Dearest Reader,

Taxes are filed. Windows are clean. The AC is on, and the pool deck is open.

Summer’s officially here, and boy, am I ready for it. Yet adjusting my routine to the new season always takes a little more time than I’d expected.

I blame one of my favourite parts of American life: air conditioning.

It’s so cold you often have no sense of how warm it is outside since you’re too busy shivering inside your icebox of a car or apartment.

A stark departure from my life in London. I still have PTSD from taking the tube to school everyday for 7 years. Wearing a suit in the dead of summer heat is awful wherever you go, but TFL’s systemic lack of AC is vile regardless of your outfit.

10 years after leaving, I still have to remind myself that I can now head straight to the pool at 4 PM. This pale Irish skin doesn’t need much, but ending every day basking in the sunlight does wonders for your headspace.

If you need something to impress your friends using you for pool access this summer, exclusively use poolsuite.net.

That said, the sun brings everybody outside.

So you’re, by definition, completely unprotected against bad habits, and there’s nothing quite like a swimming pool to illuminate the worst of the human race.

Here are a few things we need to leave indoors this season.

First, laptops. It should be illegal to bring them to the pool. I don’t care how polarised your Ray-Ban’s are. You can’t see, the WiFi sucks, and in 5 minutes, the machine’s metal will start burning your thighs. Do yourself, your boss and your career a favour and bury your nose in a great magazine or book instead.

Second, swimming. I’m convinced a secret society dispatches blokes to turn up in swimming goggles at all pools with 3ft or less of depth and pays them to dive in. There’s a reason the pool depth is 3ft. It’s not meant to be swum (let alone dove) in. Get yourself to a proper lido for lessons. You need it. And maybe an eye test. 

Third, bad music. Look, you either have it or you don’t. If you wouldn’t feel confident enough to grab the AUX cable at a party, I’m not sure why you suddenly feel qualified to do so at the pool. If you can’t resist and need something to impress your friends using you for pool access this summer, exclusively use poolsuite.net.

You – and your pool mates – can thank me later.

My travels this quarter have been an exercise in getting up close and personal with infamous brands.

When not lolling by the pool, I’ve been on the road this quarter bouncing between Atlanta, Fort Wayne, Fayetteville, Asheville, Las Vegas, D.C. and Angola. 

I’ve travelled to the White House, the EEOB, British Embassy, Accenture’s latest D.C. office and even the DMV. I attended two college friends’ weddings, my very own bachelor party in America’s playground and held down a cigar bar down south in Atlanta with some of my favourite Rick Ross beats.

Rubbing shoulders with award-winning chefs, DJs, diplomats, actors, and newly promoted Premier League footballers has been electric. But my travels this quarter have really been an exercise in getting up close and personal with infamous brands over people. Some I have a long-standing relationship with.

Take Monocle, who hosted their Weekender down in Asheville in April, or the Financial Times, who held their FT Weekend Festival in D.C. in May. I’ve read and subscribed to these publications for years and know their MastHeads inside out.

Others I’m just starting to get to know or interact with for the first time, like the James Beard Foundation and Welcome Conference, which both hosted their capstone events here in Chicago in June. 

While they’re very different events in terms of size, scale, format and purpose, they’re all equally historical to their constituents, especially in two spaces I care deeply about — media and hospitality. And given their collective importance and role in the zeitgeist, I feel it’d be worthwhile to unpack my experiences with them.

Read into this what you will, but I’m almost certain I was the only person in the world to attend all four events.

Read into this what you will, but I’m almost certain I was the only person in the world to attend all four events. And having planned, curated and hosted hundreds of experiences myself, I’ll be the first to say convening is hard.

So I’ll start by tipping my hat to what I thought was done well.

First, there’s an undeniable intimacy in attendees staying under the same roof. It creates serendipity, collisions and space for off-the-cuff spontaneity, like deciding to host pre-dinner drinks on the rooftop patio “if it’s sunny”. Props to Monocle for this and for picking such a tremendous home base in Asheville’s Omni Grove Park Inn.

Second, quality moderators make all the difference. Weak moderators stifle great speakers, but strong moderators make average speakers great. The FT’s Chris Grimes put on a masterclass interviewing Jamie Lee Curtis. Special mentions to Colm Toibin, Simon Godwin, Bertha Nievez & Katie Button as standout speakers.

However, a few cardinal sins were committed.

