Avatar

When you have a globally dispersed team, sometimes celebrating life’s moments means you have to do things a little differently.

On my team, we’ve had virtual baby showers, bridal showers, new house tours, and now a WEDDING on Webex – because thanks to the cloud engineers at Cisco who build the software we can’t live without, we can BE there without BEING there.

For my friend (and team member) Casie (fun fact, she’s normally the person behind-the-scenes on this blog) her wedding was so full of fun and love that the five-minute Webex that brought the team to the beaches of Florida for her big day is just one of many happy memories. But for our global team, it meant the world to them, as the lovely couple nears celebrating their first anniversary.

As someone who wanted a small wedding myself, I know how hard it can be to cut off the guest list. Plus, it’s a lot to ask someone to spend a ton of money to come to a wedding.

I, myself, was surprised to make the cut for invites! I told Casie to prioritize her invitations, but I’m glad our friendship (we were social media sistahs from anotha motha before we worked together) and proximity (I live a few hours away) allowed me to be there live and in person. So, we hatched an idea to bring the team along with me!

Casie and her hubs had every detail of the day planned out, down to the photos and time with the couple. She even threatened to chuck our phones into the Atlantic if we didn’t get our butts off of social media and just be in the moment with them! Luckily, I had special permission to have my phone with me, because the details were this: my husband and I would be last in the receiving line and would be last to get our photos taken with the happy couple. Since I had the whole reception to soak up the happiness of the day, I was willing to share my time with my team.

While I waited for the adoring crowd to head up for dinner, I logged into Webex and chatted with our team. My favorite comment was “Carmen, you look lovely and all, but show us around!”

I panned my phone and showed them the beach, the venue, the décor and told them about the wonderfully personal ceremony. When our time came up, the photographer held the phone as we got our photos taken, and then of course, it was time for TEAM PHOTOS!

Yes, that’s us, our whole team, attending a “Webex wedding.”

Casie’s smile says it all – it was a great day all around. Having the team there was icing on the cake.

“These memories were some of my favorite from the day,” she told us later, “as we got to say hello to everyone, take a team photo, and show them our wedding day attire all via Webex. It was the perfect end to our ceremony, and we were so happy to share that moment in time with them and bring our wedding around the world!”

She even sent us all copies of the team photo with her thank you note!

Does your team do this? Shouldn’t they? It’s how we roll at Cisco. Apply now.



Authors

Carmen Shirkey Collins

Social Media Manager

Talent Brand and Enablement Team, HR