Read the room: How hosting well became part of the story
Is it a cold? Could it be jet lag? Have I now joined the ranks of those who suffer from hay fever? Or could it be the morning after a rather extraordinary evening that saw the cosy lounge at our Zürich HQ transformed into a slightly Swissy take on a Ginza hostess bar? For a moment it looked like our Gin-züri evening (three years after edition one) wouldn’t happen as the flights (booked months ago via Abu Dhabi) wouldn’t be operating and our Japanese mama-san and her hosts (“genki boys” as she calls them) wouldn’t be putting in an appearance. Thankfully, Etihad has been rebuilding its schedule since the start of the conflict across the Gulf and on Thursday morning the group of five arrived bright and early, 23 hours after taking off from Narita.
On Friday my colleague Yuko took full charge of the kimono dressing and hair for both the Tokyo group and some local Swiss-Japanese who wanted to be on hand to support. You wouldn’t think that it would be a line of business in a small European city such as Zürich but there seems to be enough of a market to support two women who keep busy doing hair, makeup and dressing for locals and visitors who need full kimono styling and support. If you’ve never witnessed the prep and overall execution, it’s a proper production that goes on for hours. By early evening colleagues Guy and Rochdi had overhauled our ground-floor space to host 40 readers and clients for an evening of singing, chatter, drinking and gentle hip moves.
People often ask what defines Monocle, what makes us different from our competitors and what allows us to stand out in a crowded market. I used to go to lengths talking about our approach to journalism, our belief in print, our global reach and tone of voice, but recently I’ve been refining my definition and explaining that a key part of our offer is bringing people together, sparking discussion and hopefully adding a jolt of fun and hearty laughter along the way. The journalism and global reach are a given but hosting people daily in our cafés or plotting a special night around the mic – introducing the crowd to a bit of Miki Matsubara or reminding a packed room why it’s good to master a few Take That classics – is increasingly the special sauce that sets us apart. And no surprise, we want to do more!
You’ll see a bit more of this message hitting pages and screens more often as we roll out a new campaign pushing the power of being part of Monocle’s global clan (you can get a head start by becoming a paid-up subscriber). Why join an online discussion when you can convene at our summits, in our recently opened townhouse and around the sunny tables at our spaces in London, Paris and Zürich?
Sticking with the Japanese theme, our Hanami Market in Zürich is currently in full swing and we’ll be hosting others over the coming weekends. Then, in four weeks’ time, we’ll be touching down in Shanghai for The Entrepreneurs conference – while launching a café and shop to accompany our deployment.
My colleagues are cooking up a whole summer season of gatherings big and small in the lead-up to The Monocle Quality of Life conference in September (host city to be announced soon). To be part of it all (along with getting our fine editions in print, digital or both) you need only part with an amount that is considerably less than the cost of an espresso a day in dollars, euros or Swiss francs. See you somewhere seaside or perhaps in Shanghai super soon.
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