It started with a meeting. I met with some trusted industry friends, and told them about this idea I had. I’d found a gap in the market for senior decision makers in travel, and I wanted to act on it.

These friends of mine listened to me talk about this new concept for networking, and, because they knew me, even though it may have sounded a little off-the-wall, they knew I would give it my everything.

I resigned from my job in December 2013, I joined Jacobs Media Group in March and, six months later, I was standing on stage with a mic in my hand, welcoming delegates to our first event.

To say I was freaking out would be an understatement – it was like jumping off a cliff! It was a huge risk, but in my heart, I knew it would pay off.

Three years later, Connections has held 14 events in 14 destinations around the world, with 750 delegates, and delivered more than 250 different memorable experiences to help build longer-lasting business relationships.

In each of our three years, we’ve launched a new event series – we started with Luxury in 2014, then Meetings in 2015, our hotel-focused series in 2016, Wellbeing in 2017 and Adventure will begin 2018 (and more to come…)

Every time I remind myself of these facts, I still can’t quite believe what we’ve accomplished, it blows my mind.

But at the same time, the reason we are still going strong is very simple…It works! The Connections Way of doing business really works.

It’s a scientific fact that nothing is remembered without emotion. Our events create the feelings, that lead to friendships, which are essential for business relationships that stand the test of time.

People know that they will leave Connections with new friends. Three years on, I see these friendships still in place – I see you all posting on Facebook, meeting up all over the world and keeping the relationships alive years after you first met.

We owe our success to our amazing delegates who make each event truly memorable and to the people who are building this business.

We’ve now grown to a team of ten, all of them friends, all of them hand-picked for their passion and their willingness to drive Connections forward with me and to keep giving me new ideas for how the concept can evolve.

I want to thank Clive, and the Jacobs Media Group, for believing in me and in this concept that now is now so established, and that will continue to expand.

And I want to thank all of Connections’ founding members – you know who you are – for giving us your support from the get-go, for “voting with your feet” and turning up to events from day one!

We’ll be shortly creating an advisory board –  The Connected – where we will invite Connections’ founding members to keep evolving the Connection concept with us. We want to continue delivering what you need for your businesses, and it’s only with your input that we can achieve this.

Connections is a feeling, is a friendship, is a family. Thank you for being part of it.

Ciao!
Micaela