In this episode of Event Experience, meet the co-founder of the new Resilience Conference, Leslie Hitchcock-Stone. As a former Director of Global Events at TechCrunch, Leslie shares her passion for hackathons, and the creation of a mission-driven event focused on defense, security, and societal resilience.
Leslie has designed and produced technology conferences of up to 5,000 participants in San Francisco, London, Berlin, Zug, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Lagos, and Nairobi. She is now involved in producing the AI Fringe event series, and is executive director of Next Economy Trust, a tech-focussed media company co-founded with the investor Saul Klein.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this conversation:
[00:00:09] Rachel Moore:Welcome to Event Experience by Bizzabo, the podcast where we bring the best and brightest event experience leaders together to share stories, tips, and lessons learned from creating some of the world's biggest events. I'm Rachel Moore, your podcast host. In this episode, you'll get an infusion of insight for your own events industry career as we follow the journey of Leslie Hitchcock-Stone, co founder of Resilience Conference.
[00:00:35] Rachel Moore:We'll explore her work at TechCrunch and the importance of events in the startup world and proceed into how her idea for resilience conference came about, whether your goal is to craft events for your favorite brand or create your own mission driven conference, you'll gain a clear vision for your personal event experience. Let's go. [00:01:00]
[00:01:03] Rachel Moore: From revolutionizing TechCrunch into a media brand to founding a new conference in business, the key word for today's guest is resilience. We're about to click into a truly expansive career in the events industry with Co-founder of the premier startup Resilience Conference, Leslie Hitchcock. Leslie, welcome to Event Experience.
[00:01:23] Leslie Hitchcock: Hi. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:25] Rachel Moore: It's a pleasure to have you across microphones. And I always do that super brief, like high level introduction of our guests. But we're going to learn so much more about you today, starting with,
[00:01:34] Rachel Moore: what are your go to on the ground event day shoes?
[00:01:38] Leslie Hitchcock: So, um, I'm a bit of a shoe fan. And so there's a brand I like very, very much that's based in New York and it's called Tibi, T I B I. And they have this style of shoe called the Rudolph and it is so comfortable. And it can be dressed up or dressed down and I absolutely love it. So that's [00:02:00] one. And then the other are my low profile New Balances.
[00:02:03] Leslie Hitchcock: And those can go with a suit or anything, a dress, anything like they're just, and they're so comfortable. So, depending on the length of the event, meaning the number of days that that's what I, that's what I go for.
[00:02:16] Rachel Moore: Awesome. Next thing I'm going to have to start asking people. Okay. And then how, how, what's your suitcase of choice? Because you have to pack all these
[00:02:22] Leslie Hitchcock: Oh, right.
[00:02:23] Rachel Moore: That's the next, maybe that's next season. I'll be like, okay, your, your favorite suitcase, your favorite travel bag. all right. Is there anything that you're listening to, watching or reading these days that you can't put down?
[00:02:33] Leslie Hitchcock: Yes. So I've, like I mentioned, I like to do a lot of learning. So I've recently subscribed to Foreign Affairs magazine. It's not for everyone, it can be very disconcerting. But for me, and really beginning to understand or continuing my learnings about the foreign policies and how they affect democracies and things like that.
[00:02:55] Leslie Hitchcock: I read that a lot. I also read this amazing book that I can't shut up about, which is, This Is [00:03:00] How They Tell Me The World Ends by Nicole Perlroth. She wrote it in 2019, which is why it completely missed my radar. Cause I was on maternity leave then. And then there was a global pandemic and I wasn't really paying attention to a lot at that point.
[00:03:12] Leslie Hitchcock: But she was the cyber reporter for the New York Times for quite some time and she's written a book. And it was amazing and also a little scary. And then what I listened to, I just love Ezra Klein's podcast. I love his podcast in the New York times. As our client show, I just find, he's one of my favorite thinkers. That's the best way I can describe him. He's got a lot of really interesting things to say. And when he doesn't know what to say, he brings on the right, he brings on the right people to educate him and his listeners. And I really admire that about him.
[00:03:43] Rachel Moore: That's really cool. Yeah
[00:03:45] Rachel Moore: can you expand a little bit more about, um, on what your role is as a co-founder of Resilience Conference.
[00:03:50] Rachel Moore: And I know I said the word resilience a couple of times in your intro, but it seems applicable. So, what's your world like as the co founder of resilience conference?
