Where Do We Go Now?

Nothing like stealing a Guns N' Roses lyric for a blog title.

The reason I love my job is because I get to talk to people about something that I find interesting.

Human interaction is fascinating. What we say, why we say it, context, delivery...With every gesture, word, and breath we are communicating something fundamental about ourselves.

And sure, the people who cut us checks are usually only doing so because it helps them be more productive and therefor more profitable. But we are still taking someone's message and attempting to deliver it in the most effective way possible.

So we'll throw your phone in front of a audio receiver, flash a presentation to your audience's computer screen, and maybe prompt them with a question or two to gauge what they heard and saw.

(Pandora Update: Sweet Child O' Mine just started playing. This blog is fate.)

Yesterday, I sat in on another company's event today and while I am always impressed with any technology that pushes people towards virtual interaction and by companies who see its value, I was underwhelmed by the actual virtual aspect of it. It took me 20 minutes to retrofit my browser to support it, the look and feel seemed a decade old, and there was no social media integration whatsoever.

And again, these people are ahead of the curve.

But that's just yesterday. Today, I want to know where do we go now?

We are quickly approaching an interactive revolution that goes well beyond muted speakerphones and stale PowerPoint presos and there are two reasons why.

Primarily, and realize I am making myself vulnerable to an endless line a ridicule from my boss for this, non-native computer users are beginning to pack for their condos in Del Boca Vista Phase 2. As a younger generation of decision makers who grew up with an Apple IIe in their home assume control of annual reports that will be read by stockholders on their Playstation 3 in between monster sets on Rock Band 2, failing to deliver far reaching technical integration won't be an option.

Also, as advanced communication technologies both hard and soft become more cheap or free (read: subsidized by retailers), the enormous world population that doesn't have a computer and internet access will soon be filling out their Facebook profiles and tweeting about what it's like to live in places where only CNN dares to go.

So, again, where do we go now? We go from Belfast to Berlin at 7.2Mbps. Design to delivery in less than a week. Thought to trend in one push of a button. We go to a place where the world is connected via streaming audio and video, they talk in 140 characters or less, and no gesture, word, or breath gets lost in translation.