Nashville

My first night in Nashville was a solo adventure driving downtown, eating Cook Out fast-food, and ultimately finding a spot to sleep in my car on Vanderbilt campus. I picked up Diego in the morning, who flew in from a Christian entrepreneur conference in New York. We drove downtown to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for Nashville’s 36|86 entrepreneur and technology conference. It was awesome. Got to meet some interesting entrepreneurs and picked the brains of a few VCs (investors). Two days after we left, Nashville hosted the CMAs with performances from the best country singers alive!

Duration 

3 days

Accommodation 

My Car (1 night) and Couchsurfing (2 nights)

Favorite Food

Chicken Biscuit with Syrup

Favorite Site

Broadway Street Downtown

Cool Person I Met

Tucky. Tucky hosted Diego (my business partner) and I in her apartment for two nights and is a very sweet person. She came to Nashville in pursuit of her artistic dreams. She teaches a dance class, paints beautiful works, and backpacked across Europe for a few months. We all shared many laughs and even prayed together with her roommate.

Highlight

We watched the Predators win Game 5 of the Stanley Cup on a big screen downtown… the town erupted.

Big Takeaway

Business conferences usually offer two main benefits: the content learned from speakers/workshops and the personal network built from meeting other attendees. To me, the most valuable aspect, by far, of any conference is connecting with people. Make sure to grab their contact info and follow-up. I realized that this conference would’ve been mostly wasted if I hadn’t grabbed contact info from at least 3 people I met who I could help or they could help me in the future. Otherwise, the conference becomes a one-time event with some cool content that’ll forget in a month, as opposed to a launchpad that helps me along the entrepreneurial path for the longer run.

Your Turn

What’s your favorite part of Nashville?

What positive or negative experiences have you had at a business conference?