Face Value
Human beings come equipped with a factory setting to seek real, not virtual, relationships. Solid bonds of friendship develop when we are together and contribute to our health, help us learn and remember, extend our lives and foster a sense of happiness. Not just any social networks will do: humans need real, face-to-face, encounters with others in our world.
Since 1986 I have been producing live meetings and events from small start-up software companies to large global corporations and associations. We produce the show. From the impressive staging and lighting in the general session room, to technically perfect breakout sessions and demos. From set-up, through 2-5 days of show, to strike, we turn empty hotel ballrooms into memorable events for our client’s customers, employees and other stakeholders.
Until the pandemic, I loved sitting in the back of a ballroom, on the tech riser, watching speakers connect with their audiences. I have seen impactful leaders giving memorable speeches, leading the way in competitive industries, making tough decisions and urging their organization on during challenging times. I enjoy seeing people receive their awards and watch the audience rise to salute their accomplishments. I have seen our clients grow, innovate, inspire and turn their companies into world-class organizations.
In her 2014 book, The Village Effect, award-winning author and psychologist Susan Pinker uses the field of neuroscience and moving personal stories to demonstrate how face-to-face contact is crucial for learning, happiness, resilience and a long life. Pinker explores the impact of face-to-face contact from cradle to grave revealing surprising findings about human relationships in a digital age. In the process, The Village Effect offers a new way to think about how we educate our children, meet partners and conduct business.
Fast forward to today…because of Covid 19, we have been conducting business and other communications virtually, with the dramatic, instantaneous increase in the use of our cell phones, home computers, or iPads, connecting us to Zoom and other video conferencing services.
As things begin to open up, we may segue into small, local meetings that will typically be shorter than usual with strict social distancing guidelines. These live meetings will often be coupled with a virtual audience–creating a hybrid event, so out of town attendees and others, who can’t, or won’t attend, can also participate.
We will then segue into mid-sized meetings with some people flying in and additional guidelines focusing on safe travel. These meetings may last 1-2 full days and we will begin to see some reduction in social distancing guidelines, and hopefully, no need to wear masks. Even so, for some time, some attendees will still only participate virtually.
Finally, we will get back to the typical 2-3 day meeting with larger audiences and air travel. Certain restrictions will be lifted, but again, some people will still not want, or be able to fly, and some will only opt to participate virtually.
The challenge facing today’s business leaders, managers and event planners is how, through virtual or hybrid meetings do we best communicate to give our organizations, the education, direction, hope and motivation needed. Chicago Tribune writer Rex W. Huppke notes “a funny thing about people is they seem to respond best when you treat them like people. The fact remains that human-to-human interaction is most effective when performed in a sincerely human way.” This human way of connecting — the person-to-person way — consists of behaviors learned from our first days on Earth. While these should be very natural to us, the digital age and the rise of the Coronavirus has created a reliance on less natural and more virtual communications. The time has come to incorporate the value of human ways of connecting, into our virtual world, so we can communicate with what I call Face Value.
Face Value is taking the lessons learned, and the benefits of face-to-face communications and incorporating them into virtual communications and media.
Some may ask, ‘why do we even need these meetings and events, can’t we just send an email or talk on the phone?’ The answer is no, if you want the best chance to:
- Impactfully inform, persuade and encourage an audience
- Recognize outstanding performance
- Gather honest feedback
- Build trust with employees, prospects, customers or other stakeholders
In Face Value we will review the key building blocks of face-to-face communications as well as concepts developed by neurologists and psychologists–and offer ways to incorporate them into your big and small, live or virtual communications.
Welcome to Face Value!
