Sitting here in a mix of hysterical laughter, astonishment and joy. Never gonna believe this and always have to pinch myself.

THANK YOU!

I was planning to write a longer blog post about this, maybe I am still going to do so, but I had to quickly get this out of my head.

After the overwhelming, lovely and tremendous feedback for the last Düsseldorf show of beyond tellerrand, I was caught in something like a vacuum chamber, or, better, a room without gravity. On the one hand the extremely positive feelings. Heartwarming and just wonderful. On the other hand the fear of disappointing people. The fear of not delivering. The fear of not keeping a promise.

I was searching for a new venue for the Berlin edition of beyond tellerrand for such a long time. For 5 years I have been using the Studio and the F101 in the Admiralspalast to run my event, but then suddenly I got the information that it would be closed. I knew it was going to be hard to find a new home for the event. Not because the size or the room layout only, but mostly because I had a picture in my head. I wanted something reflecting the ”beyond tellerrand style” of running events like this. I did not expect it to be that complicated.

I made many, many trips to Berlin to check 34 venues in total. Some simply ridiculously overpriced. Some simply too small, not from the size of the theatre, but from the breakout- and exhibition-space. I found a new home with a wonderful old church. And even if it wasn’t optimal from size and layout, I wanted to give it a go. Then the connected restaurant, which usually often give their room free for such events and doing the catering, for some reason did not like my idea and after an even quite positive conversation I got he news, that we’d only be able to use half the breakout space as planned with.

So, two weeks before I wanted to kick of ticket sales, I had to go and find a new home. That was 4 weeks before beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf was kicking off. So enough work on my desk already! Many people kept asking and I felt pressure on my inside, staying calm and positive on the outside – and also on my inside, really. I knew, only time would help and hard work, more trips to Berlin and many, many conversations in which people would recommend me new hidden treasures to possibly run my event in.

So now, I am proud and happy to say, that i found a new home. Who knows for how long, but it once more really taught me to not give up, if you believe in something and I am already very much looking forward to conversations before with you about the journey of finding a new home as well as conversations at the new Berlin theatre.

If you want to join me and the team on a new journey, please have a look at the next edition of beyond tellerrand and stay tuned!

Thank you!

A great and good collection of Record Label Logos. I am a sucker for collections and websites like this (see the Purveyors of Packaging).

Thanks to Reagan Ray for finding, collecting and sorting them.

Oh and btw: it is worth checking out the other logo collections on his website as well ;)

Hey @_austrian Airlines, really? When I want to unsubscribe? What could possibly go wrong since four weeks of trying to unsubscribe and how aren’t you able to fix this?

We are in the lucky and privileged position to add our bit to shape the, no, our future. Don’t miss this opportunity.

VOTE!

Look what I got today. FECK PERFUCTION by my friend James Victore! In my mailbox. Yay! ;) ❤️

Morning walk.

A few days ago I met with Ole and Louisa from The Dorf for a nice conversation about my little beyond tellerrand event in and in front of the Capitol Theater. Thanks to both of them for the lovely chat. And man, I know how to look good on photos! 😂

Full story here

I also use the ATEM Television Studio HD for my stage setup. I always am thinking about how to enhance it to also being able to record the whole show. I guess I have to speak to Aaron Parecki and see how he setups up his stuff. Not sure, if I’d manage to use my gear on stage and simultaneously record an event, but let’s find out.

Anyways, Aaron recorded a lovely little video of how he is setting up at an event with many useful insights. A bit of information overload for me, to be honest, but lovely to watch (I guess I have to re-watch, as soon as I am done with beyond tellerrand in Düsseldorf). Nice addition to this is the explanation of his workflow, cutting the videos onsite to more or less directly publish them on YouTube (or Vimeo).

In addition to this video, I’d love to see the following information:

• A list of the gear that is used (maybe with a price overview as well)
• A schematic setup plan

Maybe Aaron already has prepared something like this and I only have to search on his website ;)

When I arrived back home from San Francisco, I read that my friend John decided to end his event. I chatted to him followed social media and wanted to write something here, on my blog.

Well, it is like always, finding excuses not to do something, but honestly, only a bit more than two weeks and my own show – where John owns a big part of – takes place. I just feel, I can’t lose more time to write it and I always say how important friendship is and people are. Therefore I just hope I hold all the deadlines and manage to get everything done in time. John, this is for you.

I have been out tonight and on my way back I thought about many ways of starting to write about my friend ending what his passion always was. How to find the right way to express what it means to me. What it might mean to him. Like me, John ran the whole show on his own support by many wonderful people like Andy, Chris, and, of course, his wife Jo.

Those of you, who know me and my event and have attended one, know that I always also thank John at the end of the show. Reason to do so is, that he is my trash can like I am his. We have ideas, we have opinions and we ask each other, what the other one thinks about it. We agree, we disagree and we have saved each other many times from doing the wrong thing.

Over the last two or three years those moments haven’t been as regular as they used to. I have seen my good friend struggling. Trying to read, trying to understand what was happening. Actually ever since he simply renamed his event from Flash On The Beach to Reasons To. I understand why Brendan Dawes writes:

[…] and whilst it was successful I never felt it had the same vibe for me personally […]

For me the key here is personally. So many people I met at Flash On The Beach had a real personal connection to this event. Therefore this event became something were they met, where they knew, that everybody else would be there.

For a certain reason exactly his got lost when John changed the name of the event. Identification. People loved the event, but John gave his very best to reming people that, if they won’t tell anybody about the event if they liked it, no one would. This is what we live of: people doing the marketing we don’t have the money for. Plus many other factors in addition … (John, we had so many nights chatting about exactly this – I enjoyed any minute of it)

Now, I would easily fill your day with great, wonderful, personal stories about John’s event, but I guess you understand how much I loved it anyways. I have been there every damn year. I loved meeting the people I know and meeting people I had never seen before. Broken leg or not. But I also have seen my friend worrying.

As much as I am sad about the end of Reasons To I am looking forward to what John maybe enjoys doing next. I don’t think he is done with events, but he is taking a well deserved break to maybe come back with what he loves: gathering a wonderful and inspiring group of people to inspire and motivate us.

Thanks so much, John, for 12 exceptional years in Brighton, New York and London.