Almost 200 years ago a man entered in a room with an invention that was about to radically change painting. This innovative machine, which was named “daguerreotype by its inventor, was the world’s first commercial camera. Even though the first photo had already been taken 13 years earlier, about 1826, it was “daguerreotype” which force change and led to the painting’s transformation.

Portraits were no longer for the few rich who could afford them, but accessible to the masses. The first reaction of the painter was the art movement of realism but soon the movement became obsolete, as photography could depict reality more efficiently. What was then left to painting if not the depiction of reality? More than we could ever imagine. From impressionism to expressionism and from cubism to surrealism, art sets our minds free and allowed us to explore reality in a completely different way.

So, why this is important for association and what can we learn from art in this transitional moment in history?

I think the key learning is that innovation brings disruption. Trying to challenge innovation by doing better the “business as usual” is not enough. We need to challenge our status quo and innovate as well. What the art movements that followed realism did, was to break the rules of the past and recreate a whole new visual language that gave birth to masterpieces.

The pandemic has radically changed events worldwide and has catalysed digitization, questioning the raison d’etre of association meetings and events. In-person events can and should remain relevant, as painting continues to do so until today. To achieve this, they need to keep evolving.

Association events were always about content and networks. Virtual events, e-learning and social media can make knowledge and community much more accessible and certainly cheaper. But association in person events are much more than just content and networks. It is the converging point of people, place, and time. Quite the opposite from the digital world where there is neither place nor time and where a digital persona can be immensely different to the actual person behind the screen, if there is any at all.

We live in a society where time is the most valuable commodity and where trust is eroded by the lack of a common reality. Being together with someone at the same time and the same place can generate an amazing force. Therefore, if it is to re-imagine association events, we should start by looking at these three parameters: Time, Place and People.

We need to re-think the ways of bringing exceptional individuals together in a given time and place and re-imagine the impact of this convergence. We should add all three elements in the design mix and allow the co-creation of transformative experiences for the respective people and place, that will last through time in a collective memory.