Super different, super fun

Pirate summit concludes tonight. It’s a very different tech conference, in Cologne, across the street from Europe’s largest brothel (8 stories!). Here’s the venue:

From the venue onward, everything was remarkably and refreshingly different. Wonderful food was being barbecued up all day. The keynote presentation area was outside and had no walls, so attendees simply left (or entered) as the mood struck them.

Enormous fridges full of delicious free beer were scattered everywhere. The day started at noon instead of 9am and talks continued until 9 or 10 at night, with a nice break for dinner and much merry drinking. The venue then conveniently turned into a huge outdoor party.

There was also a fire-breathing horse-motorcycle that was taking people for scary rides and a 10 foot tall super-robot who was playing the bass guitar. At the entrance, they were refusing entry to anyone in a suit.

I mention all this because it’s such a fundamental shucking[1] of the false constraints of throwing a conference.

And it was awesome.

Which levers in your business are you taking for granted? Might flipping those switches contribute toward a unique and joyful experience?

Try it!

[1] Bet you read that wrong.