

The early evening quiz had 5 locations in attendance. Everyone was clearly visible on screen, relaxing on their sofas with pen and paper and drink in hand. 

We used ‘CHAT’ to put up the right answers for the spelling round and team scores after each round was completed. Along the way we could also use it to make jokes about the questions behind the quiz-setter’s back. Team sizes were small (1 or 2) but being safe in the comfort of our own homes meant we could cheat much more readily. The average number of correct answers was suspiciously high across all teams.

So, it worked really well and was good fun. The focus on an activity meant that we didn’t have to talk about Corona virus all evening.

Another way to attend a birthday party  

Now this wasn’t quite so easy. We were late back from the quiz and joined the party in full swing. But then you should never arrive at a party early.

There must have been 25 video thumb nails across the screen which meant the caption names beneath were vital to recognising the half-lit/half-cut faces. No-one needed to worry about being sober for the journey home. 

Clearly it was a great turn-out for the birthday ‘boy’. Despite the best efforts of the host, it was very hard to ‘moderate’. But then it was a social event, not a professional business meeting. 

Imagine walking into a party where you couldn’t talk to any of the individuals there, but had to shout loud enough to be heard by the whole room. While everyone else is engaged in the very same shouting match. On the other hand, you couldn’t get cornered talking to someone as dull as you always feared yourself to be.

The host worked hard to keep it under control by asking for people to share their pre-prepared party pieces – yes, we had been warned. Suddenly the room fell silent as it was my turn – and the confidence that my limerick would be funny instantly ebbed away. And of course it then wasn’t. 

It was a worthwhile but exhausting experience. Instead of using excuses for leaving related to ‘last bus/train’, we could disappear and claim poor bandwidth on a ‘thank you’ text later. But the whole experience really felt like a real party. We felt as if we’d been out – even though we hadn’t moved.

That was Saturday night, so we thought we’d try something more sedate on Sunday…. A cocktail party for 4. 

A quick cocktail party?  

The invitation process is certainly part of the challenge. Zoom is good for sending a business-like invitation – not quite so warm and easy going as you want for a friendly social event. Your guests are not necessarily keen on finding and then clicking on links and keying in passwords. 

And it’s a lot harder for your guests to even arrive – than it as at your front door. They need to know about checking their mic and speakers and camera. 

We all like to look our best meeting friends and that can be quite a challenge on line. Put your camera/laptop too low and you look disturbingly weird (and fatter) staring down from on high. Place the camera high and we look much better – but get a crick in our necks looking up and interestedly into the camera. 

And then there’s lighting – are we lost in the gloom, or with lighting so bright that we look as though we’re being lined up for a police mug shot? Another option is to use a virtual background – like the newscasters on TV. The ones provided on Zoom are beautiful animated seascapes and skyscapes. But they can be distracting and if you move around too much your face can slowly disappear like the Cheshire Cat. It’s even worse with couples where your partner can vanish altogether.

But the talking is easy if there’s a small group of up to 3 screens/6 people and it’s a relaxing way to spend a few minutes with friends. The free Zoom subscription gives you 40 minutes -which is an easy amount of time to fill – close to the traditional real pre-dinner cocktails of around 1 hour. And if you haven’t finished, you can always start a second 40 minute session.

So that was lockdown. Three worthwhile social events punctuated two otherwise long days. Virtual contact made it possible. How would we have coped before the internet? 

So Zoom today is rather more sophisticated than an ice lolly. But nowhere near as easy. It requires skill and practice to really work well. 

I only wish I realised how popular Zoom would become when it first arrived in its new form. An early investment would have been very shrewd indeed. 

The share price has quite literally zoomed…