For all the innovation in social media and the escalation of reliance on web-based technologies across the global corporate world, it turns out that the value of face-to-face meetings and events is greater than ever, and poised to grow. That was the consensus, and the message, of many of the CEOs who gathered this past May in Montreal to take part in a new conference — C2-MTL — whose theme was “Commerce + Creativity.”
“I think live events are part of the human DNA. We want to be connected, whether we are at a concert or a meeting,” says Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group. “I am Greek. I grew up with everybody in my kitchen, all eating and talking. My husband would say it’s a good day when you can walk in and know half the people in your house.”
In fact, says Huffington, one of the best parts of her job is when she gets the chance to mingle with her many bloggers, something she got to do two months ago, when the company celebrated its seventh anniversary with a festive event. “We threw a huge party any seven-year-old would want,” she says. “There was cake and ice cream, balloons, music, entertainment. Everyone came together and got into it.”
Huffington’s viewpoint is a widely shared one. According to the results of the 2012 edition of the “Global Chief Executive Officer Study” by Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, which polled more than 1,700 CEOs from 64 countries and 18 industries worldwide, in terms of communication, “face-to-face via their sales forces and other institutional representatives is by far the most dominant method of engaging with customers today.”
The study’s research data, says Boston-based Marc Chapman, global strategy and transformation leader with IBM Global Business Services, who spearheaded the study, was particularly revealing. “What we heard over and over from the CEOs who outperformed their peers, in terms of revenue growth and profitability, was that if you have a problem, you assemble a team,” says Chapman. “ You don’t assign the problem to one person. That means they are going to have to come together and collaborate to get the job done.”
Patrick Pichette, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Mountain View, CA-based Google, echoes that sentiment. The more we rely on technology, he says, the more important face-to-face interaction will become, because the need for social connection is fundamental.
“Technology is a liberator, not a replacement for that face-to-face meeting,” says Pichette. “Take our Google+ Hangout tool. It not only complements the online social experience, but it absolutely does not, and will not, replace the value of face-to-face. My children live in different cities, so we have a lot of online family meetings. But when we actually all get together in one room, what a joy that is. It’s the same with business.”