Eye to Eye

I've blogged before about the importance of face time for our editorial team as a group, but yesterday morning I was reminded of its power at the one-on-one level. I drove to Maryland to interview someone for a Leading by Example profile for a future issue of Convene. Because these profiles tend to go very in-depth, whenever possible we talk to the subjects in person -- for all the reasons that struck me yesterday. The person I sat down with had an emotional and inspiring story today, and making an effort to visit him at his office and look him in the eye while he told it felt somehow ... appropriate and respectful. Maybe the word I'm looking for is "communal" -- in sharing the same space, we better shared the experience he was relating. And that will make for a truer, more interesting article.

The same forces are at work on a larger scale as well, at meetings and conventions. Or at least, I think they are. Is this what we talk about when we talk about the power of face-to-face events?