Dipping My Toe Into Live Events: The Collective Exhale

I was unprepared for the emotional reaction on April 9th when I stood in front of an audience in Connecticut. While I had been connecting with people virtually throughout the pandemic lockdown, I had profoundly missed the energy that comes from the presence of so many humans gathered for one purpose, and I could feel the anticipation in the room! 

But it wasn’t just seeing the crowd of people in an audience for the first time in 16 months. Nope! What got my tear ducts flowing was the response I experienced as I confessed to them that this was my first in-person speaking engagement since March 2020. After I exhaled, the audience cheered, but not just for me – I sensed that they, too, felt the relief of being together after endless zoom sessions and virtual classes. I felt joy at being transparent and human with other people again. After a few minutes of emotional release, I regained my composure and returned to my presentation.

Our Team here at Hyun & Associates has been busy the past 2 quarters, so boredom was not the issue, but there have been no quick lunches with a colleague or friend to shoot the breeze, no travel, and no visceral feedback from a group of people assembled to attend our workshops in Cultural Fluency, team sessions, or Bamboo Ceiling® Breakthrough Leadership Toolkit. There was something about all of us being in a similar situation, online, staring into  the internet that made us – even with strangers – feel a bit of camaraderie, for sure, but it obscured the sad fact that we hadn’t’ really been “together.”

So, the event was a delight in every way!

I hope this message finds you well, and that you were able to get in some family time during the summer or are planning vacation soon.

Coming Up: I contributed an article to Diversity Woman which will be released in their fall issue, so be on the lookout for that soon!  And there was a recent interview airing on NHK’s Direct Talk. You’ll be able to access it here.

Take the time to be kind to yourself and your colleagues today. We love hearing from you!

Jane