Coming back from a big conference in Berlin, my friend Marco has an interesting idea about a different type of meeting. He's calling it "pod", here's how it should work:

• 8-10 participants
• everybody pays about €200
• participants choose an organizer (the organizer doesn't pay)
• the organizer... uh... organizes and invites a discussion leader, who gets paid €1000 (the rest of the money is used to pay for the room and food)
• the venue should be near an airport with lots of low cost flights (for example Stansted)

A schedule for a pod day:

• 8am-10am breakfast
• 10am-1pm discussion leader introduces the pod theme
• 1pm - 3pm lunch
• 3pm - 6pm b-side: conversations about the theme
• 6pm - 8pm cocktails and dinner

The key elements of this format should be:

• timing optimization
• symmetry between time dedicated to discussion and time for casual conversations (6+6 hours)
• everybody participates (8-10 people sitting around a table)
• it should be a learning and business networking opportunity at the same time

It sounds like an interesting approach, maybe €200 are not enough but spending a little more should not be an issue. It's quite clear that Marco has been thinking about "around a table" type of events recently (he just invited me to such a gathering in Genova). In times of huge conferences it's an interesting approach.

PS: Dave has a good thread about conferences.

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