Mailena

Sep 21, 2026

Proof industry events don’t have to feel corporate

I go to a lot of events in my role and, if we’re all honest with ourselves, sometimes you go, have a bit of a moan about the industry, see a few familiar faces and get the train home 😂 I’d seen this one come up on my feed a few times, with lots of mutual contacts attending, but the timings had never quite aligned. Really glad I finally made it. It was super relaxed and fun, but still genuinely valuable. We could openly talk about some of the common challenges we’re all facing, hear different perspectives from around the room and come away feeling slightly reassured that everyone is navigating a lot of the same things + learn some new things! I also really liked how open the guest list was. You could see who was attending, introduce yourself beforehand and connect with people afterwards. No mystery delegate list hidden behind a paywall, which made the whole networking side feel much more natural. We all spend so much time behind our screens, on Teams calls and in our inboxes. It was really nice to step away for a few hours, have proper conversations with people and do something a bit different. And who doesn’t love a pub quiz?!