I recently read an article by Anna Goldfarb about fun ways to plan a birthday party.
One idea was from Nick Gray — a birthday conference. Nick and I met when he was running Museum Hack and I loved this idea he did:
Nick Gray, 38 […] threw himself a birthday party at Lincoln Center. The theme was “birthday conference.”
He handed out name tags to the 70 friends in attendance, 20 of them gave talks on whatever subjects they chose.
Now, Nick did it right — he had a staff of ten helping to plan a full evening at Lincoln Center. We’re talking name badges for attendees and everything. It was a conference after all!
Overall, it sounded like the ultimate in nerdy fun as an over-the-top birthday celebration.
I wanted to do something like that but given everything right now, the idea of getting a bunch of friends together in one place is just not possible.
At the same time, there have been lots of virtual meetings / hangouts / catch-ups. I’ve enjoyed doing a bunch of those myself with family and friends. And others have celebrated life milestones like birthdays and weddings remotely these days.
So, to celebrate my birthday this year, I invite you all to join my virtual bday conference. You are cordially invited to join on Tuesday April 7th @ 8pm ET here: XXXXXXX.
We’ll all start in the main room (here!) and then people can head off to different places in the party.
“What places,” you might be asking?
Here are a few rooms to expect:
The main room - I’ll kick us off here right at 8pm ET. Stick around for a bit before I open up the other spaces in the party!
The bar - Here’s a place to fix yourself a drink and sip a virtual cocktail with friends!
The stage - This is from Nick’s playbook. We’ll have 15 minute lectures from friends on a topic of their choosing! There are eight speakers so feel free to join for a variety of topics being covered. I’ll share more about the speakers and their topics at the kick-off.
The dance floor - Cut a rug at home! We’ll have some amazing DJs spinning tunes to keep the party going all night long.
The family - My parents, uncle and grandparents will be joining here. Always wanted to ask embarrassing questions about me growing up? Want to meet two cool Chinese grandparents in their 80s? Stop on by!
The streaming room - We’ll pick a TV show on Netflix and watch together. Chrome plug-in here: XXX
The games - This one will probably have multiple sub-rooms. But think: (a) Settlers of Catan online (b) Dominion (c) Jackbox Games, etc. More details to come for this.