On May 12, as part of its Future of Downtown Summit, TL Insider hosted a special Masterclass led by one of the city’s very best communicators, Bob Ramsay. Ramsay shared his knowledge and expertise with TL Insiders, covering such timely topics as content creation, work-life balance, and virtual communications (at a time when most of our meetings and interactions are, indeed, virtual).

Ramsay is a writer and communications consultant behind Ramsay Inc. He writes the RamsayWrites blog and his memoir, Love or Die Trying, will be published in June. He also runs the RamsayTalks speaker series and RamsayTravels. He’s chaired the International Readings at Harbourfront, as well as the fundraising committee on the board of TIFF, among many other community activities.

In case you missed it, we’ve recapped some of his most interesting tips.

Networking and staying connected 

When asked how he stays connected with others during the pandemic, Ramsay says that the pandemic has in turn given us more freedom to connect with people than ever before. He suggests following up on emails (since we all receive so many these days) and to simply reach out to people, with no expectations for a response. (You just never know!) The pandemic has altered our perception of time and how we spend it. With some people feeling burned out from back-to-back hour-long videos, placing time caps on virtual work and personal meetings has now become the norm.

Work-Life balance and mental health

Ramsay values spending time outdoors to help clear his mind. He dedicates one hour each day to go on an hour-long walk regardless of the weather. He recommends getting your screen and brain work done early.

How to make your virtual communications more meaningful

Ramsay offered three of his top tips:
1. Get to the point: develop zero tolerance for wasting your or anyone else’s time because time is precious.
2. Be human: be more insistent, forgiving, funny and hurt. Behind the screen, everyone’s lives entail similar chaos; the barking dogs, crying children. Embrace real life; it takes the pressure off yourself and the people on the other end of the screen.
3. Small is beautiful: Turn a 50-person book club into a more intimate online 12-person book club. People are prepared to pay for things they care about even if a smaller group costs more.

Advice for writers

TL Insiders asked Ramsay if monetizing blog content is worthwhile. He gave a confident answer of “yes.” He spoke on how monetizing his content led him to where he is today. He suggested trying out the newsletter platform Substack, where users subscribe to their favourite author(s) to get access to their content. Ramsay went on to explain that authors will need to work a lot harder to sell books in a heavily digital world. Developing personal brands will be important, especially with the popularization of podcasts.

What’s next

Aside from the personal next steps for his memoir Love or Die Trying releasing this June, Ramsay touched on what he believes will be the future of virtual events. While ZOOM fatigue is real for many of us, online events offer the advantage that they can be watched at a later date for those that can’t be there live. We will not step away from the virtual world Ramsay explains; it will remain a part of our lives even after the pandemic.

We can certainly all take in new tips and ideas for our ongoing virtual communications.

For the full conversation, watch the video below:

Related readings:

5 Covid trends that are here to stay: Lessons from Canadian Business’ first leader-in-residence, P&G President Geraldine Huse

How Covid-19 is affecting 2020 marketing trends: 14 takeaways for brands