In Praise of Virtual Conversation
Can a virtual conversation ever substitute for a face-to-face encounter?
It is conventional wisdom to assume that face-to-face is always better. But I would argue that isn’t always the case. In today’s Internet driven world, virtual connections can be just as good as face-to-face encounters. Certainly, they should not be considered lesser.
We are facing this debate specifically in Japan around the delivery of items such as over-the-counter drugs and education. Some argue that these are examples of items than can only be properly delivered in a live setting. While this particular debate is local to Japan, it is one to consider on a global scale. Has the Internet advanced sufficiently so that virtual delivery of information around important items such as a medication or an education can be delivered virtually?
We say: yes.
You can deliver far more information online than you might be able to do in a live setting. A live encounter may be limited by time or space constraints. Not so online, where an unlimited amount of information is available any time you want it.
Online you can track more carefully whether or not your message has been received. A teacher in a classroom may wonder if all her students were listening and following her lecture. A teacher in a virtual classroom can access metrics that will tell her this instantly.
A virtual connection is one that can last a lifetime. Once you communicate with a merchant online, that merchant can send you updates and additional information. Consider how valuable that might be in a pharmacy relationship. New information, such as a newly discovered side effect, could be communicated to a patient virtually. If that patient had only received information in store, that connection was broken as soon as he left the building.
It is time to acknowledge that the Internet is a strong forum for communication. As good as a face-to-face connection. Maybe even better.
Consulting Partner - Global Leadership Development solutions for Blanchard clients
10yWe may have an answer www.vcreativeservices.com We are a Virtual Meetings Management Agency and we create interactive engaging virtual sessions for Pharmaceutical companies for training, marketing & compliance purposes. Best wishes Sam Barnes
Advisor to General Director at Institute on Russian and NIS economic atudies at ROTOBO
10yRakuten is very special. They have problems with their own employees for using English language for internal communications, and applying American-like way of communication. "Online you can track more carefully whether or not your message has been received" - dear me! even being told in person 'Yes, I'm listening' one can't be sure that one's message was properly delivered to a vis-a-vis. Generally, Mr.Mikitani speech is sounding like if he has learnt Western theory of communication up to 90s and still remains ignorant about later inventions.
Senior Project Manager/Chief Engineer
10yI always followed my father (former HR Manager in a multinational company) advice: the first "feeling" that you get from a person is the right one. In my 30 years of experience world wide I thing I mis-judged a person not more than three/four times. The vis-a-vis conversationis a unique experice that can not be replaced by a virtual one.
Manegement &Education
10yDiscovering, developing and absorbing the elite and talented people and helping them turn ideas into products for Iran and the world. .