A Blog from Amanda Poppei, Senior Leader

One of the things I love most about serving a congregation like WES–that is, a congregation where people feel passionately, debate thoughtfully, and experience life differently–is that I often can’t predict what will be the “hot topic” in any given week. When we moved our platform services to virtual in mid-March, I think I would have guessed we would have more conversations about accessibility or about format (Zoom vs. YouTube vs. Facebook). Instead we’re talking about…well, about how much we are talking. 

We have been experimenting with the “chat” function, which is available when you watch the platform through Zoom (Facebook has its own chat, though the folks who watch through Facebook typically chat much less than those who watch through Zoom). When we started doing virtual platforms, the chat function was available for participants to use at all times. In the last few weeks, we’ve tried turning it on and off at different times, and I suspect we will continue experimenting. As always, we welcome your feedback–including the feedback that it doesn’t matter that much to you!

 It DOES matter to some folks, and that’s really what has been interesting to me. We have heard from people who find the chat distracting, and have trouble turning it off on their device (if that’s you, and you’d like tech support figuring it out, please let me know!). We have heard from people who like the chat sometimes, but wish it were off at certain times–either to reduce distraction, or because they feel that the chat is disrespectful to those who have prepared words or music. And we have heard from people who like to have the chat up all the time, because it helps them to feel connected to other people; in one viewer’s words, “with the chat off I feel like I’m watching platform alone.” 

There are all kinds of preferences people have about the chat–none of them are wrong or right. If you don’t want to be see it at all, we are happy to get you tech support to control your view or to make sure you have the information to watch on Facebook (you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to do that), where the chat is much less significant. And one person suggested the low tech solution of putting a post-it note over the part of the screen that shows the chat! 

More interesting to me, though, are the experiences behind those preferences, because I think the experiences point to the WHY of platform. Why do we attend platform in person? Are the reasons the same, or different, when we attend virtually? Are we seeking to have the virtual experience feel as similar as possible as in person (when, of course, people don’t whisper to each other all through platform…)? Or are we seeking to get to the same WHY, but finding that we need a different HOW? 

For some people, I believe, going to platform carries with it a core goal of feeling connected to other people. Sure, the message is good, but the main attraction is that we are gathering in community. For those folks, watching alone is missing a huge element of their platform engagement–and the chat provides it back to them. It’s a new “how” that gets them to their core “why.”  

For other folks, platform might be less about the connection (though of course that’s still important) and more about the message. For them, the chat may feel like a distraction or a detraction from the meditative or focused experience of listening to the platform address or other elements of the platform service. 

It’s not that one of these people is wrong, and one is right. Just like–when we have different experiences of music styles, or art–we aren’t wrong or right. And just like with music styles, being in community means that sometimes we have moments of experiencing something we don’t love, because we know someone else does love it. If we’re very lucky, we get the opportunity to talk with each other about why we love it or don’t love it, and in that conversation we learn to know each other more deeply.

So, keep talking! And as you share your preferences about chat, be sure to share the why, because that why is the invitation to deeper relationship. On the tech end of things, I suspect we’ll keep experimenting. Sometimes you’ll love what we do, sometimes you won’t. My hope is that always you’ll stay curious (and deploy post-it notes as needed!).  

Warmly,

Amanda