[00:03:57] Leslie Hitchcock: It's very, very busy. But what's interesting [00:04:00] is that's not any different from any other event. So, um, and this is what it. When people find out, you know, who I'm meeting, for the first time, what I've done in my career, like, Oh gosh, you know. I, well, I've done events, but they're nothing like that.
[00:04:15] Leslie Hitchcock: I'm like, no, actually an event is an event is an event. It doesn't matter if it is a 10 person dinner or a 10, 000 person conference or a hundred thousand person festival. You still have to go through the same operational experience and anxiety to pull it off. So I never want to, to belittle what people are doing, but, you know, least of all myself.
[00:04:35] Leslie Hitchcock: So I spent 10 years at TechCrunch, which is the publication of record for the startup and technology industry, and I absolutely loved my time there. I wore a variety of hats during my tenure there, but the most exciting one was the director of global events, which I did for the last six years that I was at the company.
[00:04:56] Leslie Hitchcock: I came on board originally as their marketer, their very first [00:05:00] marketing hire. And my second week on the job was TechCrunch Disrupt New York 2011, and they flew me out for it. And, with the expectation that I would be working while I was there, whatever that meant. And TechCrunch was such a tiny team at the time that everybody chipped in for the event.
[00:05:19] Leslie Hitchcock: So you'd find yourself gaffing the, um, the session hall floor, uh, next to Heather Hardy, who, you know, used to run Fox business and then was the CEO of TechCrunch, because that's what we did. We just all chipped in. But, I got to TechCrunch Disrupt New York 2011, and I walked around this vast event space.
[00:05:38] Leslie Hitchcock: It was in a pier on the Hudson River. I thought, this is a job? It was so amazing, so magical, but it never occurred to me to potentially move into it, um, into the, into events as a career. I just considered it a perk in my time as a marketer at TechCrunch.
[00:05:57] Leslie Hitchcock: But, you know, I got to know the events business pretty [00:06:00] well because in my marketing capacity, I was working around audience development and sales collateral and unifying messages, which they hadn't actually been able to do in their first five years as a business because they were, it was very small. What I'm like, what I'm doing now is very, very small.
[00:06:15] Leslie Hitchcock: And so then when the opportunity came, I moved to the events team. And I first started as a sponsorship sales person. And I firmly believe that if you want somebody to understand a product or to lead a business unit or a company, they need to sell it first. And so I cut my teeth. First, really building out the sponsorship of the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathons, and then the conferences.
[00:06:43] Leslie Hitchcock: And just really had an amazing time bringing together the startup world and the sponsors and just seeing that magic that happened. And it sounds really funny to say it like that, but I absolutely believed it. I mean, I was at TechCrunch for nearly 10 years. And after about seven [00:07:00] years in, I thought to myself, why am I still here?
[00:07:03] Leslie Hitchcock: Because in this day and age, that's a very long time to stay somewhere. And Hey, it was the people. I absolutely loved the people and I'll speak more on that, with regards to Resilience Conference. But also, what I actually realized in, and this was in my, the work in the last few years that I was at TechCrunch, I ran the globe, the international events business at that point, because I had moved to London.
[00:07:28] Leslie Hitchcock: That's where I live now. I've been here for eight years and I developed all of the international presence that TechCrunch did from there. And, um, going to other startup ecosystems outside of San Francisco, outside of London, outside of New York and seeing the problems that they were solving, and what a special thing it was to have TechCrunch come to those locations. And to kind of shine that light on them.
[00:07:54] Leslie Hitchcock: I realized that ultimately what I loved about the work that TechCrunch does, is that it was altruistic [00:08:00] at its heart. And we, you know, we, we had the ability to really make a company's entire, you know, existence with a blog post. And that was a really special thing. I didn't take it lightly. And so, you know, I say all of that, you asked me about resilience and I started with TechCrunch.
[00:08:17] Leslie Hitchcock: That is the trajectory for me. When I left TechCrunch, I took a longer period of time off than I had anticipated because I left at the beginning of 2020. And I thought I would take a little bit of time off and then jump into whatever I wanted to do next. And I'd had a couple of offers that were event based, but they all wanted me to start, you know, kind of immediately. And I knew I needed some time. And so then the global pandemic happened and I took a lot more time than I anticipated.
[00:08:42] Leslie Hitchcock: But it was really good actually, because it allowed me to reset and think about what was important to me. And so everything that I've done since I left TechCrunch has had that same mission based ethos. And the same, you know, that can be said [00:09:00] for Resilience Conference as well.
