The Lead Up
Working at companies like Engine Yard, New Relic, and now HashiCorp has taught me the importance of building and fostering community through online and in-person experiences, and how valuable those interactions are. During the early days of my career, I had the privilege of attending what eventually became some of my favorite conferences, including Git Merge in 2014, Railsberry, Ull Conf, and Mobile Mobile Conf. These events helped shape how I approach organizing events today.
What made them special and stand out amongst a sea of conferences was that they understood the ingredients required to create really special experiences. These events showed me that it is all about the attendees and their personal experience — food, coffee, music, the setting, the energy, the “unconf” parts, and community interactions, with the cherry on top being super relevant and interesting content. I think the ingredients go in that specific order, but you need each one to truly create something epic.
I’ve always wanted to organize my own event based on those key ingredients. In 2012, my then-partner helped me register epiconf.com and secured @EpicConf on Twitter. But, as I’m sure you can all relate, life got in the way. Social obligations, friends, weddings, travel, Burning Man, music festivals, moving cities, breakups, new loves, and that start-up grind kept me busy over the years. Last year alone, I flew 160,000 miles according to Delta, and Cris and I organized four large-scale events for HashiCorp.
The Inception
But then, last month happened. Last month, when everything blew up in a blaze of glory. You can read more about it in my post, March Was the Longest Month of Our Lives. After all of the chaos, stress, fear, and uncertainty came a bit of calm, and, for the first time in years, I had a chance to slow down. On a lovely Saturday morning in early April, while being trapped — I mean sheltering-in-place in my Lower East Side apartment in Manhattan — I messaged my partner in crime and work counterpart, Cris Dobbins, with a note that said, “Tell me if I’m being too much . . .”
(I usually am, but she’s used to it by now.)
“. . . but I’m drafting a scope for a virtual conference that I think we should run for marketers and founders.” Seconds later, her response pinged back: “Love it! Let’s do it!”
Next, I emailed Brian Doll, one of the best marketers and tech strategists I know, and asked if he and his co-founder, Michael Bernstein, would be interested in collaborating on this project with Cris and I. His response: “Yep.”
And so, with the dream team assembled, that’s how EpicConf rose from the ashes that beautiful Saturday morning.
What is EpicConf?
EpicConf is an online event series for creative and curious people who understand that yesterday’s methods no longer work, and if we work together, we can build epic things better than before. With this platform, we’re looking to create a space where people can share, learn, and explore new ideas and possibilities. We want to create positive, empowering events that re-energize us all as we figure out our way forward.
The Team
Cris Dobbins — Cris and I have been creating experiential events together for the last four and a half years. She’s one of the most talented spatial designers and creative directors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. She’s based in Amsterdam, NL with her senior brown dog named Sonja.
Brian Doll — Brian and I met during our New Relic days. He’s an experienced software developer who loves marketing and has led marketing teams at New Relic, GitHub, and SourceClear and now runs his own consultancy Reify with Michael where they help companies market and sell more software. He’s based in the Bay Area, living that active, outdoor lifestyle while raising two boys.
Michael Bernstein — I’ve never actually had the privilege of working with Michael before our work on EpicConf, but our mutual friends always talked about how smart, no bullshit, multifaceted, and interesting of a guy he was. I’ve already gotten a sense that they were right about him.
Jana Boruta — That’s me! I’m a dreamer, I’m a schemer, and I guess I’m good at organizing shit.
Our Mission
Unlike conferences for the sake of conferences, or conferences designed to sell you something, EpicConf is built for everyone to collectively support each other through these changing times and to contribute to a more epic future.
The Event
The fun part about figuring out how to create special experiences online is that there are different types of event formats to explore, so that’s what we plan to do. For each event, there will be an underlying theme, with three to six speakers giving different styles of sessions. During the breaks we are calling “topical intermissions”, there will be fun, interactive experiences from live music to coffee-making lessons, wine 101 sessions, cooking lessons, and whatever else we scheme up.
The primary theme of the first event on May 20th is Transition — changes from old, existing strategies to a better, more inclusive, and more epic future.
What does your epic new future look like? With physical constraints out of the way, what stuff are you going to build? What direction will you take? What’s not working anymore, and, even better, what do you think will work?
Future Plans
These virtual events will take place quarterly or every other month, depending on the team’s bandwidth. The goal is that one day, when life has returned back to a semblance of normal, we will bring everyone together annually for truly epic experiences: riding a ferry to the North Bay, a morning hike in Muir Woods, eating Hog Island oysters, talks under redwoods, wine, technology, food, and friendship. . . .
For now, we hope you will join us virtually for the first of many events on May 20th. Register here.
