The importance of in-person events

In the past week, I’ve been to two industry events. One tradeshow and a golf tournament. Since COVID, there has been talk of the importance of video conferencing and the constant use of Zoom and Teams. I just want to take a moment to highlight not just the desire but the need to get together.

 In 2020 when the world shut down we were all walled off in our own little spaces. Don’t really care if your space was 500 square feet or 5000. You were stuck there. With just you, your family, and the pets. That’s it. Thankfully we had Zoom, Teams, and the other technologies so we could connect with the outside world.

 Our kids went to school on Zoom. We had our meetings on Zoom. Happy Hours, conferences, and presentations were all done virtually. Yes, we are all so very grateful COVID didn’t happen in 1994. I mean, the music was better then but that’s not the point.

 Society proved we didn’t need to get together. All we needed was an Internet connection and we could get together.

But not really.

 Absolutely we could share ideas, learn something new, and get work done. It just. Wasn’t. The same. Was it?

The reason for that is there is something that passes between humans when we are physically close to one another. There’s another level of communication. It’s more than non-verbal. It’s almost telepathic.

We can tell when someone is being genuine in person. Online it’s more difficult. We get a better sense of who someone is, their mannerisms, and them as a person.

 Being in person also feeds our souls in a way.

 In the leadup to the tradeshow I had a dear friend go through a pretty harrowing experience. Weeks upon weeks of extreme stress and uncertainty. It was connecting with others who they liked and trusted that they were able to recharge. To get back a margin of what that month had cost them. Because being around others does recharge us. Even us introverts.

 After COVID ended there were conversations about whether trade shows and conferences would ever come back. Like, just because we could do this online meant we’d never get back together.

The last two years have seen a resurgence of most of those conferences. People who may have never considered going to their industry’s conference were now the first to sign up. Why? Because they needed that connection.

We all need connection in some way. Even those who tell you they would rather be left alone. Make sure we make the time to keep connecting with one another. It’s good for you.