Inspiration Hub

Meetology's Jonathan Bradshaw explores why, if you need to have a serious chat, you’d be better off avoiding texting as a way of communicating.

Despite the terrible impacts of the coronavirus on the meeting industry, there’s a silver lining. Hear me out! There is no question times are hard. The coronavirus pandemic has already devastated lives and businesses globally, and we don’t know how much worse things will get. The meeting industry is reeling under a wave of cancellations, postponements and uncertainty. All my short-term facilitation and on-site training engagements have been cancelled—and I’m lucky in comparison with colleagues who are struggling with the significant financial impact of the loss of work, deposits and income that a few months ago looked secure. Consequently, in the short term, the situation looks bleak.

Just like people, teams have personalities. While the nature of teams has shifted since our tribal hunter-gatherer days, teams are still one of our most crucial social structures. This is true in most organizations, and particularly the case in high-stress event planning groups. How we introduce hopefulness into our teams can be the difference between joyful collaboration and frustrating second-guessing.

It’s impossible to put together an event on your own. Even if you had the bandwidth for everything, which you likely don’t, there’s also the huge variety of skillsets required. You can’t be in multiple places at once. Skimping on event planners means the event will skimp in other ways, too. It’s simply impossible to have one person take care of the VIPs, welcome guests, and coordinate food and activities at the same time. That’s why a team is so important.

One of society’s greatest paradoxes is that we have more connections today than we did in the past but there is less community and conversation. As a conference organizer, you can seed your annual meeting with experiences that nurture authentic conversations, deep connections and community. You don’t have to sacrifice honest talk for today’s casual chat through digital communications or to sidestep sensitive polarizing topics.

We’re lonely. And not just a little lonely. We’re experiencing a global epidemic level of loneliness. Last week, the U.K. appointed Tracey Crouch as the Minister of Loneliness after the British parliament released a five year study on loneliness that found more than 9 million people in the country reported they often or always feel lonely. Across the globe, loneliness is fast becoming one of our most serious health epidemics and is a greater predictor of early death than obesity, smoking and excessive drinking. So what does this mean for those of us responsible for organizing and executing conferences and events? A lot!

With the average consumer now exposed to about 4,000 ads a day, people are getting better and better at tuning out advertising. Event brands need new ways to get the attention of potential ticket-buyers — both brand-new audiences and people who’ve already heard of your event.

Sometimes, you just need to look at leadership from a different angle. In Zoom Leadership: Change Your Focus, Change Your Insights, organizational consulting expert Janet Britcher urges readers to “zoom in and out” with a flexible, open mind when problem-solving, rather than looking at a situation from a single point of view.