It was 7:30am on day two of InfoComm in Las Vegas. An early start after a long first day is not usually when I'm at my brightest. Then Mariana Atencio bounded onto the stage, and the whole room shifted up a gear. 

This was my first AVIXA Women's Breakfast. I arrived not quite knowing what to expect, having only heard that it's a brilliant moment for networking and allyship, and that the keynotes are something special. That was enough to get me out of bed. My hopes were high, and by the end I wasn't disappointed. 

The warmth started before I'd even reached the room. In the queue I met new people and bumped into faces from the day before. That atmosphere matters, because plenty of people come to this event on their own. Once we'd made our way through a genuinely good buffet, we took our seats wherever we fancied, with whomever we fancied. Hundreds of us, no reserved tables, no hierarchy. It's a small thing that does something powerful. It opens the door to conversations with peers you'd rarely get the chance to sit beside. 

After a welcome from AVIXA's Chief Global Officer, Sarah Joyce, Mariana took the stage, and her energy was instantly contagious. 

Her keynote, "Real Matters: Building Trust in an Unreal World," opened with a story from her own life that set the tone for everything that followed. The message underneath it was simple, and it stuck. Building trust is everything. In a world of AI, algorithms and carefully curated online personas, authenticity is getting harder to find. That's exactly why trust has become such valuable currency. 

One idea in particular stayed with me. Being seen, Mariana argued, is one of the most powerful tools a leader has, and it begins with knowing your "why." As she put it, "when people trust your why, they trust your leadership." 

Trust isn't only good for people, it's good for performance. Mariana pointed to research from Paul J. Zak, published in Harvard Business Review, on what happens inside high-trust cultures: 

106% more energy at work 

74% less stress 

50% higher productivity 

Then came the moment I didn't see coming. Trust, Mariana said, is built at eye level, and she decided to prove it. She asked us to hold a full minute of eye contact with the person beside us. A minute is a long time. It felt awkward at first, a little exposing even, and then something loosened. It turned into one of the most moving parts of the morning, a reminder that eye contact, one of the simplest ways we build trust, is so easily lost in the rush of a normal day. It's a habit any of us can pick back up tomorrow. 

What tied it all together was Mariana's storytelling. Across a 15-year career as a news anchor, she's reported from some of the toughest natural disaster zones across the Americas, and she wove those experiences through the talk. My favourite was a wonderfully funny account of winning a homeowner's trust in seconds on the frontline of a Category 5 hurricane, all in the name of finding safety. Her gift for holding a room never dipped. 

I walked out with a full notebook, a few new connections, and one clear takeaway. In an industry racing to adopt the next clever piece of technology, the thing that still sets great leaders apart is refreshingly human. Be real. Be seen. Earn trust.  

If you haven't yet been to an AVIXA Women's event at a tradeshow, I'd encourage you to sign up. From the Women's Breakfast at InfoComm to the Women in AV Collective at ISE, these well-curated events are as inspiring as they are 'eye-opening'. 

Source: Paul J. Zak, "The Neuroscience of Trust," Harvard Business Review