I had my first virtual lunch today,  since the beginning of the pandemic.  A group of like minded of colleagues  (past and present) usually get together for lunch once or twice a month.

Given none of us are in our normal work locations and lunching at a restaurant still has some risks we decided to give it a try on google meet.

Les Repast

The virtual lunch has one major difference from going out for a meal, in the case of virtual lunch you have to prepare your own, I guess you could do take-out though.

Although the food part of the meeting is definitely not up to par the social discourse is “virtually” unchanged (pun intended).  We had a robust conversation with many of the usual laugh out loud moments.

Pro’s and Con’s

We saved time getting to our luncheon location.  Of course the walk over usually includes ongoing discussions which we missed.  Video chat does have some body language capability but it is not exactly the same.

Exchanging information with a feeling of camaraderie and of course jollity  throughout is totally possible and virtually the same as in person.

The casualness of the get together and opportunities for moments of spontaneity is obviously reduced and  the overall level of excitement is somewhat subdued.

But it Works

Putting aside the weighted differences between the virtual and f2f sessions, this is a great replacement for the face to face meeting and more than just better than nothing.

I definitely will continue the practice even after meeting restrivtions are lifted, if my friends will.