A month ago I was given the amazing opportunity to attend the Tropical Innovation Festival in Cairns, Tropical North Queensland.
The Sustainable Lifestyle Project team which I was in for the Mackay Techstars Startup Weekend at Split Spaces won the weekend! And I was lucky to get the prize of the Tropical Innovation Festival ticket and travelled to Cairns with Tegan from Split Spaces to attend.
This past month, I took time to recharge and reflect on what a wonderful week it had been. I let it all sink in as I looked back at my notes and photos which made me remember all the people, the moments, and the experiences.
The weeklong conference was an incredible experience that I will never forget. There were so many highlights from the week from the inspirational speakers and panellists to the amazing people I met. For me, it was a week of many memorable moments, overcoming challenges and gaining a wealth of knowledge and ideas.
With 50 events and 60 speakers to choose from, the program can be compared to a music festival program – with different headliners on different stages. It was a difficult decision on which room to attend, or which Mastermind or Investor session to attend… as they all looked so enticing! The line-up definitely fed people’s curiosity to learn.
My week started off with a great Startup Intensive Day where I filled many pages of my notepad with valuable notes of inspiration and education. Each day of the conference I got up out of bed early with ease and with great anticipation for the day ahead. (however not early enough to make it to the 6am Yoga by the Pool, unfortunately). By the Day 3 of the conference and my notebook was almost full. I had been jotting down so many snippets of inspiration and information from all the speakers and panellists I had the opportunity to listen to throughout the week.
(Keep scrolling to the tab section to read some of my favourite notes & quotes, favourite speakers and discover my Inspirational Portal from the conference)
Overall, by Day 5 I felt uplifted, felt more empowered, and confident, and sensed a positive change in myself. It was a wonderful week being surrounded by amazing people with the chance to network and connect with like-minded individuals. Minds were inspired, meaningful connections were made, lots and lots of coffee was consumed (not even the coffee machine could keep up), and a good time was had by everyone!
By the end of the conference, the question of the day was ‘What was your favourite thing about the conference?” My favourite thing was something that happened arbitrarily, a chance encounter – like it was meant to happen. At the end of Day 3, while at a random bar in Cairns with Tegan, while sipping on our chilli margaritas, we ran into the one and only Yasmin Grigaliunas! Only moments ago I had just been speaking to Tegan about how I hadn’t had a chance to meet Yas yet. Next minute she’s walking into the bar, and realising we’re all repping our awesome Tropical Innovation Festival shirts! Selfies were taken, wonderful conversations were discussed, and Yas even wrote down and explained her newest word acronym in my notepad – which is remaining top secret for now! An experience I’m grateful for and one I’ll never forget.
To be quote Yas Grigaliunas … ‘Less showreel and more real reel’. While being inspirational and rewarding, the week was also a challenge for me both mentally and physically – but one I appreciate experiencing as when we go through challenges and overcome them, we become stronger and stronger. Physically, I was going through some pain of body aches as it was just before my medical infusion to treat Crohn’s Disease. During this time my body gets more worn out and sore easier than usual. I was also worried about fatigue, but the FREE COFFEE certainly helped with that, combined with the adrenaline and energy from the event.
Mentally, I had to find the strength to put my introverted self out there and meet new people, face my fears of public speaking in the Investors Suite and battle my own mind as I overcame a random intense panic attack on Day 3. I’m still not sure why it happened but I’m guessing it was a mixture of overwhelm, Imposter Syndrome, Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD) and a mental overload that just had to be released. At the afterparty I spoke about this with a group of people, and it led to an insightful conversation about Imposter Syndrome.
The Innovators On The Reef conference was amazing! A conference was held on board the Down Under Cruise and Dive Evolution Dive Boat where we ventured off to the Saxon Reef, a part of the Great Barrier Reef. Attendees even got to snorkel or drive to explore the reef! How amazing is that?!
I spent a few hours in the water discovering the magical underwater world, something I rarely get the opportunity to do so. (This was only my second time snorkelling.) I hired a camera to use underwater and really enjoyed the challenge of taking photos underwater for the first time.
While I didn’t manage to get to any of the Learning Labs, I had a chance to meet and talk more with people in a more relaxed and chilled-out setting. I had some great chats with Martin Coffey from KNEWK Entertainment and I saw the amazing AR technology in action and had a good chat about the challenges of naming a business with Kate Morgan from Eggy. By the end of the day, my mind was swimming with new ideas and perspectives.
I wanted to say a huge thank you to Tara Diversi, Kate Montgomery and all the team for organising and hosting this amazing event.
And a special thank you to Tegan from Split Spaces for organising this great opportunity for me to attend the event, introducing me to the best authentic Japanese Ramen in Cairns, for our meaningful conversations and for all the good times we had during the trip.
Thank you Split Spaces for giving me this opportunity to grow and learn at the Tropical Innovation Festival. It was an incredible week, and I am so grateful to have been able to experience it.
I finish off this blog post by sharing my own word acronym inspired by Yazzyg.
Dare to imagine the impossible. Live a Rewarding and fulfilling life. Envision the future and work hard to Achieve your goals. Create a Meaningful impact on the world and never stop dreaming.
If you’re reading this blog post and we’re not connected yet on LinkedIn, then please click here and add me.
