By: Ian Barr

Having just returned from the Consumer Electronics Show (read CES posts 1 and 2) where I watched colleagues and clients go through boxes of business cards, I was shocked to read this Globe and Mail article suggesting the demise of the business card at the expense of the ‘Blackberry club’. While I don’t dispute the fact that Blackberry* users (7-million worldwide, according to the article) are comfortable exchanging their information electronically, suggesting that this business tool is on the way out the door is a bit of a stretch. Here’s why:

• It’s easier to hand out a card than manually insert or Bluetooth the information between two devices that run on different operating systems. (Only Blackberry’s can ‘PIN’ information between one another and not everyone wants to be part of the ‘BB club’).
• How many meetings have you attended where you’ve been introduced to a half dozen new faces around the table? The practicality of business cards enables you to place them in front of you so can keep track of everyone’s name. Try doing that electronically. In an ideal world beautiful name tags would be laid out in front of everyone, but we all know that never happens.
• Your card is your brand. It communicates a lot about you and your company. This is lost in an electronic transaction.
• There’s a personal connection, a ritual and respect associated with exchanging business cards. I would compare it to getting a written thank-you letter over an e-mail ‘thanks’. 

Mark Evans has a post about the Globe article as well. He suggests that blogs could replace both the business card and resumes because they showcase who you are and how you think – a valid point, but not everyone blogs. I think it’s more feasible for corporations to incorporate blog URLs on business cards (as Mark also suggests). Our group will be adding our TechKnow blog URL to our cards this year.

Here’s another trade show observation: journalists at CES were carrying media cards that stored their contact information. When they went to vendor booths, they would swipe their card through a reader that would store their information in the vendor’s database. Similar to the fault of the Blackberry argument, not all booths offered this option, prompting the media to give up a business card. In doing so, it also allowed those working the booth to write on the back of the cards and specify what information was requested by the journalist. Simple, yet effective.

*Disclosure: While I work on Motorola Canada’s Mobile Devices business, a RIM competitor, my views are independent of my client’s.

Ian Barr is a Senior Consultant with Hill & Knowlton Toronto’s Technology Communications Practice. He’s been with H&K for over 5 years.