Electrical Business

Uncategorized Blog

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it • from the editor

October 26, 2020 | By Anthony Capkun



October 26, 2020 – If you spend any time online, you will have experienced a veritable tsunami of digital information flooding your way. It seems anyone and everyone is hosting a virtual something, and I will be the first to admit… it can be exhausting.

But I will also be the first to suggest:

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

At first, I was skeptical of attending any form of online event; to my thinking, they could never replace the real thing.

Advertisement

The real thing is where you have a person standing in front you. Maybe you are at a tradeshow, perhaps at your local distributorship. They know you and greet you as you come in. You then visit some of the vendors. After shaking hands, you turn your attention to an item on the table. You pick it up, and turn it over in your hands to get a feel for it.

You collect some brochures, maybe some swag, then head over to the refreshments and, eventually, you make your way home (or back to work) with a feeling of connection. An online event simply cannot achieve this.

However, online events have a few positive things going for them, the most apparent of which is accessibility. Over the past few months, I’ve been able to attend events that were too far, too expensive or too niche to attend in person. By the time you read this, I will have been to Las Vegas, Nashville, California, Texas, Toronto, Nova Scotia, Calgary—heck, even Iceland!

We, too, host our share of online events, with more to come. In all cases, our primary aims are to:

a) not waste your time, and
b) to have you log out knowing more than when you logged in.

And while these events can never achieve the same level of connection, they are great for expanding your knowledge and giving you the edge.

Be wary, be selective… but do give it a try.


— Anthony Capkun, acapkun@ebmag.com

This column—along with other great content—appears in the October 2020 edition of Electrical Business Magazine.


Print this page

Advertisement

Stories continue below