Since I was just yesterday briefly opining about why some bike rides are better than others, I won’t do the same again as it pertains to today’s bike ride, which will definitely be categorized as among the others. The why was actually known, today, however. The Yankee said “Let’s go find some hills,” and that is why that ride was hard and it was slow.

And also cold, which is what you want out of April Fools Day: no jokes and an almost bitter chill.

This evening I held a Zoom chat, #IUZoomington we’re calling them, with my old friend Chris Pollone. You’ve seen him on NBC stations around the country, as he is a national correspondent and a producer for the network. We all worked in Birmingham at the same time, and he’s very generous with his time. It’s one of the great things about this business: people are always willing to do this sort of thing:

Students who took part in the discussion, I think, learned a great deal from a pro’s pro. I’m going to try to have weekly #IUZoomington sessions with broadcasters through the rest of the semester. It’s not the same, but it could be helpful to those who want to take part.

Of course, after the fact, being TV nerds we talked about how we could have all added monitors to make over-the-shoulder graphics and such.

This was … let me count now … my seventh or eighth or so professional Zoom. I’ve had a few people join me in classes this way and conducted a few interviews this way, but now we’re all experts in the format, or soon will be. That total doesn’t count the occasional video chat with friends, of course. Somehow they’re the same, but different.

I wonder how everyone else’s dynamics work. Obviously, for a more formal meeting style the roles can be pretty clear — and there’s a lot of listening and waiting.

What if the circumstances are different? What if it is like this, a more casual setting? If you are the supposed host do you feel the need to keep the conversation moving? I feel as though I need to have two open-ended questions ready to go at all times. It’s a party host function, I guess. I invited you here, and so I must make sure this doesn’t devolve into something wasteful. If you’re an invitee, though, do you bring more of a reaction-style to your computer screen? No board games necessary, right?

It’s flat, a coworker said, and you can see that. Everyone is just beginning to figure out the dynamics, I suppose. But it’s almost as good as being there, and you don’t have to drive home afterward, or clean up everyone’s dishes when they leave. Is it allowed to have a a nice show-and-tell? Maybe that becomes weird. I think there’s a cat show for cat people in this format. I also want, even in these basic chats, for there to be multiple camera angles and graphics (I’m making my own out of paper and tape.) and games on the screen. What would liven up a chat more than a handful of Connect Four games you’re playing against each person in the room?

You know what would? Custom backgrounds. And that’s where I’ll be spending some of my time later this week, making more of them.