Tips and Insights

Just wanted you to know we're attending a couple of networking opportunities in the Midwest. We're headed to Chicago for Business Matchmaking 2007 on Tuesday, August 28, which will give us an opportunity to talk to several large businesses.

Then on September 18-20, we'll be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the American Contract Manufacturing Show (AmCon). Come visit us in booth 217. We'll share samples and discover ways we can work together!

Labels: conferences, networking

I'm telling you what, even if it is necessary and quick, searching and reading on the Internet feels like a waste of time. Why is it that the same amount of research done at a library feels more like an accomplishment? Maybe that's the curmudgeon in me (or the selective memory that prefers not to remember the directionless wandering I did in university libraries so long ago).

I guess I don't appreciate the value of having "all this information" at my fingertips. Or the ease and quickness. I still wind up looking at articles or entries and not finding anything that helps. Or I get pulled in another direction by an entry that only slightly resembles what I need.

Our webmaster-Phil-is comfortable manipulating, searching, reading . . . doing all the things that people do on the Internet. He can answer all my questions, solve all my problems, point me in the right direction. Of course, he's also about twenty years younger and grew up with a mouse in his hand.

I wonder, though, if this preference for searching with the Internet has overlooked the social interaction that occurs at a library. In much the same way washing machines have removed us from Laundromats and DVD players have pulled us from movie theaters, our contact with humans has diminished as our comfort (and reliance) on technology has increased. I'm not saying I want to haul my clothes across town to get them cleaned, but I do know technology makes it easy to avoid face-to-face communications.

And that makes me wonder if there are social ramifications for generations that grow up preferring the cyber-world to the real world.

It's not uncommon to see many of our children playing video games instead of heading outdoors. And busy teachers sometimes have to show their third graders the lives of grasshoppers on the computer, where facts and statistics abound, instead of taking children outside for a chance to find, catch and watch the eating, mating, and flying skills of these insects. (Orion Magazine has two good articles on the role nature should play in education.) Speaking for myself, playing outdoors and learning in the natural habitat not only helped me connect to the greater world, it also taught me about empathy, compromise and survival.

Face-to-face communications, first with family, then on the playground and in school, is where you learn to intuit a person's emotions. It's hard to see anger, pain, discomfort, rejection across a computer screen. In fact, across cyberspace, it's easy to say things you wouldn't normally say if you had to look the person in the eye. People initiating taunts or threats in blogs, e-mails, or social forums often suffer no repercussions, and this type of cyber-bullying is on the rise.

This social disconnect can occur in the business world, too. While many people may prefer communicating by e-mail, the benefits of talking by phone, or better yet, in person, outweigh the disadvantages. Nothing resolves a crisis or enhances training like face-to-face contact. For many companies, the guaranteed way to sell a product is by sitting in a room and talking with prospective clients, building a relationship by sharing the enthusiasm for their product.

Here at Bishop, we appreciate the advantages of face-to-face discussions, but we also recognize that as the world expands globally, we have to rely on e-mail, phone, and web conferences to hold some of our discussions. Armed with that knowledge, we work hard to grasp the subtleties of the client's process, identify the issues and help solve problems. We make sure to verify our understanding of the tone and intent of the client, as well as the process. That way, even if our clients can't see our hand motions and nodding heads, they'll know we've listened and understood.

Once again, though I fight technology, I recognize the necessity. Libraries, however, will continue to be my preferred source for information, even though I know the Internet will eventually house everything I need. I just don't plan on giving up the social interaction and camaraderie that comes with searching and reading in libraries for a long, long time.

Labels: face-to-face communication, Internet searching, library, social interaction, technology