alternative futures: holomeetings

“thanks everyone. it was good to move with you and i’m looking forward to next week’s meeting!”

i unplugged my handset and flopped back on my couch. as the surround-lights in my living room went dark and my shades automatically opened, i was thankful there was still a little daylight left. when the union agreed to stop flying for work gigs, we started heavily investing in the black hardware virtual reality guild. that investment had finally paid off. those of us who had been working as master facilitators could now do our work all over the world without leaving the comfort of our bedrooms.

some of us resisted at first, for sure. i remember that first huge fight between sharun and tyke. sharun was wedded to the way we had been working. she also loved to travel (as did most of us!). it was one of the perks of our hectic lives, for sure. it was unfathomable to most of us that we could ever do our facilitation work virtually. so much of communication is nonverbal and we knew how it was when we were trying to facilitate just on screens.

but tyke really pushed back. she believed it was totally possible, with the right technology and buy-in, that holo meetings would work. she believed that, with just a bit more upgrading, the tech would get good enough. she agreed that it would never be the same and that the travel gigs would consistently have better outcomes. but she knew that the carbon savings would be worth the slight decrease in project outcomes. and that she had guessed right that clients would be willing to pay extra for the lack of carbon. we came out the gate faster than any other firm at that time.

lucky for me on the financial front, but what’s the point of all this money if i can’t use it to visit places i want to put my feet on? i figured i might as well start looking towards investing that money in the soil my feet are already on and i wasn’t happy about it at first…

other alternative futures stories i’ve written

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