KELLERMAN
Roger Kellerman Publisher, business intelligence analyst, trend creator, educator and networker. Has over 40 years’ experience of the global meeting industry. Founder of Mötesindustriveckan. twitter.com/thekellerman PHOTO Sara Appelgren
Grit THE ART OF NEVER GIVING UP Grit is a character trait that combines perseverance, inner drive and the ability not to give up in the face of adversity. It is a crucial factor in achieving success both at school and in professional life. Grit can also be developed and reinforced by ourselves and through support from parents, teachers, bosses or friends. It is about finding your passion in life, identifying your reason to keep moving forward, never stopping practising, and seeing every failure as an opportunity to learn. Here, meetings and events, not to mention congresses and other business events, are essential sources for creating a growing grit. You meet like-minded people at your first local meeting, and experience that there is much to learn in other places, and go to your first congress in your country. There, you observe the feeling grow, and move on to your first international congress for your speciality. At that point, you realise that if you continue on the same path, you can meet previous and future Nobel laureates because you are all driven by the same grit and want to combine your inner drive. You have started building your network in your home country, but soon also on 74 | MEETINGS INTERNATIONAL
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your continent, and worldwide. And, of course, it feels perfectly natural. Because that’s how growing your global network works. Your first world congress gives you new friends for life and insights into research projects you never knew existed. You are curious and have a brain receptive to unique aspects, maybe even contrary to what you thought before the meeting, as you also have an open heart for what might happen. One of the magical things is that you can meet scientists and other curious people from your own country or village, on the other side of the world. People you never knew existed. Grit is the driving force and the basis for never giving up. And if there is anything the world needs now, it is people, many people, who want to develop themselves and their fellow human beings and their network. Who wants to give the world a brighter future? The number of congresses worldwide continues to grow, doubling every ten years, and grit drives this development. You might think that things looks bleak when you look around and see crazy leaders, wars and murders in the streets. But
remember, it’s the meta-industry, the meetings and events industry, or if you like, the business events industry, that’s paving the road ahead. While it may not yet be visible through your window today, if you clean your glasses, raise your eyes high enough, and take a deep breath to oxygenate your brain, you will see what is going on. Most of the world’s congresses, meetings and events, etcetera, are moving humanity forward. Don’t believe anyone who say it isn’t so.