[00:09:01] Leslie Hitchcock: So what is it like running it? It's very, very tiring. It's not my full time gig, but it is a full time gig. I'm doing other work in media and production for my actual job. and co-founding it with my husband, which is also very interesting. He is, um, a founder, and investor, has worked in policy and in government. And so with the vision of resilience conference, it made it, it was the right thing for us to do, to work together.
[00:09:29] Rachel Moore: That's a, that, that is quite and I, we're, we're absolutely going to dig more into this too, because that's quite a trajectory. And, you know, it's, what's interesting is that no, everybody listening to this, no two career paths of an event professional are the same.
[00:09:42] Rachel Moore: I mean, they're, they might have similarities, but, you know, certainly everybody's got their own, you know, how they got introduced. I love how you describe, you know, where you're like, wait, this is a job someone can get paid for? And then fell in love with that. You know, everybody's got their own origin story with how they got involved with the events industry itself. And then just, you [00:10:00] know what kind of brands they work for.
[00:10:01] Rachel Moore: Obviously, you know, TechCrunch is globally known, you know, so it's, it's really cool to hear, be like, wow, hear about somebody who was able to be there, particularly during a turnaround point for it. And to have that kind of impact too. I, I want to double click on a couple of things you said there too. One was where TechCrunch was built to such a large entity that, you know, a single blog post could, you know, change the fortunes as it were of any given company that you might be spotlighting. That power that can be wielded through that, but it was because you built a brand and you were, you and your team were key to do that, I think just demonstrates to our listeners the possibility of what they can influence, right? I mean, of how they can change people's fortunes by the work they do.
[00:10:47] Leslie Hitchcock: Absolutely. It's a really, really great point.
[00:10:49] Leslie Hitchcock: Yeah.
[00:10:50] Rachel Moore: I love, well, I want to also say, as someone who abhors selling, I hate sales. And I work in marketing, so I can't really say that. Because it's like, well, [00:11:00] you kind of are selling it. But, I think that's super interesting too, to have that perspective of everybody who's planning an event, you, you really need to know, okay, I'm doing it for a product or service.
[00:11:11] Rachel Moore: There's something behind me that I'm, I'm planning events for. So, having a really keen understanding. And I think too, would you say to you, like, if you're looking at it from a sales perspective, pain points, you know, salespeople are always trying to be like, let me understand what your pain points are and then how we can solve them, right? I would imagine that has a lot of impact on, you know, the understanding of running an event then.
[00:11:32] Leslie Hitchcock: Yeah, absolutely. And I really did struggle actually with going into sales because as a marketer, I felt also a little bit more special than sales. So we, we, I, I see you there. And I talked to somebody who is the account director for TechCrunch, just on the digital side.
[00:11:50] Leslie Hitchcock: He also did events stuff, but he was like, Leslie, sales is just helping people. And I was like, Oh. Well, I like to help people. And that was really, that was really it. It was like, okay, [00:12:00] here's what we have at TechCrunch here. This, you know, this, what I get most passionate about and I still do to this day is a hackathon. I just love the energy at a hackathon. I love the idea of something being built under enormous time constraints and people coming together who might not have otherwise. And, and just the building, I just love the building.
[00:12:20] Leslie Hitchcock: And so, you know, it was like, okay, well, we have a thousand people coming to this hackathon, here's the demographics, here's what they've built in the past. Um, one of my favorite stories, which is actually now, now it's a bit sad because the product's been absolutely ruined. But you know, GroupMe, was born at TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon in 2010. And at that point we have to go into the way back machine.
[00:12:42] Leslie Hitchcock: But I am old enough to remember when text messaging cost a lot of money. And it was not the most economical way to communicate with people. In fact, when you got a text message, you'd be like, why are you doing this to my cell phone bill? And so they built a [00:13:00] platform that enabled circumventing, using data to send messages to people.
[00:13:05] Leslie Hitchcock: And it was born at that hackathon. And it ended up being acquired by Skype, and now absolutely ruined by Microsoft, unfortunately. And, you know, great company, not great at everything, totally fine. It happens. But that was the Genesis for iMessage and WhatsApp and all sorts of stuff. And it came out of that hackathon.
