When You Feel Pressure

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!