Ljubljana

You are a source of inspiration
Queen of the industry

Just to mention a few comments I received during my stay in Ljubljana, I’m honoured.

And the biggest question do I have after one week; who is the mysterious person behind the package that I found on my chair in front of my camper?

A fan?

A secret admirer?

Or someone else…..?

Adventures
Travelling together with Nyomi is everything but boring. The road from Munich to Ljubljana was done in a ‘snippet’. It was was busy on the road but all went pretty smoothly (we were lucky drive in the opposite way there was a huge traffic jam for many, many hours). We decided not to stop for the night in Austria but to go out in Ljubljana and explore the nighlife, something we missed in Krakow. Carpe diem! Arriving at the camping at 21:30 in the dark and finding a spot and to park my camper is a challenge, but of course we managed. We changed our clothes, and were ready to go.
We received the phone number of the taxi company (Slovenia has no Uber, if this is positive or negative, that is a topic for another moment) but after trying 5 times it didn’t work. The reception closed in the meantime and searched on the internet for other taxi companies. A simple task you would think, right? But it appeared to be most difficult of the day. After calling 8 companies, numbers were not working or not correct, I called Natalija from the organization and she gave me the right number and within 5 minutes the taxi came. It’s all about connections.

Not knowing what time it was, we arrived in the centre and ordered our deserved Aperol Spritz, another simple task. The bars were closing and after being send away from the second terrace, the third attempt was finally successful. Nyomi hadn’t booked her hotel, not knowing how our schedule would look like, but arriving at the hotel it was full. So she accepted the challenge to stay with me at the camping and experience and explore the life of Mariska at the camping until Tuesday, then the organization covered her hotel during the conference

Company
It’s nice to have company at the camping, having breakfast together… the first day it was more lunch ;-) and working remotely together and ending the day in the city centre for a drink.

Speaking at Conventa Academy in Ljubljana - August 2022

Speaking
On Tuesday evening Conventa tradeshow started with a welcome reception in the garden of the convention centre Cankarjev Dom. Great meeting passionated people from the industry and even catching up with my friends from Poland, the Ukrain and many other countries, it’s a small world.

The next morning I moderate the Future Leaders Forum and proud to say (thank you Natalija) to have an line up of only female speakers! Well done. The topic was sustainability. I gave an interview together with Nyomi to inspire the younger generation about my work as an entrepreneur but also about my life as a digital nomad. In the afternoon the students got a challenge and look critical to the event how to make it more sustainable. It was interesting to see with what kind ideas they came, for example to have a bin for the exhibitiors to see how much waste they have, to make it tangible how much they throw away, to download the recipes of the food we ate (the food was delicious!).

Of course no event without a party, we celebrate the evening, catching up with people. One man from the UK recognizes me from an event in Qingdao in China, and we meet again in Ljubljana?! How crazy it can be.

I decided to go home early and walked away from the venue when Jakub from Lodz Convention Bureau in Poland joined me. It was attempting walking by the terraces who ate still full, and decided to have another beer and talk about everything but business.

The next morning I was again on stage, using my personal story as the outline how to use the power of social media in all aspects. Apparently I inspired the audience because I suddenly receive requests from people who want to take selfies with me!! And find the bag in front of my camper the next day… I’m getting famous ;-)

Robert Szulc and myself at Conventa in Ljubljana, a place where inspiring people meet and exchange experiences.

On Friday I attend the Conventa Crossover conference as an attendee as my obligations were over. I arrived at the venue, at least I thought but apparently it was changed at the latest minute. Everything happens for a reason and I meet Maja Vidergar, the sales manager of Cankarjev dom at the venue who attended my speech and shared that I inspired her. Thank you for the beautiful compliment and the nice conversation.

Entering the right venue, I still had no clue where to go after Ljubljana with my camper, my schedule was still a question mark. After the conference my planning became more concrete. Inspired by one of the speakers, Tanja who manages a digital nomad community and asked me to come to Alabania as a speaker. Next, she lives in Split and that destination was already on the map, now it’s confirmed! Croatia, Albania here I come! What all can happen in just a few hours, incredible.

The most amazing compliment I received was from the Yulia working for Lviv convention bureau (city in the west of Ukraine) she was part of the Future Leaders Forum and told me that she found me such a strong women, and that I inspired and touched her. What? Her country is in war, her brother became a soldier and she’s working for and living in a city where your life is at risk, every second of the day. And she became emotional from my story, it was the most touching moment of the entire week. We hugged and I sincerely hope to come with my camper to Ukraine soon!

Powerful ladies from Ukraine. From the left to the right, Sofiya Kayinska, director of the Convention bureau in Lviv, me, Anna Petrova, entrepreneur and Yulia Katynska, communication manager of Lviv Convention bureau.

Thank you for the invitation Gorazd, Natalija and Ana for being part of your event, Conventa and Conventa Crossover. And of course Tatjana thank you for the special goodie bag including cat food!

Now off to Bohinj to discover the countryside of Slovenia first and after we will see what happens next…..