MingleStick, friend or foe?

Information technology has improved the way conferences and meetings are held, conducted and presented; the Internet being probably the biggest contributor to it by far. Yet, when looking at the networking process of current conferences, it is recognizable that technology has not been adopted. In November of the previous year, during the TEDxMiami, a conference and fair hosted by the non-profit organization called TED, networking has gone through a developing stage.

In the article entitled “ TEDx Miami (TEDxMIA) Provided MingleStick Networking Solution to all Conference Attendees” it is stated how a new business card similar object has been introduced to the participants of the conference. This device, produced by Mingle360 enables attendees to “connect” with one click of a button and pull photos, e-mail address, phone number and even the website of the desired contact. This piece of technology should help the participants in the networking process.

Although this piece of equipment can come in handy, there are a few different aspects that need to be taken into consideration. It is these aspects that need further discussion before calling the MingleStick a useful tool for networking.

On the one side the business card like device can help the flow of information, making it easier for people to get acquainted and keep in touch. Among so many participants at such a gathering it becomes tedious to ask the same questions over and over. Not to mention the amount of business cards gathered, cards that can easily get lost, and in so loosing the much needed business connection with that person. For these cases, the MingleStick is possibly the invention of the century. It’s effective, saves time and you can be sure that you won’t even have to worry about a misplaced card anymore.

Yet on the other hand, this device interferes with basically the last human related aspect of the event industry. Video-conferencing, blow up screens, even holograms are standard items during such an event, yet over the years the human aspect has not been stripped away. With such a handy object, safely tucked away in your pocket, you won’t feel the need to through the conventional portals; you won’t be persuaded to have a simple conversation. The “Hello, my name is x” factor is taken out of the equation and the attendee might as well not even bother to spend that amount of money for a flight, accommodation and participation fee to actually be there.

So in the end the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much does this device help and how much does it cripple us in our networking attempts?