The dog days of summer are still upon us and already the buzz around the community is starting to pick back up again. Fall has arrived, school is in session and 2009 planning has begun. Shame it’s still 100+ degrees outside and the thought of hitting yet another networking event seems about as appealing as actually starting 2009 planning.
Recently I was talking with colleague who also hosts a number of events during the year and he made a very poignant point: attendance to your event is actually a self-actualizing success metric for YOU, not the attendees. An interesting way to flip the coin, I had never considered that in truth our main measurement of a program was how many, who and what the feedback was from those in attendance; not the intangible follow-up summary, dialogue or content shared among our community receiving the information from their wireless device or colleagues.
Of course, though wise in my years (ah-hem) I cannot claim to be the first to have this ah-ha moment. The flurry of LinkedIn, twitter, blogs and other online communities are creating such strong value in our daily communication. Question I am left pondering is does ATC focus our attention to the online-network or do we continue holding events in our coming year? Surely there is a balance and opportunity to take the unpaved road…but really, it’s just yet another reason why I’m left procrastinating on that pesky 2009 planning.
