I confess. When it comes to the BIO International Convention, I’m a newbie. So please forgive me for thinking it was just another conference.

I began to see the error of my thoughts as soon as I registered a month or so ago. That’s when I got my first offers for interviews. But even that didn’t prepare me for the flood of meeting requests and invites I’ve received in the past few weeks. And talk about buzz. Practically every phone call began with: “Are you going to BIO?” It was enough to convert even the most passionate Luddite. A tech-curious person like me didn’t stand a chance.

I’ve since come to realize the power behind the convention. It puts the “social” back into social networking by doing what Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and all those other virtual spaces can’t do. It brings people – thousands of them with like interests – face-to-face in the same place. It opens doors, provides chance encounters and showcases the resources needed to foster and develop innovative ideas. And the convention reminds us that virtual may make the world smaller, but it is no substitute for the real thing.