I’ve been spending people-ing this week at other people’s events. It’s so good to get back into seeing people, especially those where we’ve ‘grown up in adult life together’.
There’s always something special about meeting in real life and having fleeting conversations. Of course, we are able to connect and converse virtually, but it’s rarely the same. Yet it is these conversations that build up the relationships of trust and where the truth is often shared.
It’s where we often hear the real answer to how life has been and how we can start seeing life and community with new perspectives. It’s where we share our feelings on human insights that matter and ones that we wouldn’t normally share online.
Then also during a time that has been challenging for me, I’ve been reminded of the impact of our work. I got thank you’s and stories of their personal growth. An old friend expressed how I embraced and supported them to join and participate in a conference and how that single act led him on a professional and learning path that he may have never gone down. This is not an overnight story, it was a journey of 10 years.
We may not be able to track the ROI of much of our work, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important or the right thing to do. More so than ever, it feels like fleeting conversations often lead insights that lead to fleeting opportunities, which in turn add depth to our understanding of the ecosystem.
We rave about how great tech is, but it still doesn’t replace fleeting moments. Creating community with a balance of tech and fleeting moments is such a key part to creating and understanding our communities.