structural development

Beautiful digital world?

A guest contribution by Kai Grebasch

Digital tourism fairs, virtual job exchanges, zoom meetings instead of working lunches - it seems as if the pandemic is powerfully showing us the digitization deficits of the past. Or better yet, our own deficits in dealing with digitization, because most of these digital tools were already there before Corona. And yet we drove from Upper Lusatia across the Free State for a two-hour advisory board meeting, only to hear a presentation at this meeting and tell each other our opinions on it. Zack was gone half a day's work. Of course, this can be done in the virtual workspace with much less effort and the virtual meeting is always more efficient, cheaper and more climate-friendly. However, it becomes clear that the digital world is not the solution to all of our time and mobility problems when it comes to getting to know business partners or network contacts. A day at the trade fair at the virtual stand or "showroom", as it is often called, can be a very long-winded affair, because in the digital trade fair hall there is no need to stroll around, you simply cannot "just take a look". And if a curious guest dares to enter the showroom, he or she often has the embarrassing feeling of bursting into a private pub conversation when entering the digital space. Conversations peter out, everyone looks intently to see who is coming, and if in doubt, the visitor who has somehow been caught prefers to flee before her own camera image is built up. It feels a little like we're all navigating the local customs and conversational rituals of a foreign country on the other side of the world. Somehow you'd like to do everything right and you're so strangely tense that you just don't want to get in the mood. After a year of video conferences, some people still haven't understood what "Now please everyone who doesn't speak the microphones out" means and now entire trade fair landscapes are being built in the cloud. Creepy..... Many are already thinking with fear "if this is supposed to be the future, then I'd rather be old-fashioned again". So get through the pandemic quickly and then stomp all the virtual stuff back in? I think that would be the completely wrong way. The days of fax machines are over and that's a good thing. It is much better for us today to face the current extreme situation openly, to participate, to try everything, to observe very closely what brings us forward and what slows us down. And then when we return to a normal world with real social contacts with trade fairs and job exchanges and working lunches, we should link the positive experiences from this digital-only time with the well-known world. Do we really have to meet, or is a quick meeting in virtual space also possible? Can't I also hear the great specialist lecture on Tuesday evening in Düsseldorf without going there? Especially for us here away from the big centers, the digital world opens up completely new possibilities. Hopefully we will all ask ourselves in the future: Can we increase the reach of high-quality content with our digital possibilities? Hybrid events will be the future, I am convinced of that. And digital alone will not work in the long run, I am now also convinced of that.

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