Online Community Development
fromEntrepreneur
1 day agoHow We Sold Out Our Live Event in Just 60 Days
The future of entrepreneurship lies in creating meaningful in-person experiences rather than relying solely on virtual events.
In 2014, Meredith and Robert Bonilla proved that it is possible to get married inside a Costco. After meeting in Costco's freezer section, the Bonillas later received permission from headquarters and hosted a ceremony with around 200 guests.
I was panicking. You don't know what you might have been caught doing. What if they've got a horrible video of me? After all, she was just literally stood having a conversation. Yet she felt embarrassed. That intrusive lens completely violates all privacy.
A new app called TikTok was ascendant, bringing a whole new kind of vertical video to phones everywhere. And another app - not as popular, but growing fast, and already hugely influential among the tech set - looked like it might have an entirely new social idea on its hands. It was called Clubhouse, and it was a huge bet that audio might be the future.
With brands increasingly looking to mixed reality (AR, VR, contextual) technology to create engaging event experiences, the inaugural ExM Live Forum brings together industry thought-leaders to share insights in an events sector ripe for digital transformation.
Zero Bond, the distinguished New York private members club founded by Scott Sartiano and Will Makris, is now officially open at Wynn Las Vegas (as of March 10). This new opening in Las Vegas marks the first major expansion of the membership community outside home base in NYC.
Starting this spring, Eater and Capital One are hosting exclusive, one-night-only dinners at the year's most anticipated new restaurants in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The events take Eater's insider access - you'll hear about the most exciting restaurants across the country from us before anyone else - and bring it to life in a buzzy-yet-intimate event for Capital One cardholders.
Ah, the Disneyland of old, when people really dressed the part. Men wore suits and hats in the theme park. Women wore dresses, stockings and high heels. If you know the exhaustion of a park day in athleisure wear and sneakers, imagine what it was like in 3-inch heels. And while those ornately outfitted women were running around chasing their kids in the scorching Anaheim heat, the men were ... enjoying the spa?
Early in my career, I was going through a difficult chapter in work and life. Having moved down to London from Glasgow, I felt socially untethered, unsure of where I belonged. I yearned to feel part of a gang like I'd done back home, but I had no clue about how to find one. A bruising experience of redundancy hadn't helped matters.
This year, I'm making my own celebrations and reaching my peak social potential by hosting at least one dinner party a month, going all out each time. First on my lineup is a Ham Party - I was just gifted a 12-pound hock, so I'm using it as an excuse to gather friends on a Sunday. The invitation I made features a tiny watercolor ham with a bow, the dress code is pink, and I'm serving French 75s and homemade sides.
"Working Arts Club was always going to exist outside of London because class issues in the art world are systemic not geographic," founder Meg Molloy, who works in London as a freelance communications consultant for the art world. "The need for what our network can do is widespread and going to Northern England felt like a natural next step in our operations."
In New York, sex-positive communities have evolved into something more organized than outsiders tend to imagine. Not just parties, but curated ecosystems built on vetting, trust, and a shared commitment to consent. Alain Rostain, a Yale-trained computer scientist and longtime consultant, spent much of his life drawn to power, structure, and desire. Eventually, he applied the same thinking he used in professional settings to the messiest arena of all: intimacy.
Clara Greenstein, a 28-year-old who lives in Queens, New York, can be found several nights a week at her local bar, The Seneca. The spot serves good burgers and drinks for a good price, but the main draw is a pool table. Greenstein entered a tournament about two years ago, and now she's inherited the role of running it. "I get a free hamburger every week and get to basically have office hours for all my friends," she tells me.