Will hold F2F its No 1 place in communication?

Melcrum’s network on LinkedIn just posted a very interesting question, one which I could not resist to respond too despite my answer being a bit different from the rest.

The question posted: “Internal communication in the future – will f2f still be the best form of communication?”

Whilst all 8 comments till now have given a wholeheartedly ‘yes!’, my response is:

“I am not sure. Following the current wave of democratization of (online) information and publication via social media, F2F seems to have become the anti-hero of the story. The one that is losing the game and it’s No 1 position, but is receiving more sympathy from the audience than the winner. Perhaps too much sympathy for it’s worth.

Recently, a colleague comms professional working in a big multinational told me that at the yearly high profile and global F2F meeting of his company’s comms people, he ended up sitting and speaking to the ones he knew already and talked to on a daily basis already. Whilst he had decisively told himself to meet and sit with people he knew less, he found that they were ‘reserving’ the empty places for the colleagues they knew.

After a couple of unsuccessful efforts he gave up. I wonder if all those people who were flown over from all over the world to meet F2F and build new inspiring relationships in a luxurious environment for internal comms sake, really did ….”

What do you think, will/should F2F keep its position as the ‘one and only’ in communication?