[00:13:22] Leslie Hitchcock: And so, you know, telling those stories was always really exciting to me, and the potential. I actually stayed, I've stayed in touch with this family, um, in, um, Oh, gosh, it was, I think it was 2013. There was a little girl, 2013 or 2014, a little girl named Alexander Jordan, who is now a university student at the university of Exeter. And so I've actually get to, you know, stay in touch with her to this day and same time zone now.
[00:13:48] Leslie Hitchcock: But she and her dad came and did a hack together. She did it. She programmed it. It was, um, her older brother is autistic and, um, she wanted to find a way to be able to make playdates for him. And so she built a [00:14:00] hack. And she presented it on stage. And I talked with her about, you know, about what I did and all this, you know, we really got to know each other and I stayed in touch with her dad.
[00:14:09] Leslie Hitchcock: And then when she came to university here, they all, they came over for dinner and it was just really, really lovely. And she and I have since stayed in touch about some ideas that she has around how to build a hackathon and in the Middle East to help with regional stabilization and stuff like that.
[00:14:23] Leslie Hitchcock: It's really, you know, she's amazing. Absolutely amazing. but that was not something I would have ever expected. Out of my career. And that's what I, that's what I really love about
[00:14:31] Leslie Hitchcock: it.
[00:14:31] Rachel Moore: I, well, I, thank you for that story too. And I love that point as well about, you know, sales is just helping people. And at the end of the day, that's what we're all doing. You know, obviously there's business behind it and stuff, but you really are trying to be a person to another person and say, I have a solution for you.
[00:14:48] Rachel Moore: And I thank you for sharing about the hackathons as well. Cause this kind of segues to, you briefly touched on it earlier, kind of where your headspace was getting when you had been at TechCrunch for about six or seven years. And you're like, [00:15:00] okay, I'm starting to think about different things.
[00:15:02] Rachel Moore: I kind of want to ask you a little bit to expand on that a bit, your tenure at TechCrunch, how did that prompt you to ultimately make that transition then to co-founding a new conference in business? I mean, about that hackathon has something to do with it, but, what were some other things that kind of contributed to you making that transition?
[00:15:19] Leslie Hitchcock: Yeah. When I left TechCrunch, I thought, okay, door shut on my events career. I want to do other things.
[00:15:25] Leslie Hitchcock: What else is out there? I was very concerned about being typecast, and you know, all very silly in my head type stuff to be perfectly, perfectly honest with you. So I mentioned my husband's background and my background. What I didn't mention is that when Ukraine was invaded, we took it really, really hard as a family because, in the early aughts, he had done economic development work in the Balkans, Ukraine, and the Baltic States. And he maintained relationships with these young people. We were all younger back then 20 years younger.
[00:15:58] Leslie Hitchcock: And now they are former heads of [00:16:00] state, high up in policy, startup founders you've heard of, notable investors, and we were getting messages in real time when Ukraine was invaded. About friends that were going into hiding, losing friends and family, being evacuated, moving country, and also pivoting their businesses in dramatic ways.
[00:16:20] Leslie Hitchcock: Like one of our friends had a very successful business called Petcube that lets you exchange your pets while you're not at home.
[00:16:28] Rachel Moore: Wow.
[00:16:30] Leslie Hitchcock: And now he's doing really hardcore drone defense work. And has been since March of 2022. And we were talking about at that point, the startup industry in the West was really reluctant to get involved in dual use technologies. And more specifically, defense and security. So dual use as a technology, or a product that can be used in both a consumer space and then [00:17:00] also in another space that would deal more with global conflict.
[00:17:03] Leslie Hitchcock: So back in July of 2023, we noticed that this was a problem to us because of all of these people whose lived experiences we were party to. And so what we did at that time was, you know, talk about how do you, how do you legitimize what it is that Ukrainians are going through? How do you, how do you make it real for the startup industry? And I said, will you get them a speaking spot at TechCrunch Disrupt?
[00:17:33] Leslie Hitchcock: Like that's the world stage, everyone's listening, Zielinski's wife, I'm not going to be able to say her name properly right now, but she spoke at Web Summit, you know, this is, this is a platform, but if you want to talk to the startup industry, you know, Disrupt is a great way to do it.
[00:17:46] Leslie Hitchcock: And so we then tease that idea out and thought about doing it ourselves. Because of his background and policy and government, and startups, and investing and then mine in the [00:18:00] event space. But also I am a lifelong learner. If I don't know about something, I'm the type of person that will go and find a 500 page book about it and read and educate myself.
