06/09/2020
This Santa Takes A Break
I have received advice from an Agent, who I respect, that the current level of technology is going to make my Plan and others extremely difficult to actually implement well and without serious and major issues. Below I quote from his message to me.
So, unfortunately I have decided to suspend my efforts for this year and concentrate on either a few ON SITE events with Covid Protocol AND some Virtual Events for a few Clients usually of 20-25 minutes duration and some of them "pro bono".
I may also do "pro bono" individual Chats for a few "friends" who have grand-children or nieces and nephews and ask that they make a donation to The Red Door Family and Women's Shelters based in the Leslieville part of Toronto, or to the West Muskoka Food Bank based in Glen Orchard, Muskoka Lakes, ON, or to a charity of their choice.
Unfortunate, but I think prudent.
I am somewhere between relieved and regretful.
Please read the comments below in italics.
Santa Bob
"Virtual Santa - Scheduling and Payment Platforms: This is very new and not very well thought out by any of the service providers. The general issue is that no platform is setup to automate the booking and meeting components. There is a company that is working on it but hasn’t finished, which is what we were looking at trying this year, but given that its Labor Day and they are no closer to finalizing, I don’t think it’ll happen.
and....
Virtual Santa Visits: This is the future no doubt, but most Santas are not willing to invest in the proper hardware to do a good job, so my fear is that the half baked attempts, and I’ve seen a few, will kill it before it even has a chance to grow.
Other Concerns:
it is an interesting year, many legal concerns as well, for example, do you allow recording of the meeting, what happens if someone makes a claim that you did or said something inappropriate, what is your recourse if they make a payment claim, what is your recourse if they modify your video and use it in an inappropriate way or commercially, so it may not be a bad idea to just work with the people you know and trust until all this flushes through. 2020, a most interesting year....
