wine2wine Verona – No Dry Ice or Flying Pigs

wine2wine Verona – No Dry Ice or Flying Pigs

I’ve recently returned from wine2wine Verona. As previewed here, it lived up to its billing as a leading forum for the wine business worldwide.

What makes a great conference?

What makes a great Conference? I reckon that the following essentials are on anybody’s list:

• Learning something new that can make a positive difference for your business
• High-quality content
• Networking
• A sense of community and engagement
• A great venue, well-organised in detail
• Online interaction with a dedicated App
• Speakers that create “wow!” moments
• Value for money
• Clear conference vision
• Oh, and fun. Yes, fun.

These requirements are not simple and can be challenging to achieve. However, wine2wine Verona ticked off every one of these points.

So my question to you is “how often do you get a great conference”? I’m sure we’ve all been to conference-hell at some time. What about death by Panel or PowerPoint, without any practical takeaways. Or instead, bored senseless by the questionable expertise of droning grey men. Sometimes, there’s been dry ice and even flying pigs in misguided attempts at creating a spectacle. A conference is never a Pink Floyd gig.  Yep, been there, seen that, slept through it. How many of us have gone home after such events and thought, “never again”?

And a word of caution from none other than F. Scott Fitzgerald, who said, “No grand idea was ever born in a conference, but a lot of foolish ideas have died there.” 

How true.

 

 

 

Personal highlights

At wine2wine, there were 100 speakers, 70 workshops and excellent exhibition spaces. The conference was at Verona Fiere, an exhibition centre that is also home to VinItaly. Both the media and attendees from all over the world came in droves.

 

Many moments will stay with me.

A tasting of Josko Gravner wines led by Mateja Gravner and Ian d’Agata.

Recording an Italian Wine Podcast with Monty Waldin.

Or the restaurants and bars of Verona. I met new faces and caught up with friends and colleagues.

 

 

 

 

My contribution

As for me, I was there to speak about Blockchain and Wine. You’ll need to ask someone else how that went, but it was an honour to participate. Beforehand, I wondered whether anybody would turn up, let alone “get it”.  I needn’t have worried. Afterwards, I spent my time with people eager to find out more. The Italian press also picked up on it too.

 

Leadership and teamwork

And finally, the real success of this event is due to the exceptional backroom team, who worked tirelessly on every little detail and ensured everything worked like a charm, from the cloakroom arrangements to the dedicated App. They were the real stars of the show.

And I didn’t see any dry ice or flying pigs.

 

 

 

 

 

Location
wine2wine
Verona Fiere
Vialle Lavoro 8
37135 Verona
Italy