I’m flying from Amsterdam to Bilbao. The plane only carries around 20 passengers and there’s one flight attendant for every five passengers. Obviously this flight isn’t profitable at its current capacity, and despite the worries the crew may hold regarding exposure to the coronavirus and the future of their careers, their attitude is exemplary: eyes are smiling above their facemasks and they offer extra snacks and wine refills on such a short flight.
The crew is usually too busy for conversations with passengers, but now they share personal concerns about the situation while being diplomatic and corporate. As we get used to seeing our colleagues’ or clients’ children and pets stumble onto video calls, the COVID-19 situation seems to have relaxed many conversations that used to be formal. This flight is no exception.
And that is what I feed on: the positives despite a grim situation. No matter where we live or work in this world, we’re all in this together, in our personal lives, the economy and the industries we’re in. We must get through this together and we will, one way or another. And on the road to recovery, we need to cherish the silver linings—and there are so many!
I learned it firsthand recently, when one of my daughters received a great career opportunity in the UK. But coming from Spain, she would first have to complete a 14-day quarantine. She was facing a very unusual start in her new life: in confinement in a new country, celebrating a 21st birthday by herself before even meeting her new employer and colleagues.
I am humbled by the caliber of professionals on the MPI European Advisory Council and impressed by their efficiency to change the pre-COVID-19 goals and ideas rapidly.
So where are those silver linings I talked about? My daughter is healthy enough to travel, to get a job offer that will accelerate her career, and she is turning 21…
And I have a few silver linings myself. Fortunate to be able to work from anywhere in the world thanks to the great company I have been with for almost six years, I voluntarily joined my daughter in confinement. And what an experience that was: After arriving at the airport, we were swooshed to her temporary flat by a private driver. And at 8 p.m. on a cold and rainy Tuesday night we were in the middle of Liverpool in an unfamiliar and cold flat. But there’s always a way to warm things up. First priority: food! Food delivery services in Liverpool are abundant, with all kinds of cuisines just a few clicks (and a payment) away. And soon we had our food delivered straight to our door. And the days after that, we learned how to order groceries online and how to make the best use of leftovers.
In our little bubble, our days were filled with exercise, creative meal ideas, checking out the new world around us from our 10th-floor flat, people-watching and, for me, work. Our bubble included new perspectives too: We started following the daily stages of the Tour de France, thankful that this traditional sports event was postponed to September. We were mesmerized by the endurance these sportsmen demonstrated in this surprisingly strategic team sport. Their efforts inspired us. These professionals ride high-speed races of close to 200 km daily, overcoming crashes and weather conditions, while we were at the sofa, watching them, waiting for the quarantine to be over.
We gained a new appreciation for the mother-daughter relationship. Which parent gets to spend two weeks exclusively with their adult child nowadays? And thanks to technology and connectivity, we were in contact with many people worldwide. We felt connected to our friends and family, despite the restrictions. This was obviously all on a personal and reduced scale. The feeling was different, yet similar, when I joined over 40,000 international industry peers during the Cvent Connect Virtual event in the last week of August! Listening to some of the great speakers, it was overwhelming to grasp the idea that I was watching this event, along with at least 39,999 others, from the little temporary flat in a city that was new to me. All of us eager to connect, grow, learn and move this great world of meetings and events forward.
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I’ve have always felt blessed to work for a great company like Cvent, but that moment was an eye-opener, and more importantly, a milestone in time. We had entered in a new era. In the early days of COVID-19, the company immediately embraced our responsibility in sharing insights and in partnering with our customers even more than before on an individual and customized basis. But who knew it was possible to bring all these professionals together, all supported by the amazing technologies and creative ideas to keep registrants engaged? Who would have thought in 2019 that any technology would bring so many meeting professionals together at the same time from all over the world? And how motivating is it that we all had access to the same information at the same time and experienced transparency from all involved?
This is a bold silver lining: We currently cannot meet in person (except in smaller capacities), but we can meet. And because it is not in person, we can even meet with more people than ever before, making us all part of the same, yet different experience.
On a smaller scale, I experienced a similar openness in connections and creativity. I volunteer to be part of the MPI European Advisory Council. I am humbled by the caliber of European professionals on that board and impressed by their efficiency to change the pre-COVID-19 goals and ideas rapidly. All the board members are affected by COVID-19, yet without exception, we all saw many new opportunities arising from this situation. It was motivating to experience the positive creative spirits of these “can do” people. An extra plus (or silver lining) is the access to unfiltered updates from the countries these board members are representing. We are exposed to so many news blasts and statistics, and it is hard to find the real story nowadays. It is different when you can hear it directly from those involved and affected. The entire experience of strategic thinking as volunteers with a passion for the meeting and event industry will without a doubt result in long-lasting, strong relationships with these MPI members and many more.
Have you been trying to track the many silver linings dispersed throughout this article? Without a doubt it is enough to create a silver frame—a frame holding the positives in silver wording on black. It’s a beautiful reminder of how we learned to realize what is important in our lives; how strong we can be together in growing, learning and adapting; appreciating what we thought was normal; and embracing an uncertain future in search of new silver linings.
Photo by Rowan Heuvel on Unsplash
