The COVID-19 pandemic might be behind us, but its aftershocks are still shaping the way we live and work. What started as a temporary fix: Zoom calls, virtual meetings, endless webinars quietly became our new normal.
And now, after years of staring at screens, people are tired. Digital fatigue is real. The world is craving human connection again.
We don’t just want to log in anymore. We want to show up. To talk, listen, laugh, shake hands, and remember what real connection feels like.
I call it The Great Regathering. It’s a global shift that’s bringing people back together in boardrooms, at trade shows, and on event floors where business finally feels human again.
In this blog, I’ll unpack what this movement means for the future of trade shows and how brands can make the most of it as people rediscover the power of being in the room.
The Age of Digital Fatigue
For a while, “working from anywhere” sounded like freedom. Digital nomads filled social feeds with photos of laptops on beach decks and iced lattes by infinity pools. It looked like the dream.
But that dream quickly turned into “working everywhere.”
Without the boundaries of an office, we found ourselves always online, enduring back-to-back meetings, endless emails, and Microsoft Teams pings that could trigger a minor panic attack. The line between work and life blurred so badly that some governments had to step in.
In Australia, it’s now illegal for employers to contact staff outside working hours unless it’s an emergency.
If that isn’t proof of collective burnout, I don’t know what is.
The Great Regathering Begins
After years of virtual everything, something’s shifting. The world is quietly finding its way back to the physical.
You can see it in the crowds. Exhibition halls are filling up again, and the energy feels different: less transactional, more human. People aren’t coming for the freebies; they’re coming to connect. And that spark only happens when you meet someone face to face.
In fact, connection has become the new currency. Gary Vaynerchuk once joked that one day, people might get paid just to walk and connect. It sounds outlandish, but he’s onto something. In a world where attention spans last only a few seconds, the ability to hold attention has become a rare competitive advantage.
You can already see this shift playing out in pop culture. At the This Never Happened festival, attendees lock their phones in secure pouches until the end of the night. Artists like Bruno Mars and Billie Eilish have done the same, creating phone-free environments where audiences actually live in the moment, not record it.
It might sound old-fashioned, but it works. Instead of posting on their stories, they’re sharing stories again.
And that same principle is now finding its way onto the trade-show floor. Exhibitions today are no longer just places to window-shop; they’re places to linger. Organisers are creating spaces that encourage people to sit, talk, and genuinely engage with what’s in front of them.
The playbook has changed. Exhibitors are no longer trying to be the loudest or flashiest in the room. Instead, the real challenge now is to step back, rethink your message, and articulate your value in a way that sparks genuine conversations with the right people.
Because when it comes to lead generation, quality will always beat quantity. You’re not wasting their time, and they’re not wasting yours.
What ISPO 2024 Taught Me About The Great Regathering
When I arrived in Munich for ISPO 2024, I thought I was there to help the team from Survival First Aid sell first aid kits.
But it didn’t take long to realise we weren’t selling first aid at all. Every person who stopped by our stand wasn’t asking about compartments or zippers; they were asking something much deeper: “When something goes wrong, can I trust you to help me make it right?”
That’s not a question you can answer on Zoom.
It’s something you can only earn in person, in the hum of a trade show, through the noise, the eye contact, and the moment when conversations shift from transactional to meaningful. As someone who has been exhibiting at countless trade shows, you can see it in the spark when someone picks up your product and just gets it.
In that moment, Survival stopped being a brand and became a reassuring presence, a quiet promise that when things go wrong, you’ll be there.
When we left Munich, we didn’t just have new leads or orders. We had believers – people who had met the team, held the kits, and felt the conviction behind what we do.
ISPO 2024 reminded me what The Great Regathering is really about. After years of isolation and algorithms, people are craving what’s real again. Because when they meet you face to face, something powerful happens.
They remember why they buy.
They remember who they trust.
The Future of Connection
Even in an increasingly digital world, deals still start the same way they always have: with a real conversation between two people who trust each other.
The Great Regathering is a reminder that people don’t buy from pitches or slide decks; they buy from relationships. And sometimes, just being present at a trade show is what gets your foot in the door.
Remember: the future of business isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being where it matters most.
So if you’re ready to reconnect, meet the right people, and build the kind of trust no click can buy, book a discovery call with me here. Let’s get your brand top of mind, whether it’s at your next trade show, in your next market, or wherever the world gathers next.
