With the Prime Minister’s woolly messaging around the concept of continued lockdown, and the likelihood that many of us will be working from home for some time to come, there’s going to be even more debate about how best to gain an online presence, and generate some kind of income by transferring what we do in person into a new virtual asset.
Yet, what is the reality of this? As it happens, here at Funny Women we had already started work on a strategy to take our training and coaching for business into a more accessible virtual environment, and 70% of our 2020 Funny Women Awards process had gone online. Having this new world order ‘forced’ upon us gave us the impetus to move forward rather more quickly than we had originally planned.
When lockdown began there was a sense of universal panic while everybody considered the damage to their businesses and livelihood. We were no different and COVID-19 has been devastating for any of us producing live events for entertainment and business.
Trying to quickly replace tried and tested live event formats by creating new versions suitable for the limitations of Zoom, Facebook Live, Instagram and more has taken weeks to navigate and now, in the seventh week of lockdown, the number of meetings and events available is truly overwhelming. We now need time to review platforms, balance our needs and plan ahead.
I am definitely suffering from the much-reported ‘Zoom fatigue’ and fed up with looking at my resting Zoom ‘bitch’ face during meetings. Everybody is now an ‘expert’ in online presentation techniques and there’s far too much advice being given out about how to speak and what to wear.
As ever, I’m going to be honest and say that I don’t care that much about what you look like or what books are on your shelves. This microscopic scrutiny of our every move and nuance is a pressure we don’t need on top of all the other challenges we are facing to keep working and survive. As long as you have a good wifi connection and I can see and hear you, you’re good to go.
When it comes to presenting yourself in the virtual space, it’s the same old ‘be yourself’ technique that I have always advocated for anybody I have coached who wants to perform comedy or speak in public. Worrying too much about what you look like and the tone of your voice can detract from what you really want to say.
Great comedy is based on reality, our own experiences, and the ability to weave them into a narrative that really engages your audience. You may choose to embellish your story with movement, costume or props but sharing and communicating your experience is what people are interested in.
Some of the most viewed lockdown content reflects this need to share our common experiences.
The people who are coping well now, and generally in life, find strategies to keep them energised, fit and active mentally as well as physically. Telling your story through performing or writing comedy is a good way to cope and lockdown provides the opportunity to experiment and share your ideas in the safe small space of our new virtual reality.
Accepted that this isn’t the same as being in a real room with people but while lockdown lasts, it’s important that we see this out to save lives and support our NHS, then we have to make the best of what’s available to us now.
Our planning for the future of Funny Women continues and, as it happens, our plans have had a big nudge in a direction we were considering anyway. Virtual is our new reality.
My top three Lockdown Survival tips
Watch or listen to comedy to boost your happy hormones. Why else are we all addicted to memes and influencers who entertain us in the small contained spaces of our phones or tablets? We’ll shortly be announcing our new public nomination category for the 2020 Funny Women Awards which reflects the need for this.
Use this time to perform, write or create your own comedy or narrative. We’ve had over 320 entries for the (now closed) Stage Award and there’s still time to write a script treatment or make a short film to enter into the 2020 Funny Women Awards. All details can be found at www.funnywomenawards.com.
Join in! We’re running regular endorphin boosting events with Comedy Workout every two weeks and HERlarious Virtual Reality, run in partnership with WEConnect International, our monthly forum to boost your wellbeing in the workplace. All details on our events calendar here.
