The CIB held its 124th Board meeting in Copenhagen last week, with over half the Board members able to attend in person and the others joining online in a hybrid format. A report of the business conducted appears in a separate article. For many it was the first significant face-to-face meeting for over 18 months, and it was inspirational to see the energy, commitment and excitement – and the value of conversations which were able to take place over coffee and meal times. A reminder, if any were needed, that no matter the efficiency of zoom calls, there is nothing as valuable as a face-to-face meeting.
Particular thanks to those Board members who travelled to attend. But also thanks to those who attended online, it is not easy to run a hybrid meeting well or to commit to attend four sessions of three hours each, but our feedback was that online participants felt ‘in sync’ with the proceedings and were well engaged. The technology and layout of the room was a key factor in this, as was the commitment of the President, Keith Hampson, to ensure all could be equally involved in discussions.
Opinion is somewhat split, but it seems inevitable to me that this format will be the default model of the future. The Covid pandemic has accelerated action on the economic, time and environmental cost of travel, but the added value of face-to-face interaction should not be under-estimated. For example, I commented to one colleague afterwards that the face-to-face meeting had advanced our programme by three months in 2 days. That is a very good return for the investment of all our participants. My take-away is that we have to treasure these face-to-face gatherings rather than take them for granted, they will be less frequent and we need to make sure they are as productive and valuable for everyone as possible.
Don Ward
Chief Executive
October 2021
