What's next? Hybrid or Normalcy?

Most of us at Temple are beginning our fall semester with welcome events,

progressing to taking more in person classes, and possessing an optimistic view towards the future. We have come to realize there are many things we can already begin to see changes in as we adapt back into in person meetings, events, and classes. The COVID-19 pandemic led us to rely on technology more than ever before featuring an almost immediate switch from everything in person, to our jobs, classes, and even social events being held over zoom or similar platform. With this switch, there are some things we can expect to change from our pre-COVID 19 world. I would like to highlight certain changes to meetings and events addressed by Scott Steinberg and Don Phin in an article published by Meetings Today. These men are predicting the “speed of change” is increasing, specifically with technology. We have been forced to adapt to new ways of continuing our day to day lives over zoom meetings and asynchronous classes, which leaves the question of “what's next?” remaining. Will we continue this rapid acceleration of technology in this face to face world, or will we keep the methods that we have in “hybrid” terms? Another interesting point I found from this article claims that our attention spans have grown shorter and that there is a growing need for shorter meetings as well as including more interaction in said meetings. I think we can all agree that it is hard being “talked at” or lectured for long periods of time. We have learned over the pandemic that it only becomes harder when we are online surrounded by numerous distractions either at home or on our computers. In regards to the question of “what’s next?” when it comes to meetings and events, I feel the most logical answer is that hybrid format is here to stay. I have met some people who now prefer online classes and working remotely and hybrid format is the most accommodating to all preferences in my opinion.