Friends, it has been a week! Crikey Moses Al Capone. Talk about new experiences… In the last week I’ve taught my first online workshop, chaired my first 25 person Zoom call and presented my first webinar. Here’s what I’ve learnt.
Real life still wins for me. I wish it didn’t, because the convenience of dialing in to something from my office, wearing slippers, is so great. But I missed the intangible aspects of real-life communication.
XpoNorth
Xpo North, for example. Scotland’s leading creative industries conference. A seamless online workshop where I got to help six creative entrepreneurs refine their story so that their digital presence connects with their customers. So fun! I wish it had been real life, though, so I could have attended all the other workshops in person, not just on my phone. I really wish it had been real life so that I would be in Inverness at the moment, soaking up the Scottish charm. Here’s looking at you, 2021. Please keep the global pandemics at bay.
Here’s the (hour-long, be warned!) recording of my session.
Diabetes Alliance
I co-founded the Diabetes Alliance last year, and it is a thrilling and exhausting endeavour. All the diabetes associations, organisations and companies in South Africa, joining forces to work with the National Department of Health and improve the state of diabetes in South Africa.
Every quarter, we meet at the National Department of Health offices in Pretoria to discuss how we can be most helpful and change diabetes in SA – make it more of a national priority. This week, we met on Zoom. And while it was undeniably so. much. easier than flying to Joburg and renting a car and driving all that way, it wasn’t the same. You miss something when you can’t see people face-to-face. It became much more about what I had to say, and less about what we all collectively had to say. Of course, those who are confident about their views spoke up. But it’s harder to see who might want to say something but isn’t quite sure when you can’t see everyone’s faces.
Diabetes webinar
This was probably the most fun online experience, I think – mainly because of the chat function. Abbott organised an event for Type 1 diabetics in November last year, which was so fun. 20 Type 1s in one room, what a thrill! They did a follow-up webinar this week, and it was so great to share our opinions while the speakers were presenting. Of course, I was one of the presenters (talking about my journey with diabetes) so it was a bit odd to see comments coming in as I spoke… odd, but interesting.
The format worked well enough that I think Sweet Life is going to start a monthly talk series where we invite diabetes-related speakers to an hour-long Zoom talk: half an hour talking, half an hour Q&A and chatting. But my brain feels slightly too overworked to be thinking about that right now.
And now! A mountain of work to get through in the next few hours, then a weekend away and a whole glorious week of leave next week… I can’t wait.
This is the soundtrack of life at the moment… Peaceful, serene, intense, heart-racing. Also: is there anything Ludovico Einaudi has composed that I don’t love? I don’t think so. I listen to these extended versions of Indaco, Primavera or The Earth Prelude on a loop all. day. long.
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