AI Is Changing Work. Human Connection Is Still Changing Minds.

This week I attended the Small Business Owners Community Conference (#SBOC26) in Milwaukee. It's a priority for me year after year, not only for the content. It’s also for the people. 

Our host brings in some incredible speakers (Mike Michaelowitz, Carl Gould, Jesse Cole, Precious Williams, Dan Martel, Seth Godin, just to name a few.....). 

So yes, I’m occasionally a little star struck. Can you blame me? 

But it’s not just about the Big Names on the stage.  

It’s about the people in the room that show up for ourselves and each other, over and over again. The people that I genuinely look forward to seeing year after year. We catch up, share challenges, celebrate wins and drink a toast. 

As with all Conferences worth their salt, we also have really great content. I mean, it’s business development after all. 

This year, AI was a big focus. We spent ½ a day combing through the details, making sure we knew what’s new, what’s now and what’s about to change. No surprise there, the consensus was ‘everything’. 

Plenty to pour over as we moved through the rest of the conference and packed up to head home. 

The AI discussion, even as impactful as it was, wasn’t the most interesting aspect of the conference though.  

It was the reminder how much the IRL connections really do matter. 

It’s the people that drive the tech 

The speakers on stage were excellent. Content was chef’s kiss great. 

And the conversations after the presentations are what kept the excitement high. 

Someone shares a challenge. Someone else shares a solution. A third person offers a different perspective. 

Now we get a chance to apply creative thinking to our real business problems and real business outcomes. 

The moral of the story: AI can’t do the learning for you 

Don’t get me wrong. If you’ve been in my world, you know I love AI (and if you’re new here, welcome aboard!). 

AI is fast, it increases productivity, it can even provide ideas for you. 

What it cannot do is create the energy of brains working together to share experiential learning and problem solving from real-life insights. 

You’re a trainer, so why does this matter? 

Why, yes, I am a trainer. Thanks for the reminder! 

I am a trainer that provides live, instructor-led sessions on all things Microsoft. I believe in the power of the connection, the power of a good question dropped in the group, the power of the story and the power of crowdsourcing the Next Big Topic. 

Training is about more than the instructor showing up (or starting the zoom room) and then doing a point-and-click walk through. 

It’s about group discussions and unplanned conversations that uncover what is really at the root of learning. Understanding. 

The best opportunities for growth often come from a really good question.  

Even though AI is transforming how we work, I was reminded this week that learning still remains deeply human. 

There is so much value to being in the room. 

So tell me, what rooms will you be in this year?