[00:18:08] Leslie Hitchcock: And so, you know, I've been following this conversation. And the startup industry as well.
We'll be right back with more Event Experience after the break.
From backstage to the spotlight, The Event Experience Podcast by Bizzabo gives you a front row seat to the event industry's most captivating stories. Want to get more out of each episode? Visit bizzabo.com/podcast. That's B I Z Z A B O dot com forward slash podcast for show notes, transcripts, links, and resources mentioned in each episode and more. The Event Experience Podcast by Bizzabo where events become unforgettable experiences.
[00:18:51] Host: We're back with Leslie Hitchcock-Stone as she shares what prompted her to create a whole new conference called Resilience.
[00:18:59] Leslie Hitchcock: Your [00:19:00] original question of what made me want to do it? Like, it was mission driven. It's a motive for us. Like us, we are selling tickets and sponsorships for the conference because we want it to be sustainable, agile.
[00:19:13] Leslie Hitchcock: We're already planning for resilience too. This is, you know, not just a one and done event. We want to build something meaningful out of this. But it was really a really important problem for us to highlight, for example, in Ukraine, one of our friends said recently that everything for Ukraine is dual use in a war, anything from energy to mental health apps, they become core to society's resilience and defense.
[00:19:42] Leslie Hitchcock: And so, you know, we want to be able to, with this event, bring together groups that rarely meet. You know, so many of the national security and government and policy people rarely leave their buildings to get to know the startup and the investment industries, ecosystems, the defense [00:20:00] primes are very much more aligned with bureaucracy than they are with the nimble aspect of startup life.
[00:20:06] Leslie Hitchcock: But all of them depend upon each other and, and really our democracies depend upon it. My background before I left TechCrunch was in information security, specifically endpoint security, which is like a phone or a laptop or something like that. And so, um, when I left to work at TechCrunch, the Stuxnet virus had just been discovered and we were realizing that it was the very first cyber warhead that existed and got out into the wild.
[00:20:33] Leslie Hitchcock: And so if you've been paying attention, we've been at war with Russia for many, many years now. My husband was in Estonia back in 2007 when it was cyber attacked by Russia. Ukraine was brought to its knees back in 2014 by a cyber attack from Russia. This invasion of Ukraine is the latest move into a full fledged war that people can actually recognize. But it is just the latest maneuver in [00:21:00] an ongoing conflict that we're only just waking up to.
[00:21:04] Leslie Hitchcock: Again, with the mission driven hat on, my husband and I want to leave the ecosystem better connected, functioning better. It's not about sharing information, networking, thought leadership, but it's about distinct groups like the military, venture capitals, startups, getting to know each other and understanding each other. Like that's also it. You know what I mean?
[00:21:25] Leslie Hitchcock: I get frustrated with how slowly some of the sectors that we're trying to engage with, you know, in terms of content, and sponsorships, and ticket sales, and how fast other sectors move. And he's, you know, he's always reminding me that this is about getting to know each other, like, and, you know, being nimble on our side to respond to these various interest groups that we have available.
[00:21:48] Leslie Hitchcock: So, or, you know, who we want to participate. So, you know, that's how I got back into it. It was not planned. I definitely don't, I've never considered myself a founder. I've never been the idea [00:22:00] person, but I'm more than happy to make other people's ideas work.
[00:22:03] Leslie Hitchcock: But in this, it happened so organically and with so many of the right skill sets coming to meet in the right place, that it just kind of, the answer was actually, why not? You know, we need to be doing this for our democracies, cause we believe in that. I'm an American. He's a Brit. Like us, we have very strong, strong roots in that and want to make sure that we're doing our part if we're not serving actively in the military, which neither of us are, and neither of us will be, how can we do our part?
[00:22:30] Rachel Moore: Wow. It's almost like we need to pause there too. And just like, think about what y'all just said, because, you know, you were really digging into, there's always more behind why we do what we do. So any of our listeners, you know, whatever career, you know, point they are in their career, whatever path they've taken to get there, everybody, they're a human being and they always have a, why. Why am I doing what I do?
[00:22:53] Rachel Moore: Some of it, you know, and, and all those are valid reasons. You know, it's like, Oh, well, I'm good at this, or I'm passionate about this, or I [00:23:00] really enjoy this aspect of it. But when you do hear about these kinds of events that come from a far broader why, like, you're talking about fundamentals of society, like democracy and access to the things that make us live, or the dangers of society like war, and military conflicts and things like that.
