Blending online and face-to-face knowledge

Apr 16, 2007 by drsavi

A few years ago I was invited to a Business Exchange type of networking event – an event where there is hope that a lot of business folks can get together and hopefully help each other out in winning business or developing new strategies / synergies for products/services. It was held at what was described as one of the finest hotels in the world – With hors d’oeuvre’s of all shapes and sizes.

I probably didn’t know what to expect as the way the event had been described to me was very different to what it turned out to be. Upon arrival we were led to the hotel’s grand hall. Waiters rushed backwards and forwards ensuring that upon entry each entrant was supplied with a glass of whatever.

In front of me was a sea of dark suits, both men and women engaged in filling the hall with the sounds of rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb… With a glass in one hand and a plate of mini quiche’s in the other I walked towards groups of people in a hope to contribute at an appropriate point of interlude. One group was busy discussing the power of quality procedures, another on how financial management (cash flow et al) is important and another discussing financial management arrangements. It then dawned on me that most of the conversations were being led by financial and legal consultants who would typically emerge from the right hand side of the hall and ‘net’ individuals within their vocal grasp. I remember being financially propositioned (in a ‘would you be interested in a business loan’ manner) at least twice. In addition, being introduced to at least two legal experts, ceremonially leaving their cards with me on departure.

Maybe what I have described is not typical of what happens at all these events. i.e: I have heard of good events where guest speakers pitch their services and there really is potential to engage in valuable debate with identifying possible synergies. Maybe I just had a bad experience!

The power of fantastic resources like http://www.sikhiwiki.org and http://www.sikhnet.com together with audio podcasting bring an opportunity for us to share knowledge. It is great that at some Gurdwaras we see Power-point translations using Sikhi-to-the-max. I hold out hope for the power of the Internet and its potential to connect people in a non-threatening way and through sensible discussion (and equality). Most of all without boundaries or subversive control. With social (online) media people can exhibit their personal creativity, share thoughts and record activities, assuming of course that they know how to use the required/necessary online tools. This raises the question of whether those that are more technically savvy have an unfair advantage?


Ending on a positive, new technology brings us great opportunities to share knowledge (just take a look at the growing number of Sikh Bloggers and be impressed!) and what would be even nicer is the potential to fuse or ‘blend’ the online experience with face-to-face events.

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