Is there a new winner in the world of community conferences?
I have so many blog ideas in draft right now, but this one couldn't wait. Yesterday, I crossed the Atlantic for the second time in a week, on my way home from Prague, and I was buzzing so much from my time there that I started this post in the airport during my layover in Amsterdam.
A few months ago, I published this brief rant about how disappointing industry events had become:
Around that time, Klara Losert, CEO and Co-Founder of Talkbase, shared with me her ideas for hosting a European conference for community managers. That conversation had prompted me to dig deeper into my thoughts around what the most recent events I'd been to had lacked and how the event space in general has evolved since before the pandemic.
I was admittedly skeptical. I'd Seen Too Many Things™.️ I'd most recently been burned by the speaker experience at last year's CMX Summit, which was characterized by the disorganization, lack of communication, and de-prioritization of the event's budget that I suspect is also present within the Bevy/CMX organization following the unfortunate timing of David Spinks' departure coinciding with Beth McIntyre's parental leave.
Needless to say, I could not have imagined the magic that these incredible women at Talkbase, Klara and her right-hand woman, Talkbase COO Tiff Oda, would bring together for the very-first-of-its-kind-biggest-community-event-in-Europe that became the Community Rebellion Conference this past week. I am not exaggerating when I say that this was, by far, the most valuable conference of my career.
There was a good cadence of breaks throughout the event so that we had time to get coffee and water, take bathroom breaks, etc. and didn't have to miss any of the talks.
The venue was just the right size. It allowed people to network more closely and encouraged people to be 100% present during the talks. No one gave a talk to an empty room.
The organization and communication was truly top-notch. The Talkbase team set up a Notion page to centralize all of the details about the event, in addition to sending us regular email updates and a private Slack channel. Communication about travel arrangements, tickets, meals, getting our decks together, etc. was consistent and thorough. I never once felt like I wasn't sure what to expect.
Fellow community consultant, Jenny Weigle, is always a wonderful force of nature and she was the perfect choice to MC this event. She brought positive energy and support that all of the speakers appreciated. She made us feel like we were safe to be ourselves, be vulnerable, and accept the support of our community.
There was a good mix of short and longer form talks (20/40 mins) and the longer talks were integrated throughout the day instead of being several long lectures.
There were some truly top-notch speakers. There were some well-prepared and dare-I-say excellent first-time speakers. There was a great mix of genders, ethnicities, and geographies represented in the speaker lineup.
The topics were varied, but not beginner-level. There was no time when I was thinking "ok, I and everyone else in this room already know this..."
There was time set aside for networking, which was paired with food and drink and live music.
The event was two days long - exactly the right amount of time.
There was time for Q&A with most of the speakers.
Talks stopped at 3pm local and networking lasted until 5pm. This gave people time to have a nice long dinner together if they chose to.
The catering during the event was very good. I was pleased to see a good variety of meats and veg - and lots of thought put into how to serve those who don't eat meat, rather than having vegetarian/vegan offerings as an afterthought.
The venue was just SO cool. Between the lights matching Talkbase' brand colors, the abundance of natural lighting, the convenience of the restrooms, and the big staircase lounge area with the piano, it was a very pleasant place to spend two full days.
As a native English speaker, it is always a relief to find places where English is at least understood. Everyone in this city seems to speak English and most of the signage around the city is in both Czech and English.
This event was so valuable for all of these reasons, but particularly because many of our European colleagues don't get the opportunity to travel to the U.S. for community conferences. I was able to meet in person many people that I had only spoken to online or had never met at all. I also planted the seeds of partnership with at least two companies that I hope to work with in the future. And, I was able to share the stage with some extraordinary speakers.
From the minute the event started, pictures and posts began to flood social media. The #communityrebellion2023 hashtag was doing the rounds and I started to see lots of "I have soooo much FOMO" and "I am totally going to this next year" posts popping up from those who hadn't made the trek to attend.
I think Ilker captured my sentiment about All the Feels I'm having coming off this event:
This entire event felt like a community coming together to do something bigger than ourselves. It's the magic that every community builder is looking for. It's our equivalent of achieving enlightenment. I don't know what's ahead for this conference or the Talkbase team, but if the Community Rebellion continues next year, I hope I'll see you there!
💡 You can try out Talkbase for free at talkbase.io. Talkbase is a community and events management backend tool that allows you to stay organized with your speakers, track event registrations and attendance, and get better intelligence about your community, user groups, and events.