There is no shortage of negative news stories in uncertain times. And when you add that to new challenges at work and home, it’s easy to be in a constant state of stress. In fact, in a survey from the American Psychological Association, more than half of Americans said that the news causes them stress, resulting in anxiety, fatigue, and sleep loss.

To battle the effects of bad news, organizations should consistently share good news with employees as a way to boost morale.

“Managers should suggest that employees set aside regularly scheduled time to read, share, and discuss positive news stories,” says Paola Cecchi-Dimeglio on the MIT Sloan Management Review.

Cecchi-Dimeglio tells the story of an experiment where she assigned workers to watch and discuss “Some Good News,” a YouTube series hosted by actor John Krasinski. The result? Employees who had received good news were 18 percent more optimistic than the control group of employees who were not given the experimental nudge. On top of that, the group that watched the show reported being 32.4 percent less anxious and 12.2 percent more likely to feel grateful for being healthy than the employees in the control group, who did not watch the good news videos.

Organizations can easily follow suit and deliver pieces of positive news on their existing communications platforms.

“Companies may already have virtual watercooler channels set up on their internal communication platforms, but another helpful idea is to set up a new channel dedicated solely to good news sharing, voting, and discussing,” Cecchi-Dimeglio says.

Are Virtual Events Here to Stay?

Spoiler, #virtualevents are not going anywhere. #assnchat https://t.co/evQnct0oww

— ISG Solutions (@ISGsolutions) June 30, 2020

By now, virtual events have become the norm for so many organizations. But are they a temporary solution in a pandemic or a sea change for the events industry?

“While the industry is seeing a notable shift in pushing new meetings to 2021 and later, a Northstar Meetings Group survey showed that event planners are seeing increasing demand for all things virtual for the next 12-18 months,” says Jennifer Best on Forbes. “Even after live events and conferences make their way back into marketing strategies and budgets, virtual events will continue to be a part of the event industry.”

Other Links of Note

There are several ways to go digital with your conference. Event Marketer highlights how Facebook and IBM transitioned to virtual in different ways.

“Virtual” meetings? No, don’t call them that, says Adrian Segar of Conferences That Work. He offers alternative descriptions.

Worried about your iPhone’s privacy? Apple is improving its privacy practices in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, CNET reports.

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