When I read "Megatrends" in the 1980's, I was struck by the trend of high tech, high touch.  At that time technology was booming and I was working at Hewlett Packard.  I could see the tech  trend everywhere, but had to ponder the high touch trend.  Everyone who knows me knows I'm a people person, but when I thought about technology for long enough, I began to think that maybe technology would take over.

Fast forward 25 years and we are now deep into the tech trend.  Here I am writing another blog post from my living room on my laptop using a wireless connection.  Believe it or not, people will see this post all around the world.  That's high tech!  Smart phones, Ipads, and "the cloud" are omnipresent.  Where is high touch?

I write about networking, so let me tell you where it is and don't worry I won't mention soul.  I will, however, write about being there.  You still have to be there with other people to ever make meaningful relationships.  I have been a long time member of FEI and recently started a new blog called www.feiblog.org.  I wanted to encourage people to join FEI and provide value to existing members so I started writing about the meetings, the networking and the people.

The blog is good, and compared to the alternative, which was nothing, it is a resource for the chapter.  The problem that I can came to realize however is that it doesn't come close to capturing the true giest of the organization.  One reason is that while I can comment on the good stuff, there is no way I will ever write about the "hiccups."  Why would I?  It's a volunteer organization where most of the people are my friends.  Also, information on the internet stays forever.

It just made me realize that more than ever you have to be there (high touch) to get the real experience; to get to know the people and the organization.  Anything you get through the internet (high tech) is limited because it has to be white washed, whittled to 140 characters and welcoming for the ages.

Don't get me wrong, FEI is great and I want you to keep reading Tudhope's Networking Notes, but you need to shake a few hands (high touch).  See you soon at a networking event in Orange County.

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