Hello 👋🏼 I have something to share: It’s tradeshow season, and for the first time in years we aren’t a part of it. I’m feeling a lot of FOMO about that and realized what I miss is the IRL connections those shows allow us to make (apologies for the acronyms, I’m so lame).
So much business is done over email today. Our culture craves convenience, which means being able to shop without having to interact with any humans; to be able to source products in your jammies with a glass of wine at 8pm on a Tuesday (I’m looking at you, @faire_wholesale). I love convenience, too. I get my groceries delivered and get a thrill from being able to check something off of my to-do list at a time that’s convenient for me. But is living in a world where human interaction becomes next to obsolete what we really want?
I was really moved by a NYT article about this. It looked at why convenience is causing us to become an even more detached society. “The guy who walks into a Starbucks to pick up his pre-ordered flat white as he conference calls into his AirPods doesn’t have to exchange a single word with the worker behind the counter or really even acknowledge her. He grabs his drink and gets on with it.”
Tradeshows seem to be becoming obsolete, and they’re a huge expense (and gamble) for a small business. So, how can we create opportunities for real connection in business, when it’s so easy to live on email and DMs and automated software? I’m curious what your thoughts are on this. Let’s chat in the comments!