Will Mannon organized his first LA meetup in 2019, feeling intellectually isolated until two strangers showed up.
David Novinsky hosts Will Mannon to explore the impact of in-person gatherings for online creators. Mannon recounts his initial experience in 2019 with Write of Passage meetups in Los Angeles, where he felt intellectually isolated until connecting with strangers over shared ideas. He describes how the pandemic paused events, but they resumed in 2022 with a large Austin gathering. Mannon later founded Act2, a creative accelerator, and conducted a world tour of meetups to promote it. Novinsky and Mannon were introduced by Paul Millard, leading to a collaboration. They piloted an event in Brooklyn in August, focusing on creative projects, which resulted in new podcast launches. The episode details their event planning strategies, such as sending reminder emails with songs to boost attendance. Mannon explains the 'Internet Serendipity World Tour', powered by Circle, which will visit 13 cities including Taipei, London, and Columbus in late 2025. He emphasizes that in-person interactions foster deeper, faster connections than online environments. Stories include a Toronto meetup where two attendees got engaged and a New Yorker who decided to stay in the city after attending an event. The conversation highlights the importance of like-minded communities in overcoming isolation and advancing creative projects.
