How Collision Conference Came To New Orleans

A year ago today, as I prepared to attend Collision Conference in Las Vegas, I received this email –

Hey Gerard, I’d love to come to New Orleans and host a small dinner for some folks in the community there? I was thinking of the Friday right after Collision, and then of spending the weekend in New Orleans discovering the city with my fiancee Faye.

Would you be interested in co-hosting dinner?

Best,

P

That was from Paddy Cosgrave. I honestly thought it may have been some spam email cooked up by their data science team, but it was legit. Now that I think about it, it probably was, because Revelry was the only company from New Orleans that participated at Collision 2015.

So, of course, Paddy and I met the next day in Las Vegas. Folks from GNOinc and Chris Schultz were on flights to Vegas the day after. The post-conference dinner party plans were set in motion.

And that was the beginning of Collision Conference moving to New Orleans.

Collision arrived last week and it was epic.

The Ci labs staff, all of the exhibitors, investors, startups, speakers, attendees, Lyft drivers, cab drivers, bartenders, trumpet players, and neighbors I met had a special kind of energy last week. They rolled in expecting a tech conference; they rolled out grinning ear to ear with a hop in their step.

And there’s nothing in the world like bringing people from around the world to experience some crawfish, cold beer, and a second line.

The @RevelryLabs #CollisionConf party at @SecondLineBrew is where it’s at. pic.twitter.com/UC5fdZhJHT

— Josh Frank (@iamjoshfrank) April 28, 2016

Crawfish boil party for night summit #CollisionConf is FI-ya! Presented by @RevelryLabs so much #fun pic.twitter.com/SgTPPMTHWQ

— Chris Stuckey (@ChrisLStuckey) April 28, 2016

Incredible Year1 #CollisionConf #Nola
5-Star hospitality @RevelryLabs @gerardramos @cschultz @CollisionHQ#crawfish pic.twitter.com/QahyR31rf5

— Jonathon Perrelli (@perrelli) April 28, 2016

Hot crawfish have hit the table… And they’re definitely a hit w/ #CollisionConf‘ers @RevelryLabs @SecondLineBrew pic.twitter.com/AhB3w6UN9x

— Adele Tiblier (@adeletiblier) April 28, 2016

Marching jazz band leading 500 developers through #NOLA with @RevelryLabs @CollisionHQ #CollisionConf pic.twitter.com/WA0aDx4X8r

— Paul Lawless (@1PaulLawless) April 28, 2016

Thank you

Paddy, James, Fionnan and all the staff for believing in us and calling New Orleans your new home. See y’all for the next pint in Lisbon. We’ll bring the crawfish.

A few gifs from our photobooth taken at the New Orleans Tech event at Howlin Wolf.

Tickets for Collision 2017 are currently 2 for 1. Don’t miss out.

What was your 10 moment at Collision?

---

Gerard Ramos