In High Touch Events human contact is key. As the name suggests, these events value interpersonal relations and connections established with other people. Talking about high touch events means talking about conversation, exchange and intimacy, and most importantly, doing it face to face.
This confronts us with a new challenge that we can add to the already existing ones when it comes to organising corporate events.
These High Touch Events are face-to-face meetings that can take the form of large business fairs and conferences, to occasions more intimate such as business trips, with the initial set-up the springboard for what’s to come. When living in a post-pandemic world, this subject couldn’t be more relevant for companies. After the coronovirus restrictions and social distancing, direct contact with people has become a precious commodity. And paradoxically, it’s the intangibility of this concept that gives it so much value.
Why celebrate High Touch Events now? Here some reasons why…
1. Improve communication
Providing a good high touch service, whether for a celebratory event or a more somber meeting with clients and collaborators, improves communication. Why? The non-verbal aspect. Gestures, tone of voice, and body language often convey ideas more clearly, adding emphasis and avoiding miscommunication.
2. Increase company credibility
Companies that use High Touch Events improve their business image, thus increasing their credibility. And it all boils down to trust; face-to-face communcation, without barrriers, helps people feel more secure and understood, and therefore establishing mutual understanding, which is otherwise tricky to achieve.
3. Promote creativity
As humans we are social creatures, and find inspiration in interacting with and relating to others. It’s not that ideas flow better when we are in a group, rather the fact that being able to share those ideas in the moment, comment on them, and analyse them with others, enriches the creative process itself. Incentive activities are also a good example of this.
4. Lead to innovation
Although it might seem a contradiction, altering the high tech concept and instead taking a high touch approach not only encourages a positive transformation with respect to communication, credibility and creativity, but it is also incredibly innovating, especially in the current hyperconnected world we live in where technology is becoming more demanding each day. Turning your phone off during meetings and maintaining conversations face to face using eye contact becomes a revolutionary gesture. Moreover these interactions reflect well in the culture of a company.
From high tech events to high touch events
It’s not about completely getting rid of technology at events, but instead using it in a way that brings people together rather than distancing them. In a High Touch Event, human contact prevails over gadgets, programmes, social media and apps.This ensures dialogue is possible between people, as well as between people and technology itself.
The Costa del Sol is a leading destination in the world of high touch events, not just because of its many venues available - including function and meeting rooms - its adaptable accommodation, or excellent connections, but also for its distinct style. Many companies return year after year, and with great weather all year, spectacular scenery, incredible gastronomy, and its unique way of embracing leisure and culture, its relevance in the here and now is undeniable.
High Tech, High Touch: high technology with close personal contact
The expression “high technology with close personal contact”, an adaptation of “high-tech, high touch” is all about using technology mindfully.
The US futurist writer Alvin Toffler coined the term to draw attention to the fact that we mustn’t lose sight of social engineering in a reality undergoing drastic technological changes. Evolution comes with great responsibility. With the progress of AI, his insight is all the more relevant nowadays.
High Touch Events are much more than a rising trend. They are also a statement about what makes companies human. Take a look at the Convention Bureau website to plan your next in-person event in the Costa del Sol, and join the movement in the best setting possible.
