BUNKHOUSE
MAKE ROOM FOR ZOOM
NORMALCY MIGHT BE ON THE WAY, BUT VIDEO MEETINGS SEEM HERE TO STAY by CCA Director of Communications Katie Roberti “In 2020, we simultaneously faced two once-in-ageneration crises when we combatted the worst wildfire season in our state’s history in the middle of the pandemic,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in his State of the State speech at the beginning of March. Over the last 12 months, the coronavirus pandemic and California’s wildfire crisis have become personal to most of us in one way or another. CCA has lost members to COVID-19, and members have lost cattle, homes, barns and irreplaceable places to wildfires. Recent issues of this magazine have been somber, to say the least, as we’ve reflected on the wildfire tragedies that have impacted ranchers across the state and remembered lives lost to COVID-19 with articles and obituaries. Both situations have been heartbreaking, confusing and frustrating, including other waves of emotion, and my thoughts prayers go out to all of the families personally impacted. Last year at this time, we all had a lot more questions than answers about how this pandemic would impact our lives and world. While plenty of questions remain today about what the future holds for living with COVID-19, I am hopeful we are making progress towards a little more normalcy each day. Like many of you, I’m ready for parts of life that have been on pause for the last year to resume. I can’t wait to go to a baseball game again, and I’m excited for events like our annual CCA convention, county fairs and so many others centered around agriculture to return. As we are slowly starting to see life come back as we knew it prepandemic, I am optimistically looking forward. But I also understand that not everything will go back to how it was, and in some ways, that is okay. The Atlantic published an article in February called “Superstar Cities Are in Trouble.” Among other takeaways, there was one big one for me. “‘The most important outcome of the pandemic wasn’t that it taught you how to use Zoom, but rather that it forced everybody else to use Zoom. We all leapfrogged over the coordination problem at the exact same time,’” David Autor, an economist, says in the article. “Meetings, business lunches, work trips—all these things will still happen in the after world,” 6 California Cattleman April 2021
the article continues to say. “But nobody will forget the lesson we were all just forced to learn: Telecommunications doesn’t have to be the perfect substitute for inperson meetings, as long as it’s mostly good enough.” Zoom meetings and other online meetings of that type cannot replace the value or importance of all face-to-face meetings and discussions. At the start of the pandemic, a friend of mine wrote on Facebook, “Check on your extroverted friends, they are not okay.” As an extrovert, I especially need these in-person interactions and have missed them over the last 12 months. However, the pandemic opened the door to normalizing virtual video meetings, such as Zoom, and I don’t believe that door is closing anytime soon. It is never easy to get away from the ranch, or your operation. Some months it’s not even doable. But over the last year, together, we’ve seen that Zoom and the technologies like it can help make it possible to almost be in two places at once. You can check cows and a few minutes later be in a meeting with other ranchers from across the state and country without even leaving the ranch. ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
