Sailing on a pirate ship, getting in an impromptu workout at Under Armour’s headquarters, cracking crabs and sipping on scorpion bowls with a debaucherous and lively crew...
While that may sound like a fun weekend getaway with friends, it's actually the itinerary of an intensive 48-hour business conference in Baltimore.
Forty-five strangers gathered on a balmy October weekend to network and learn about the city from residents and community leaders. The host organization, “Breakout,” was founded a year and a half ago by two former coworkers looking to well, break out, of the corporate world.
Michael Farber and Graham Cohen met each other while working at Bisnow, a commercial real estate news agency in New York. After attending one too many stuffy conferences, they decided to ditch their office jobs and create Breakout -- what they call an "impact events company." Its mission? To bring together the next generation of business leaders and push each other to achieve, according to Cohen.
The Breakout philosophy
Farber and Cohen intentionally choose to hold their conferences in what they see as emerging growth cities -- or communities that have undergone strife and turmoil -- so that attendees can witness firsthand what most only hear about in the news.
They contact local business and government leaders several months prior to the event to schedule meetings, workshops and activities for attendees.
In Baltimore, the attendees heard an inspirational talk from the founder of Thread, a non-profit mentoring program, painted at the Maryland Institute College of Art, learned about Baltimore's tech scene at startup incubator Betamore, and even participated in a Q&A session with Baltimore police chief Kevin Davis.
Previously, members convened in New Orleans to learn more about life post-Katrina and in Detroit to get a sense of the business opportunities post-bankruptcy.
“Why not go to these cities and learn, go see local entrepreneurs and artists, and really get into the culture,” explained Cohen.
“We take them to the underbelly of the city, where all of the action is taking place,” added Jake Serwer.
Serwer is the director of business operations at Breakout, but he started out as an attendee. He attended Breakout in Detroit last summer and was “completely blown away.” The 29-year-old former TV producer from Washington, D.C., moved to Detroit in October to set up an office there.
Most salient for Serwer was the connection the team developed with Rebel Nell, a group that employs disadvantaged women to craft pieces of graffiti into beautiful jewelry as a way to educate them on finanical management.
He described that the trips intend to provide social capital and guidance to local entrepreneurs. "All of the attendees who come -- they really provide ideas, they're literally on scrap notes drawing up PR plans, marketing plans, and trying to figure out who they know in their various cities. And they stay connected with them even after that city, whether it’s on Facebook or email,” he said.
From Burning Man to Breakout
Not surprisingly, Breakout participants are young professionals that the co-founders refer to as "breakers." Most fall between the ages of 28 and 36, but in the words of Farber, “Age is just a number.” The youngest member is 19 and the oldest is in her 60s.
Breakout currently has 300 members who pay an annual fee of $500, plus the cost of travel and accommodation. Members range from young entrepreneurs, like the founder of Journey Meditation Stephen Sokoler to the president of Cinnabon’s parent company, Focus Brands, Kat Cole.
Cole told Yahoo Finance she first heard about the conference through a campmate at Burning Man this year. She was immediately intrigued.
“Breakout’s mission is about highlighting incredible stories that might not get light shined on them as readily as other bigger, sexier business or tech stories," she said.
Nouveau networking
Many of the attendees come from tech backgrounds, so it seems almost counterintuitive that such a hands-on, participatory experience is gaining such traction.
Now, people can livestream entire conferences from the comfort of a cubicle. So what’s the attraction? Less business and more bonding.
Cohen shudders at the word “networking” because it reminds him of “old men in suits and ties handing out business cards at 7:30 a.m.” But at its core, Breakout is still a conference. Equating it to a college class, it's more of a small group seminar in which participation is required rather than an intro class in a massive lecture hall.
Sri Narasimhan, a manager at Activate, a strategy and technology consulting firm, told us he is looking forward to the next conference because it offers a unique opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals outside of a convention center.
“There’s networking for networking’s sake and then there’s actually building relationships,” he told Yahoo Finance. “Everything here is activity based. You get people to open up more in the context of an activity as opposed to putting them in a room.”
Frenchie Ferenczi, director of cultural programming for upscale coworking space Neuehouse New York agreed. “There’s a networking component but not that pressure to hand out business cards. People remember emotional connections. You need to feel something to remember someone.”
Founder of popular menswear blog Style Girlfriend, Megan Collins said that she was able to forge such connections in the short timespan she was in Baltimore.
“I would like to continue on and meet people for coffee when I’m back in New York. The people here are great to know, but not in a transactional kind of way. They would be great people to have in my life because they’re fun and we could help each other.”
Making a lasting impact
Cohen and Farber carefully crafted a series of events throughout the weekend that they hoped attendees would find anything but forgettable.
Participant Lauren Weininger, chief of staff at private equity firm TAU Global, said, “What connects us is not how people label themselves as 'socially good.' We’re just people who are open to new experiences and awesome at building things and building good businesses."
Cohen acknowledged that it would be presumptuous to claim that Breakout was really inciting change in these communities.Perhaps the real intention is to start conversations and get participants thinking about how to develop longstanding relationships with local businesses.
“Who the F are we to come and solve a problem? We thought of creative solutions on how to select a group of social entrepreneurs in those markets who are creating businesses with a positive impact and just work with them.”
The next conference will be in Miami during the last weekend of January, and 50 people have already signed up. Serwer told Yahoo Finance that he expects around 125 to attend. There is clearly an appetite for such an alternative networking experience, but some attendees expressed a desire for fewer activities and more discussion.
“It’s hard to squish a lot into two days. I wish we could have talked about things more -- that would help entrepreneurs and corporate people alike,” said Collins. “I’m concerned that I’m going to go back and wonder ‘I don’t even remember everything we did.’ I feel like a five-year-old who has seen too much and needs a nap.”
Serwer said that he's always listening to new ideas to determine the best way for Breakout to grow. "We'll never say no to an idea because we want to work with our members. Everyone has a different background to share and that’s ultimately what the weekend is about."
