There are two businesses that the Covid-19 pandemic put on the map. If you're working for a small or large business or organization, you are probably very familiar with one of them. Zoom took a leap over every other teleconferencing service in the market, including Skype. It's the most popular for companies with 500 employees or less. Covid-19 prompted folks to switch to virtual meetings when they were sequestered and ordered to be 'sheltered in place' during the pandemic.
The second business that came to be was one you've probably not heard about. It's called Goat2Meeting, and interesting enough, it's related to Zoom in an innovative marketing-savvy way.
Face-to-Face
After months of being home-bound, how many video conferencing calls have you been required to date? Are they getting monotonous? BBC contributor Manyu Jiang calls this new phenomenon: 'Zoom Fatigue.' Do you agree?
Since your face is visible throughout the entire call, it's different than being in a meeting where fellow co-workers only look at each other when you are speaking. With a video conference call, you need to be bright, cheerful and interesting, because your face is "on" all the time.
It's like you are on TV, but the TV audience is visibly looking back at you. For those who don't like being in the limelight all the time, you might become overly anxious.
In most instances, there's no comic relief to reduce that 'Zoom Fatigue'... or perhaps 'Zoom Anxiety' is more appropriate.
Goat 2 Meeting to the rescue . . .
What if there was a fresh, non-employee invited to your virtual meeting? How about a cow, a llama, a ... goat?
That's the premise behind Goat 2 Meeting [pun intended]. It's a new service operated by the Sweet Farm animal sanctuary out of Half Moon Bay, California. It's a bright new idea, which helped fill a void that grew almost immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic reached the States.
"Sixty to 70 percent of our revenue has gone out the door" since the coronavirus hit, says Nate Salpeter, who founded the farm with his wife, Anna Sweet.
"So very quickly we had to figure out a way that we can still execute on our mission while also driving revenue," he tells NPR's All Things Considered.
So at various levels of donation [$65 to $250], Juno the goat, Paco the llama, Magnolia the cow and even Steve the rooster could add some life to your next boring video meeting.
The idea took off. Goat 2 Meeting's business apparently went viral. Their website now notes the following:
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Please note: We have been truly amazed at the reception to our Goat-2-Meeting program! We’re overloaded on requests, so your favorite time slot might not be available. We’re working hard to open up more time slots, so check back soon!
Sanctuary founder Anna Sweet told VegNews: “We’ve been thrilled at the excitement around Goat-2-Meeting. We’ve had bookings from Fortune 100 companies, major Silicon Valley tech companies, and even Hollywood movie studios.
The meet the demand, Sweet Farms actually had to partner with other sanctuaries -- like the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary and the Catskill Animal Sanctuary -- to fulfill some of their Goat 2 Meeting time slot requests.
#Getoffyourgrass
Hopefully with all the testimonials and free press Sweet Farms is receiving, inviting a farm animal to one of your Zoom meetings won't ever become boring.
So #Getaoffyourgrass and invite Juno the goat to your next get-together. He's guaranteed to appeal to the quarantined.
Primary Source: NPR