#1: Timekeeping. Every event was rushed, overcrowded, or both. Poor time management creates stress, eats into activities, and doesn’t allow attendees to enjoy the moments they truly care about. Organisers would do well to do less, embrace breaks and remember their top staff are often as valuable as external speakers.

#2: Overselling. Can you imagine paying for an Ed Sheeran concert ticket only to turn up and be told, “Sorry, we ran out of seats.” Come on, organisers. Don’t be like the airlines. You sold too many tickets and selected an incorrectly sized venue. It’s unfair to tell attendees they can’t attend something they already paid for.

#3:Green Rooms. I understand why Hilary Clinton can’t exactly stand around and shoot the sh*t after her talk. But most speakers can, will and should be encouraged to do so. It makes a lasting impression on attendees and gives speakers something to hold onto. Talking on stage is a one-way dialogue; all the value’s in the conversation with the audience afterwards. Don’t keep speakers locked away in green rooms.

#4: Food & Beverage. It continues to baffle me that in a world where brands like Foxtrot exist, conferences still serve bang-average food and drink. Stop using caterers built for conventions and start using your event as a platform to promote the best of your local city. Nothing supercharges a conversation like an excellent bit of F&B, and it might even be enough to tempt speakers out of green rooms.

Maybe I’m just a different calibre of superfan, but how most brands engage their audiences and communities has long felt stale to me.

After attending countless major events from 2015-2018 — hosted by the likes of Forbes, WSJ, and TNW — I felt like I’d seen every format. So I stopped attending conferences in 2018, which meant buying tickets in 2023 took some convincing.

On the one hand, I’m glad I did it. Just because I stopped attending conferences five years ago doesn’t mean I stopped believing in the power of events. I look back at my journey and often think, “Wow, where would I be without them?” They’ve taught me much about myself and the world and connected me to incredible people. This year was no different; they are a social capital hack when done right.

On the other, I felt just like I did five years ago; burnt out on a tired format that hasn’t changed (despite a pandemic) and has all the same problems as a result.

The time away from the circuit has helped me realise I’m looking for something more from the brands I love; that’s clear.

I’d happily pay $1,000+ for a 3-hour sit-down dinner with the right staff and speakers, ask anything off-the-record and honestly debate ideas. But I’m forced to settle for a few hundred dollars to sit in the rafters with lukewarm coffee, a plastic lanyard and an arm’s length relationship to the green room.

The question remains why they’re not doing anything with the former?

Maybe I’m just a different calibre of superfan, but how most brands engage their audiences and build their communities has long felt stale to me. In fact, it drove my decision to start my own convening arm in 2019.

I did this primarily to scratch my own itch,  but really to show the world what could be done if you committed to gathering properly at a time when nobody else was.

I’ve always felt confident our experiences went toe-to-toe with any brand, but these last two months actually proved it, which is wild given we’re a 1-man shop.

I can’t lie; it provides a good self-esteem boost and some much-needed closure on what has been an excellent chapter of our convening business. But I’m probably more burnt out now than I was then because now I know what’s truly possible.

Anyway, enough of that. Onto business.

We’re shaking things up. It’s a win-win-win for all.

The game hasn’t changed. The firm with the best people wins. Do the best still want to work in an office, regardless of how nice it is?

I’d work in an office every day if it meant I got to hang with Marty. Maybe there’s something in that.

I see lots of pent-up travel demand in hospitality as more and more restaurant groups start taking customers on trips worldwide.

Wine is not drunk like alcohol. For those who know how to welcome it, it transports you towards something within oneself, something deep.

I’ll be percolating on real estate, the story of NPR Tiny Desk, and what my cigar bar cum music radio show might look like. 

Looking back, Q2 has been equal parts brilliant, nuts and stressful.

Business aside, I’ll be a married man in 9 days. Rings are in hand, and all the final preparation is complete. After a year of planning, I can’t wait for the big day and all the surrounding wedding festivities with my favourite people on the planet.

Looking ahead to Q3, I’m excited to get the corporate side of Everyday Travel off the ground. Land my next op-ed or ghostwriting deal. And who knows, maybe even add a new hospitality partner to our loyalty-membership-enrichment service.

I’ll also be percolating more on real estate, the story behind NPR Tiny Desk, and what my cigar bar cum music radio show might look like. 

Anyway, if you’d like to follow along, please drop your email here for updates or reach out directly if you’d like to get more involved in the world we’re building.

I’m always on the lookout for community-driven deals, clients and partners that are innovative, ambitious and can benefit from our support.

Until October — CGM.