"Beam me up, Scotty" | A Vermont Covid Film | Part 9

“Reynolds to the Starship Enterprise”….yeah that’s what all the Zooming and screen time felt like to me when the pandemic hit.

You could say I’m a little bit stuck in my ways. I am not a big social media person or technology lover. I’m a lover of a good ol’ face to face conversation, phone call and a handshake. But that was no longer our world and Covid-19 had only solidified that.

In the midst of the quarantine, futuristic, ‘Star Trek’ like teleconferences were now definitely becoming mainstream, and we too were forced to adapt. Zoom became the commodity of the hour and we had to get onboard or be left out in space. Now, I’m not saying we were “boldly going where no man had gone before”. But somedays it sure felt like it!

So, on that Covid-19 Stardate of 109, we set up our cameras and some lighting in our small office, so we could awkwardly film ourselves as we embarked into the unknown territory of the Zoom on-screen interview. Our little homemade set was ready, and our prospect was in the virtual waiting room. So we pressed “connect to meeting”. After a few connection errors on our side we were able to go live and our contact from Let’s Grow Kids popped up ‘On screen’.

I think some people are just made for the future …and Aly Richards is one of them. She is a mother of twins and a CEO, which may seem ‘highly illogical’ but somehow her pioneering spirit can handle it all.

We did some awkward small talk and get to know you banter as Stefan double checked to make sure we were recording, and sound levels were good.

A complete pro on the teleconference scene, Aly made the interview seem easy. She was flawless as I stumbled, kept looking away from the screen and trying to figure out just where to position myself so I wouldn’t look so out of place.

I bet Captain Kirk never had these issues!

The interview flew by like the Enterprise at warp speed and Aly answered all our questions with style and grace. With all this futuristic talk, I was wishing we could ‘beam her up’ to be here in person. She was the perfect interviewee, knowledgeable, fun and well spoken.

As we wrapped up our questions, I finally settled in and felt a bit more at ease. We chatted off the cuff about the state of affairs and our lives in general. I had forgotten that I was staring at a screen with a large camera lens pointed at my profile.

Maybe, I was made for the future, just like Captain Kirk.

We stopped recording and shut down our cameras and lights. As we were bidding Aly farewell and figuring out how to ‘end the transmission’, I really had to control myself from saying….“Reynolds out”.