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Zoom meetings keep small business newsagents connected during COVID-19 challenges

For a month now newsXpress has been helping its member community connect with regular Zoom, video conference, meetings. For the last three weeks, these have been daily @ 2pm Monday to Friday with a morning meeting as well on some days and a weekend meeting some Sundar afternoons. A tradition has developed on Fridays with suppliers joining in the meeting.

Conversation is free flowing, with plenty of topics covered. No topics are off the table. People share their stories, how business is going, what is working, what is not working. The meetings often consider issues of collective interest.

newsXpress was on to the landlord challenge close to two months ago so there has been plenty to talk in the Zoom meetings about in terms of how different landlords have responded to the various newsXpress strategies proposed. newsXpress was also onto the jigsaw opportunity early, back in February, and this, too, has been part of the Zoom discussion.

The most significant value of the Zoom meetings has been the opportunity to experience that as a business owner you are not alone in confronting COVID-19, that your fears are fears others share, that there can be comfort from an openly shared experience.

Each Zoom meeting has between 35 and 40 people engaged live with more than 100 watching the recording overnight.

newsXpress also sends a daily email, usually by 7am, with updates on any issues covered in the Zoom meeting the day before as well as news that relates to our channel, links to relevant government resources and details of relevant supplier opportunities.

There have been plenty of stories in the media this week about Zoom meeting fails. These newsXpress meetings have been wonderful and very much appropriate to the times.

Our next one is tomorrow, Sunday, at 3pm. I’ve cast as a more relaxed meeting, with wine (or beer or a cocktail) in hand. Then, on Monday at 2pm, we’re back to weekday business.

Now more than ever we in small business retail need to be connected to each other as we can learn from each other and support each other. That is central to the newsXpress use of Zoom for daily member meetings. Oh, and if you think you don’t have time, people have the meeting on their computer while they get other work done, each lunch or take calls. Multitasking is applauded.

Footnote: I am a director of newsXpress.

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