I thoroughly enjoyed WPC! Like every year the key notes give a fasinating snapshot of things to come.

 

In this blog I wanted to open a discussion about mixing it up at WPC... mixing it up internationally. Each year the European countries compete amongst themselves on who has the nicest fleece or shirt with their national colours. Being European (a Finn, and YES we had white pullovers with a Finnish flag in the back) I probably understand this phenomena better then most Americans (I live in Atlanta by the way and count myself also American). The European Union is not as homogeneous as the Union likes for people to think. We still have language and cultural barriers even if we do not have boarders. At conferences we tend to stick to our own crowd, because it is easier and more convenient. In the evenings we go out to dinner with our regions or our PAMs... people that we meet with regularly back at home. The final ceremony and kick off cocktail are the only functions where all nationalities have a chance to accidentally meet people from accross the world. I had great discussions with colleagues from accross North America, Mexico, Brazil, France, Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Germany and Holland.

 

Next year we should have a competition where you have to collect business cards from people of other nationalities and enter them in WPC Connect. If you find your match from amongst all the attendees then you will be entered for the final raffle. Based on the lines to the grand price scanning booths this year, such a program would be highly popular. 

 

To summarize, our strenght is in the fact that we are a diverse global eco-system. Let's capitalize on it!