December 2008

Photo by Adam Vogel

'Tis the season of holiday parties. This Christmas I've been to quite a few; it's been great to catch up with friends and colleagues over mulled wine and mince pies. But what can you do if you want to celebrate but don't live near your friends and colleagues? Over Twitter I recently learned about Kyle Sheldon-Chandler, a woman who has been having a virtual holiday party over Skype with one of her clients for the past five years. Kyle runs a virtual assistant services company, and was kind enough to answer a few questions for me:

Skype Gear: I happened to notice on Twitter that you're having virtual holiday parties over Skype--how long have you been doing this?

Kyle Sheldon-Chandler: I have been doing a virtual Christmas party with my client for 5 years.

SG: How does it work? Do you have a different party with each client?

KSC: I only do this with one client. We schedule our date and time and then get ready to have some fun. At the appointed time, one of us calls the other on Skype, we have our dinner or snacks and wine, if desired. Our husbands bring us refills on the snacks (cheese, crackers, vegies, dip or the like) and the wine.

SG: What sorts of things does one do during a virtual holiday party?

KSC: With my client, we talk about everything except work (sometimes it does creep in though). We talk about our kids, husbands, tv shows, some politics, and what is going on in our lives. We happen to be about the same age, with kids the same age, so we have a lot in common.

For my International Association of Administrative virtual parties - we design a Powerpoint presentation with a variety of slides. For example, one slide could be different doors with a prize behind the door. So, if you win one of the games, you get your choice of doors.

We have played a variety of games such as Two Truths/One Lie where you have to guess which statement about someone is a lie; TV trivia; matching childhood pictures with our adult pictures, or any other game.

We also have a gift exchange so you get to pick a present under a tree, and the donor of that gift will mail it to you. These are normally gift cards or journals, etc.

SG: How is a virtual holiday better than a "real" holiday party? How is it worse?

KSC: It is better because you don't have to drive, especially if you drink. You get to stay in the comfort of your home and don't have to dress up. It is certainly less expensive and you get to know people from all over the country.

The detriment is that you usually don't get to have a face-to-face event. I have not figured out how to have a lot of people on webcams yet.

SG: What kind of webcam do you use?

KSC: I have a Logitech webcam. Not the most expensive, but it works pretty well.

SG: How do you use Skype as a virtual administrator?

KSC: I use this to connect with my clients by voice, chat, and video. I also use it to connect with other virtual assistants.

What a great way to connect over Skype. Thanks very much Kyle! Happy holidays everybody!

Happy holidays! Here are some recent stories about how Skype can be used to spread holiday cheer:

• Here are two good guides for how to for have video chats over Skype and use Skype generally. if you're reading this blog you probably already know this stuff, but they could be a good for forwarding to family and friends who aren't using Skype yet. Also, here's a video on how to Skype.
• People who are cutting back on travel during the holidays can use Skype to keep in touch instead.
• Soldiers are using Skype to keep in touch with their families when they can't be home for Christmas. They're also sharing war stories with students over Skype.
• And students are learning new languages or about different cultures through Skype.
• As Skype becomes more of a standard, one journalist calls on other journalists to use Skype more.
• And here's another review of the Asus AiGuru SV1 Videophone that I recently reviewed. It could be a great holiday gift...

We've seen some interesting uses of Skype on webcams recently (including a roving robot and sight for a blind man)--here's another. Barak Kassar, the director of a digital communications / marketing firm, recently was able to direct a film his staff were making in San Francisco via Skype from Spain.

Kassar was able to watch the monitors as they were filming and give an actor tips--though at one point his staff muted him and it took quite a bit to get their attention:



Kassar said on his blog that he was pleased with the experiment, and liked that he could avoid such a long flight.

Have you ever done something unexpected over a webcam? Let us know in the comments.

[Via Everything Communicates via Wired Gadget Lab]

It was with great fanfare that the first Skype Certified videophone, the Asus AiGuru SV1, officially launched last month. I've had one around my office for a few days now; it makes video calling really easy to do--read on for my review.

Continue reading "Well hello, Asus AiGuru SV1" »