[00:23:23] Rachel Moore: And then to say, Well, Hey, let, we're going to build something here, it's a business and a conference that will address that. I just, the word is, wow. Uh, just say, and I'm sure you feel like, yeah, wow. Um, you know, but so really appreciate you sharing your why as, as what your why behind this, you and your husband as to, where this all came from, and knowing that it was very much about humans.
[00:23:50] Rachel Moore: And people you knew, and even the ones you don't, but recognizing there was a gap that can be filled, particularly with both of your mutual expertise in those areas. [00:24:00] And with that, I want to ask, when you're talking about Resilience Conference, like someone comes up to say, well, Leslie, what are you, what are you doing these days? What do you tell people? Like, you know, as far as like describing Resilience conference, you know, in a nutshell, as much as you can, cause there's so much to cover too like, how do you, how do you describe what the conference is for, and what it's meant to achieve
[00:24:19] Leslie Hitchcock: Yeah. So we chose the name Resilience and we're starting with defense and security, but Resilience is a very wide topic and it's got a very long runway in terms of the types of things that we can discuss.
[00:24:30] Leslie Hitchcock: So we're starting with defense and security, but, you know, Resilience is water, it's climate, it's supply chains, it's energy, it's democracy, it's about, you know, how the fabric of society can actually function and continue to thrive.
[00:24:47] Leslie Hitchcock: Like that's really, really it. And so everybody can relate to that. They can relate to that. Which is really, really great. And eventually, you know, we will tackle these more, you know, the, the other subjects, [00:25:00] but right now, like I said, because of the point in time in which we, in the West find ourselves like, this is, this is the, the themes that we want to investigate right now and kind of interrogate right now.
[00:25:10] Leslie Hitchcock: I personally, kind of had to adjust myself to be comfortable with the idea that we were talking about drones that would, you know, kill people. But also, you know, I have a five and a half year old and I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that he doesn't have to fight in a war.
[00:25:29] Leslie Hitchcock: If he wants to be in the military, great, excellent. We can discuss this in however many years, but I don't want him to have to be conscripted. I don't want him to have to go through something like what our, you know, Ukrainian friends and are having to go through. That's why we're starting where we are.
[00:25:43] Leslie Hitchcock: And the way that we set it up is to be a niche conference that has a smaller number of attendees. So at Disrupt, I was very used to programming and producing 5, 000 plus attendees in a variety of different markets. This one is bridging [00:26:00] all NATO countries and allies, NATO partners and allies with representation from Eastern Europe, Estonia, the Baltics, the U.S., Ukraine, and the U.K, so far, also Germany.
[00:26:12] Leslie Hitchcock: I'm going to be forgetting somebody, but that's where we've landed to date with room, with room to add a few more. Because all of those distinct perspectives really matter. Like, you know, the perspectives of people who live on a border with Russia are very different from the perspective of somebody in the States, but they all matter. And they're all working toward the same end goal.
[00:26:35] Leslie Hitchcock: And what's really interesting is the ones who are doing it really well are collaborating really well. So that's kind of the shape that we're in, how we talk about it, is that it's going to be small, 300 to 350 people.
[00:26:46] Leslie Hitchcock: No need for a networking app, right? Everybody's going to be right there, and doing it also in the style of a Tech Crunch Disrupt. So no keynotes, seven person panels. This is very strange for some of the people that [00:27:00] we're having on the, uh, at the conference that are kind of confused at how we're setting this up, but a combination of industry and journalists, moderators, we want it to be part of the news.
[00:27:09] Leslie Hitchcock: We want it to be useful for everybody who's there, even the journalists to be able to build their sources and report on what's happening there, making news, breaking news, 25 minute panels, no more, you know, really just snappy, snappy. But also diving deeper into breakout rooms so that people can continue the conversation, have Q and A's, really engage more with the topics, and also, you know, we internally, we say there is no green room.
[00:27:33] Leslie Hitchcock: Everybody who's there deserves to be in a green room. So we're, you know, making sure that everybody from like the head of the British Army to the person who runs the investment thesis of global resilience, general catalyst, and you know, the CEO of Helsing are all going to be in the same room together, talking with the likes of me,
[00:27:53] Rachel Moore: Wow.
