Not so long ago, you might have gotten a brochure in the mail to let you know that a tradeshow you might wish to attend (or had attended in the past) was coming up again. You’d mark your calendar, write your check, pack your bags, and hope to collect a few auspicious business cards while you were there. And that was generally how you expanded your professional network and stayed “connected” to your industry.

Things are obviously a little different now, in ways too numerous to even begin to list. But I would say that for all that is NEW in the ways we network and connect, we have been reminded of the importance of meeting people face-to-face, of shaking hands and of the value of occasionally looking people in the eye with whom we are doing business. Thus, “events” continue to thrive, and they will always thrive — except that the dynamics that control who you are likely to meet on the tradeshow floor and what happens after that have been radically transformed.

Jack Mardack | Eventbrite.com