“Nothing happens until something moves.”  Albert Einstein.

And that is exactly what communication is: movement. Not noise. Not simply activity. Movement with direction.

Communication has a restless dynamic of its own. An idea starts moving in your mind. An impression, a quote becomes a blog. A technical development becomes a Press Release. An interview inspires an article. A social post reaches someone who expands on the theme. One action initiates another.

The balls need to keep flying, but we also need to keep finding the right terrain on which ideas can land, take root and grow.

Communication needs to be constantly fed, nurtured and directed.

My summer has been (happily) restless. While many people understandably slow down during these months, my team and I have been initiating actions for several companies: developing stories, promoting innovations, planning announcements, preparing interviews, editing content and more. I won’t forget mentioning the long time I spent imagining, thinking and researching.

Most of these activities that are generating communication are perceived through their end results that look like colourful fruit and veggies on display. They have matured in the sun and are ready to be consumed. But how many hours did it take for the seeds to grow, how much water and sun made them grow? Evidently and (maybe) rightly we never wonder about that, we forget about the process. We simply appreciate the ready-to-be consumed products. We celebrate the moment we see the product while we feel like it would sweeten our mouth…

Sometimes an idea starts moving in my mind days or even weeks before I write a word. This time, I owe that movement to theatre-maker Tom de Ket and his extraordinary open-air production De Graanrepubliek, staged in a cornfield near Groningen. Thank you for inspiring this vision and reminding me that the most meaningful harvest begins long before it becomes visible.

At IBC this year, I think I will feel a little like I am standing at the edge of that cornfield, looking at something that was planted months earlier.

The print version of magazines and the IBC Daily will show the news that were submitted three or two months earlier. Videos interviews will follow the previously written script. Conversations will include questions about the novelties being announced in June or July and continue long after everyone has left Amsterdam. Social posts will evolve from announcements to daily photos of company presence or bike or boat tours in Amsterdam. Journalists will ask questions about the content they received weeks earlier. Customers will recognise stories they have already encountered somewhere before.

And there will be more. Because good communication does not really have an endpoint. Every result can become the beginning of another movement.

Perhaps that is what I enjoy most about the IBCShow. It is not simply the excitement of seeing everything finally appear. It is the quiet satisfaction of standing there, perhaps finally allowing myself to rest for a moment, looking at smiling faces and hearing someone say:

“I saw your news…”

“I read that article…”

“Tell me more about…”

And knowing that the conversation they are starting today actually began three or four months ago. That is the joy of accomplishment for me.

You plant. You nurture. You keep things moving. You find fertile terrain. And gradually, almost imperceptibly, visibility grows. Because longevity – in business, relationships and communication – is rarely created by one big moment. It is built throughough everything that gradually came before it.

And even content with a seemingly short lifespan – a press release or a piece of timely news – does not necessarily reach an endpoint. It can be revisited, repurposed and re-evaluated in a different context, sparking another idea, another conversation, another perspective.

Perhaps communication is less about creating content with a deadline and more about recognising when an idea is ready to live another life. everything that gradually came before it.