Ah, the holiday season – the time of the year you can feel everyone becoming a little (or even a lot) closer. It’s the time of the Christmas get-togethers, the parties and the informal meetings among friends and family before the year is over.
If you’re in Berlin, it’s also the time of buying tickets for “one of the world’s most important festivals for the digital society” – re:publica conference, taking place in early May. What was once an informal get-together among bloggers has grown into a big event with over 6,000 participants in just a couple of years.
The Berlin office has been participating at re:publica for the last four years, either as visitors or working on site for our clients (and so it goes without saying that we will once again be attending in 2015). As with any conference that is in step with the zeitgeist it’s easy to see how it’s become a success, but from the years of participating at this particular one we can say there seems to be more to it than just being in the right place at the right time. The majority of attendees at re:publica are already in contact with each other via Facebook, Twitter, Skype or any other social network, yet tickets for an opportunity to see each other face-to-face are selling like hot cakes. This year 1,000 early bird tickets went within 54 mins. Impressive stuff.
Why is it that while our options for communicating digitally are becoming more and more diverse, the face-to-face meeting has been growing every more popular with each passing year? Technology is constantly evolving to free us from offices (and even national borders), but the most meaningful connections still seem to take place ‘offline’ during in-person meetings. While technology keeps us connected across the longest distances we still long for that meaningful chat in person (best accompanied with a cold beverage, of course).
While this isn’t news for the most of us, or at least doesn’t seem like it, it’s very easy to forget and is crucial to understand. After all, social media is simply about better connecting people to do what they already do pretty well – talk, share, create things and be merry – and have done for centuries. In Germany over 70% of recently surveyed companies don’t have any kind of social media team at all, and only 8% plan to set one up in the future. This comes at a time when user numbers of the biggest social networks are growing constantly and there’s no doubt businesses are starting to find a growing number of their (potential) clients online.
The most successful strategy therefore manages to bring both worlds together which, as it turns out, is why we’re looking forward to seeing both worlds united once again at #rp15 in May next year. Let me know if you’ll be there too.
