Two things I’ve learned about conferences:

I’ve learned that it’s REALLY HARD to write something comprehensive that captures how I really feel before, during, and after attending a conference like the Coworking Europe event that I went to last week in Lisbon, Portugal. Conference recap blog posts are usually platitudes of “it was awesome!” and even when it is, that doesn’t really help anybody reflect on the conference experience.

I’ve also learned that the naturally diverse cultures and backgrounds from the European coworking community – and the rest of the international audience it attracts – makes this conference especially interesting and there’s always a lot that I WANT to share…but never get around to.

So this year…I brought my podcasting microphone with me to the conference, with the hops of capturing some of those thoughts while they’re as fresh as possible. And oh man, did we get fresh.

Adam – who you’ve heard before on previous episodes of The Coworking Weekly Show – and I recorded a two-part set of conversations.

We recorded the first part (Episode 5) just a few hours into the first day of the conference

Before we ended, issued a challenge to each other that played a big part in how we approached the rest of the conference.

• Listen to Episode 5 on iTunes
• Add this URL to your favorite podcasting app: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com
• Or stream it here
• Get the next episode sent to your email (with more behind the scenes from each episode): Get on the list!

The second part (Episode 6) came at the end of the conference.

We recapped some of our favorite sessions and conversations but after that, things get real.

• Listen to Episode 6 on iTunes
• Add this URL to your favorite podcasting app: http://listen.coworkingweekly.com
• Or stream it here
• Get the next episode sent to your email (with more behind the scenes from each episode): Get on the list!

It’s valuable to listen to the entire conversation – both sessions – to get the context for the “meatiest” part of the recording, where we talk about:

• what it’s like to come to an annual event each year, and how to continue getting value
• what patterns we’re noticing in the coworking industry by going to these events year after year.
• some of the big challenges we think might lie ahead for coworking, and some ideas for how the conference might’ve inspired us to approach those challenges
• and the biggest takeaways we took home with us from the conference.

If you’ve been listening to The Coworking Weekly Show, I’ll “warn” you that this conversation takes a slightly different tone than some of the previous ones. You might notice that as the conversation heats up, our frustration about certain topics comes to the surface.

It’s really rare to capture these kinds of raw, emotional conversations. So I decided that it would be valuable for you to hear it all, real and raw, in both of these episodes.

I should also say that the Coworking Europe Conference Experience was TREMENDOUSLY positive…and listening these sessions will give you a sense of why we’ll keep going back to the Coworking Europe conference every year.

Coming soon…would you join me for an experiment?

I’ve been thinking about a way for you, Coworking Weekly readers and listeners, to leave comments and discuss the topics in each episode of the show.

Is that something you’d want to participate in? Comment below and let me know! 🙂