It was two years ago that the team came up with the idea for Coco Con. We had huge plans. It was to be massive with a crazy keynote and a full day of panels. We were going to get funding and we were going to bring to market something Canadians had seemed to be constantly excluded from: a dynamic conference with huge speakers, that somehow felt intimate and drove connections in an impactful way.
Fast forward almost two years and not much movement; it was beginning to feel a little bit like Coco Con was bound to end up as a project filed under: Failure To Launch. But Halla and I couldn’t drop it. The more frustrated we got with Social Media and the groundswell of ‘experts’, the more we couldn’t resist bringing to life our small idea of a place where people could connect, have conversations, and build community.
We dialled it down and crafted an event for sixty people. We chose a speaker, Devon Brooks, whose work in the field of Start Ups and business made her a true expert. Her wealth of practical knowledge was something we knew we wanted to share. And on June 26th at Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, we finally brought Coco Con to life and though we were too busy to do it and it wasn’t as perfect as we would have wished, we did it.
We began with a pre-event mingle complete with a headshot studio (who doesn’t need a new professional headshot?), and a candy and popcorn station. We then moved into the main room and had a frank and open conversation with Devon about bringing an idea to market, how to scale, balance and tons of other goodness.
After the talk we had more time to mingle and got a chance to really connect with the attendees. It’s so important to Halla and I that we work to build a real sense of community in our city as it continues to grow. Though the concept is called Coco Con, it’s not a vanity project. Coco Con is truly a space to create community, have conversations and connect. I think we were able to create a little bit of all of those things that evening.
Thank you to all of you that came out to our first event. It was amazing to chat with you all and we are so grateful for your support! Another huge thank you to our sponsors – without your support this wouldn’t have been possible!
Stay tuned for info on our next event and don’t forget to follow @cococon_
xx,
Coco
CONTEST ALERT: Visit @cocoandcowe on Instagram to win!