On its face, This Next Thing can look like a tech conference. But as we and 150+ of our new friends who all gathered last summer in the Swiss Alps can attest to, it’s so much more. Outside of the astounding natural setting and sumptuous venue, what sets This Next Thing apart is our people.
Whether our guests were old friends seeing each other for the first time in a decade or new faces who would become so dear to us over the coming days, everyone joined the event in an elevated state, primed for the magical experience to come. Knowing that this wasn’t going to be a typical conference, our community brought with them a spirit of friendship and a desire to learn, share, and grow. This Next Thing became a space where they could explore their next thing.
This feeling most encapsulates what we’re trying to create with This Next Thing as a movement: not something that exists for only a few days, but one that carries over for weeks, months, years afterwards. We want to grow the spirit of This Next Thing through a community of people who are building technologies and their own communities to positively impact the world.
In the days and weeks following our 2023 prototype event, we were overwhelmed with the positive feedback from attendees. After taking time to reflect on it all, we asked ourselves how we could best serve this nascent community and continue to put on a show that creates unique memorable experiences that open space for meaningful relationships to grow.
We decided that the path to creating a long-term, viable, and sustainable operation around this community would be to form a non-profit organisation, headquartered (as you might expect) in Ireland. We feel this is by far the best fit for our goal to be a service to our community. While we are still working out the finer details, here is what we can share with you now: