The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024 - 14

The Power of
Virtual
Can Someone
Please Tell Me
to Get to Work?
If you've found yourself putting off the most boring
project in the history of project-kind, why not schedule a
coworking session? Doing so could be a game changer.
By Danielle Maxson and Laurie Bennett
Coworking
Sessions
I work in the same space each day, but I'm not
always the same person. Some days I enter
my home office, smile, and get right to work,
rejoicing that I don't have a commute. Other
days I huddle in my desk chair, filing papers
and doing busy work to avoid the job I just
don't want to tackle. On those days, I can admit
to myself that I need someone looking over my
shoulder and telling me to get to work.
-Business Practices Power Hour attendee
e've all been there: the office
is empty except for us, the
day's work is not as exciting
as we'd like, and the refrigerator full of
snacks is temptingly close. Those of us
who work from home, as many language
professionals do, may have fought
boredom and distraction for years with
no one around to help. In 2020, the rest
of the world joined us as the pandemic
shut down businesses everywhere and
remote work became commonplace for
large groups of people who were used to a
company office environment.
Fortunately, as virtual work became the
norm, innovative solutions were born along
with new routines. One of these solutions
is virtual coworking. The concept is simple:
two or more people sign into a virtual
platform from their own workspaces,
wherever they may be. They meet online for
a predetermined amount of time to work,
independently, on whatever project they
choose. There isn't much more to it, but
simple as it is, virtual coworking can be a
game changer for participants.
This is why ATA's Business Practices
W
Education Committee has been hosting
" Power Hour " coworking sessions since
the spring of 2023. Email invites are sent
every two months to the Business Practices
Community, which any ATA member can
join for free.
14 The ATA Chronicle | September/October 2024
www.atanet.org

https://www.atanet.org/committee/business-practices-education-committee/ https://www.atanet.org/committee/business-practices-education-committee/ https://www.atanet.org/career-education/business-strategies/business-practices-community/ https://www.atanet.org/career-education/business-strategies/business-practices-community/ http://www.atanet.org

The ATA Chronicle - September/October 2024

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