The March Forward marching band at Oregon Zoo for WDS opening party.
Chris Guillebeau hosts WDS 2013.
Last weekend, 3,000 adventurers, renegades and non-conformists gathered in Portland for the “World Domination Summit”. The shindig is the brainchild of Chris Guillebeau and a considerable gang of Merry Pranksters.
Guillebeau is a recognized “travel hacker” and helps travelers get maximum value out of the airlines’ frequent flyer plans with his “Travel Hacking Cartel”. In fact, he even has a site to get the most out of those airline affinity and reward cards.
So, that’s my connection with Chris. But the “World Domination Summit” is bigger than the travel sector. Chris’s new book, the $100 Startup, gives some great case studies on folks who decide to branch out on their own (disclosure: I’m IN the book. Ya! ). The summit included non-conformists from all around the world. I met attendees from Australia, South Africa, India, Brazil–even several Alaskans!
The opening party was at the Oregon Zoo. The closing function was a huge Bollywood Dance-off in the middle of Pioneer Courthouse Square (pictured, at left) . Speakers included Marketplace’s Tess Vigeland, Bob Moore of “Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods” fame, storyteller extraordinaire Nancy Duarte, best-selling author Gretchen Rubin , Pro Blogger Darren Rowse–and many others.
The weekend started with a world-record-breaking float on the WIllamette River. There were food tours, breakout sessions, meetings and shindigs all over town. In fact, it’s fair to say that Portland played an active supporting role in the overall giddiness of the event.
I came away with a commitment to do some community-building with this site and our TourSaver site….including some events. Since I committed to do it and folks have offered to help….well, I’m “all in” as they say. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, learn more about Chris, and the Summit. We’re going to next year’s event. Perhaps we’ll see you there.
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