The power of face to face networking

It's all about practicing what we preach...

Originally featured in print as part of Access All Area's February edition, Amplify Founder, Jonathan Emmins, looks at the power of connection.

The New Year is a time for setting agendas and resolutions. As event industry insiders, we spend our lives bringing people physically together so they can connect and bind face-to-face. Yet, when we’re busy ourselves, making time for coffee and meet-ups often feels like a luxury, despite our intrinsic understanding of the power of relationships.

No matter how shiny your shop window, people deal with people. Nothing beats developing personal bonds and recommendations through face-to-face meetings.

Think less about networking’, and more about having an inquisitive mind, finding people interesting. It's an approach rather than an event, as much from informal routes such as coffees, dinners, clubs, events, friendships and festivals than more traditional ones.

Consciously or unconsciously, this curiosity has probably got me and Amplify to where we are today; and in all likelihood will take us to wherever we go tomorrow. So in 2019, as in previous years, my resolution is to continue to find people fascinating, to make new friendships and connections, to actively listen and to give conversations the time to see where they go. Because when you make that face-to-face connection, everything just clicks.