[00:27:54] Leslie Hitchcock: So that, that, that's the vision and in that, you know, that type of democratization of, of [00:28:00] access is really important to us.
[00:28:01] Rachel Moore: I'm so keen. I'm learning more about it too. I mean, you've obviously given us a lot to think about too. It's definitely a very different kind of conference, which, and I would say too, it's now easy as you have described what it's intended to accomplish and draw that line all the way from back when you first started in events. And when you were, you know, helping TechCrunch, but you've really helped to paint the picture of how did you get from there to here. And why we have Resilience Conference today, is largely because of your, not to be tried, but event experience.
[00:28:34] Rachel Moore: You, you, you, it's your own experience, your experience in events, your experience with events, your experience of seeing how events can alter trajectories and change perceptions. And so, really appreciate you, you know, sharing this with us too. I, I have a feeling a lot of our listeners are probably thinking, you know, if someone were to, hey, have unlimited funds or you win the lottery or something, and now you can go work on [00:29:00] anything you want to work on.
[00:29:01] Rachel Moore: You probably have been describing something. A lot of our listeners would be like, I'd love to put my energy into that. So you're kind of living the dream. I'm sure it's challenging because at any time you start up anything it is, but what an amazing mission to come into life. It's amazing.
[00:29:17] Leslie Hitchcock: Well, thank you. Thank you for letting me talk about it. I feel very, it's very dear to my heart and also causing lots of sleepless nights,
[00:29:24] Rachel Moore: Well, yeah, you're.
[00:29:27] Leslie Hitchcock: Just like a child.
[00:29:28] Rachel Moore: Exactly. You're building something brand new.
[00:29:30] Rachel Moore: And then, lastly, our most important question and the easiest question of all, where can our listeners find and follow you online?
[00:29:37] Leslie Hitchcock: Super. I'm mostly on LinkedIn these days which is my name, Leslie Hitchcock is my handle there. I'm @LSH on Twitter, but I'm not really active on that anymore. And then, I periodically post on Medium @LSH as well.
[00:29:53] Rachel Moore: Excellent. And then is Resilience Conference anywhere we can find it online?
[00:29:56] Leslie Hitchcock: Yes, we are. I should have plugged that. We are [00:30:00] resilienceconference.io. And we're also on LinkedIn, that's where we're having the most feedback, which is really fun.
Leslie's skill up advice encourages every event professional to reach out for inspiration
[00:30:21] Rachel Moore: I thought about this, and then I thought about what I've done. Find somebody who's either brand or event you admire, and follow them, and reach out to them. I'm not that shy, so I have no problem just doing a cold outreach. And I also really like it when people do that with me. I met recently with somebody who spent some time at another tech conference and is now doing comms and brand work for a VC and just wanted to talk to me about my experience.
[00:30:50] Leslie Hitchcock: And, you know, I'm probably 20 years older than her and I had a great time chatting with her. But also, you know, I really, I find aspects of events that speak to me, other [00:31:00] events. And I really, I, I note it down. I also know what doesn't speak to me. I sometimes find that more than I do what speaks to me, but my dirty secret as an events person is that I really don't enjoy going to events.
[00:31:12] Leslie Hitchcock: But when I do, I'm always on the lookout for things that I can get inspiration from and people that I can get inspiration from. I really admire what the information is built and what Kara Swisher built with All Things D, which that ages me.
[00:31:23] Leslie Hitchcock: Cause they're definitely not called that anymore. And then watching, you know, how she's branched out into other mediums, but how it all goes back into that, that really important work that she does. And so, you know, to me, I take a lot of inspiration from others. And you just never know what will happen if you reach out to them and ask to just be in touch, not even like to go get a coffee, but just to be in touch.
[00:31:44] Leslie Hitchcock: I think that people are often shy to do that, but I know from my experience, I love it when people do. Because it invigorates me and I always learn from them as well. Like, what are they up to? And so that's my one piece of advice for people.
[00:31:59] Rachel Moore: Thanks again [00:32:00] to Leslie Hitchcock Stone for joining us on Event Experience and thank you for listening.
[00:32:05] Rachel Moore: If you're enjoying the show, we'd love to hear it. Connect with us on social and subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you're listening. Also, don't forget to share the show with your colleagues and friends. You can find transcripts of each episode and key takeaways on Bizzabo. com forward slash podcast.
[00:32:21] Rachel Moore: On behalf of the team, thank you. We'll gather again soon for a new episode of Event Experience.
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