” Dear MIPCOM,
Hey. How’s it going? I’ve been thinking about you lately.
I saw a photo of Caffé Roma the other day and I got a little verklempt.
This pandemic has given me time to think. Lots of time. Lots.
I realize now that I took you for granted all those years we were together. You and your big signs. Your dopey badges. Your canvas bags full of TV crap that I always left on the floor of my room at The Gray at check-out.
I guess I just always assumed you’d be there. Until you weren’t.
I know I wasn’t always an easy delegate. I complained about the price of water, about your insouciant French waiters, about the architecture in the Palais where every bathroom door opens directly into a wall.
Yes, there were many things about you that annoyed me. But they all seem so trivial now.
It’s not like I haven’t tried to get over you. I have. I even went online.
I attended some of those virtual conferences but they always seemed so, well, eager. I never wanted to open my camera. I never wanted to share my screen. I liked being on mute.
What can I say, they all just reminded me of you. But they weren’t you. Not even close.
They didn’t make me walk quickly and breathlessly to my 9am meetings. They didn’t have a background filled with actual ocean and boats. And they didn’t reek of garlic and butter.
What can I say, I miss you.
I miss your mini-croissants and your VAT. I miss going swimming between pitches. I miss hoarding chairs in the VIP lounge. I miss your 45 Euro breakfast buffets and your bipolar taxi drivers. I miss saving my receipts. I miss passing not one but two carousels on my way to work. I miss business cards. I miss your unique pairing of gold chrome and pink marble. I miss your old stone church where I used to go and pray that someone would pick up my preschool shows.
Yes, MIPCOM, I miss you, and I think we should get back together. There, I said it.
See you in October? Maybe? Table for 13,712?
Josh Selig “
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The letter to MIPCOM has been written by Josh Selig, Founder and President of China Bridge Content, former CEO of Little Airplane Productions, and Emmy-winning creator of many popular children’s shows.
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