Cracking the connection code

Screen fatigue is our new normal now that we spend so much time hopping on and off video calls while we work remotely.

Yes, these digital platforms offer efficiency and convenience. They enable us to respond instantly and maintain relationships across time zones without the drag of a long commute or having to travel on trains, planes and automobiles. 

Networking can often have negative connotations – being seen as transactional or heartless – [but] it’s worth remembering that it can also be emotional and genuine.

But video calls, however productive, can’t match an actual conversation because they compress context and nuance. They don’t build trust or enable you to pick up on how someone thinks, what they care about beyond their job title, or whether you'd actually enjoy working together. That’s why our appetite for creative industry events – and the chance to meet actual people in actual IRL – has come back with renewed force. 

Yet the trouble with some industry events is that making connections can risk coming with an agenda attached. You’re talking to a client, a supplier, or someone you want something from. Whereas the most fruitful conversations happen where no one has a specific brief or a deliverable in mind. 

Many people working in the creative industries are highly social creatures.

While the concept of ‘networking’ can often have negative connotations – being seen as transactional or heartless – it’s worth remembering that it can also be emotional and genuine.

Above: Calypso and Rock Badger created immersive artwork at a Sparks+WIRED networking event held at London's Outernet. 

Many people working in the creative industries are often highly social creatures who wholeheartedly embrace the chance for in-person conversations and human connection. And who knows where it might lead? A random chat could plant the seed for an incredible idea, a job opportunity or an unexpected collaboration. 

Like most of the best things in life, one of my most random creative collisions all started over breakfast. Two years ago at a guesthouse in Margate, I met Calypso Newman, founder of Rock Badger, an agency that transforms data into art to make it more accessible, transparent and immersive. We were both attending the UK Creative Festival and got chatting over coffee and pastries. Calypso’s work combining human artistry with data immediately resonated with me. 

The magic ingredient was time and trust, not a strategy document.

That evening, Sparks hosted a rooftop drinks event at the festival. The youth-owned creative agency YCUK turned up to film it, with the indefatigable and unfailingly cheerful Holy Boka at the helm. 

I then met Isaac Thomas from Condé Nast at a WIRED Health event where we spoke about what human connection looks like in a world that’s being transformed by AI. That conversation became the seed for an ongoing event and conversation series called The Connection Code. The idea? To decode what genuine connection means today, how it’s built, felt, and sustained through experiences that move people and shape culture.

Above: At the annual Cannes-in-Kent jamboree that is the UK Creative Festival, Caroline Sparkes and YCUK's Holy Boka (centre, l-r) explained the power of IRL 'creative collisions'.

We spent the next nine months building out The Connection Code with Sparks and WIRED running co-branded events and experiences from Lisbon to Barcelona to the Outernet in London. 

The Connection Code has only been possible because of this once-in-a-blue-moon meeting of minds: WIRED is focused on the future, tech and how innovation impacts all of us, and Sparks specialises in events and experiences. In addition, we brought in YCUK to capture the content and insight from tech and innovation leaders in its own particular style. Meanwhile Calypso and Rock Badger took all of that data and turned it into an immersive artwork. The outcome was a genuinely optimistic view of what human connection will look like in ten years’ time. 

Nobody in that guesthouse, or on that rooftop, or at the WIRED event was thinking about a brief or a deliverable

This collection of chance encounters empowered and enthused us to build something real together. And that only happened because there was no pressure for it to happen in the first place. The magic ingredient was time and trust, not a strategy document. We let the idea breathe. We let the right people find each other. And, crucially, we didn’t rush it into a commercial box before it was ready.

Unlike a lot of sectors, we lift each other up rather than compete.

Nobody in that guesthouse, or on that rooftop, or at the WIRED event was thinking about a brief or a deliverable. Calypso, YCUK, Isaac and myself simply came from a starting point about being genuinely curious about each other’s work. Who knows where that curiosity will take you? The UK creative industries make up more than 5 per cent of the UK economy, and unlike a lot of sectors, we lift each other up rather than compete. That should always be the goal.

So next time you’re in a networking situation, put the pitch away. Lead with curiosity, not agenda, and see where it takes you.