In this age of virtual communities, some academics believe that people are “making the computer into a second self, finding a soul in the machine that can substitute for human relationships.”*

Does that make you a bit uncomfortable or is it just me?  Can virtual communities REALLY substitute for human beings shaking hands, making eye contact, and using verbal and non-verbal language to make lasting and authentic connections?

Can Facebook, Twitter, and text messages REPLACE real-life connections?  I say NO!  In my humble opinion, face-to-face connections count almost MORE today than they have in the past.

I believe we all crave a bit of real-touch with other human beings – especially amid times of economic uncertainty and faceless communications. That’s why we are honored that Qwest’s executives have embraced OSP EXPO as a way to reach-out to our segment of the industry AND encourage their teams to grow by offering face-to-face educational and networking opportunities on September 2-3, 2009 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

These folks have bent over backwards for OSP. To start, Bob Tregemba, Executive Vice President, Network Operations, slotted most of a recent day for me to come and interview him AND will spend more than a bit of time with OSP EXPO attendees in Minneapolis.  Renae Coddington, VP - Ops and Eng, Network Services, has spent countless hours encouraging her Director, Trent Clausen, to help rally the Qwest troops to get registered and attend their own Qwest Education Series.

And our OSP 2009 Thought Leaders are psyched to be a part of the Thought Leaders LIVE event for YOUR participation at OSP EXPO.  (Email me questions you want to ask them:  sharon@ospmag.com).

Then, there’s AT&T’s CFST (Cross Functional Sourcing Team) that is kindly holding their quarterly meeting with us.  It is almost too good to be true that all of these hard-working folks believe in OSP EXPO enough to make time to get there in the flesh!

Do you see a pattern of FACE-TO-FACE prioritizing amid our OSP community?  It’s because real, human interaction matters in this high-tech, virtual world.  Color me nutty, but I believe that when we log off our computers and connect with live human beings we can create something more impactful for our professional futures.

Register now to meet your customers, your colleagues, and your competitors face-to-face!  I challenge you to pare your priorities down to the personal.  High-tech isn’t always the most productive method of making authentic connections.  High-touch can inspire in ways virtual methods simply cannot.

See you at OSP EXPO!  (Register for free at www.ospmag.com)

*According to academics like Howard Rheingold, “People in virtual communities use words on screens to exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk” (Rheingold cited in Slevin 2000: 91). For Sherry Turkle “making the computer into a second self, finding a soul in the machine, can substitute for human relationships” (Holmes 2005: 184). Source:  Wikipedia.com, June 2009.

Marshall McLuhan’s, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, says we should study media content but also pay attention to its actual character, the psychic and social effects. In his view, it was important to make visible what is invisible: the effects of media technologies themselves, rather than simply the messages they convey. Source:  Wikipedia.com, June 2009.