“The passion everyone had was positively intoxicating.”

Talent X Riga 🖤

17 producers & project managers, AKA the people who make things happen 💪

As always, we skipped the usual warm-up. No small talk, no polished intros. It was incredible to see the group connect so quickly. Different markets, different perspectives, but a shared willingness to open up, question things, and contribute.

This time, we pushed the format even further with a social anthropology workshop with @powerhouse_latvia , field research at @techchill , and learning inside a live production environment.

We also enjoyed a sustainable fashion up-cycling workshop with @bourzma_ and some pretty unforgettable meals thanks to some very thoughtful local choices by @ieva.c (more on that later).

Big thank you to @sponsorking for hosting us so openly, and to the talents for making it what it was ❤️

In the words of @martinsdaugulis, don’t forget to “Be weird!”

👉 Full recap on LinkedIn

📸 @robertsaboltins ...

We were proud to take the stage last week at @techchill , where Christina Pilz joined social anthropologist Mārtiņš Daugulis from @powerhouse_latvia to explore why networking, as we know it, is failing us.

𝐈𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬, 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲. But they haven’t. Networking increases contacts, but not necessarily connection.

The issue isn’t a lack of tools. It’s how we design the experience.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. It happens when they do something together: Solve a challenge. Build something. Share an experience that requires contribution. That’s when something shifts. People stop performing. They start engaging. And that’s where real connection begins.

Insights from the 27Names European Experience Index™ (EEX) reflect the same tension: while the industry optimizes for scale and efficiency, 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧: 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Technology can support that.
But it can’t replace it.

And that’s where we need to rethink things. Not how we connect 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆, but how we connect 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓.

We’ll share a deeper dive on this soon 💪

📸 @robertsaboltins

#27names #techchill #networking #eventindustry

👉Download the EEX report here: 27names.com/inspiration/#index ...

20 years of IT Partners organized by RX France, celebrated under the spotlights of cinema, immersion and live.

Our member @magic_garden_agency designed a tailor-made immersive journey to transform each participant into a real superhero 🦸

🎭 The event featured two worlds, three zones, a team of 12 costumed actors, a make-up show, live karaoke and a DJ set by Bootleggers United for a total immersion in the action. Highlights included a levitation photo booth, VR animation, Big Jump, climbing wall, and a movie poster photo call.

#27names #magicgarden #eventinspo #corporateevents ...

When an experience leaves you, quite literally, blown away… that’s exactly what happened at Inspiration X in Vilnius last month.

Artist @tadaocern ’s keynote became the highest-rated of the event and one of the most talked-about moments across the group. Why? It was the work itself, the atmosphere he created, his way of thinking, and the way people were invited to become part of it. That’s right: after his keynote, our members were invited to recreate his (in)famous “Blowjob” portrait series in a live photoshoot, a simple setup that quickly became one of the most memorable parts of the experience (swipe to see the results).

But what stayed with people wasn’t just the photos. It was his perspective: the way he talks about creative life, about letting go of control, and about not trying to shape every outcome in advance. It resonated not just in the room, but afterwards.

Our Head of Community, Christina Pilz, sat down with the artist to discuss creativity, audience expectations, discomfort, and what actually makes something stay with people.

She started by asking about play, risk, and freedom in creativity, and how he personally decides what risks are worth taking, and what’s too far.

His answer reframed the question entirely: “The biggest risk I ever took was choosing a creative life at all. I could have gone the stable route, clear career, steady income, predictable future. Instead I chose freedom, knowing that freedom means full responsibility for yourself. That’s the real risk. After that, everything else feels more like play. Mistakes aren’t something to fear, they’re built into the process. Once you commit to this path, failure and success stop being opposites. They become the same thing.”

More from that conversation soon.

📸 Keynote images by Rytis Šeškaitis. Portrait series by TADAO CERN.

A big thank you to @aurimas_kamantauskas and @rekurai_events for making this unforgetttable experience possible, and @tadaocern for your time! ...

Go big or go home - and our member @lataamocreative went BIG for the first ever edition of Red Bull Heavy Metal outside of North America 🔥😎

Lataamo Creative’s role was comprehensive: they handled the full-scale production of the event at Helsinki Senate Square, in collaboration with the City of Helsinki and other partners.

We think these photos speak for themselves but stay tuned for the aftermovie- coming soon!

📸 Red Bull Content Pool: @pasisalminen , @sami_tuoriniemi

#redbullheavymetal #lataamocreative #27names #givesyouwiiings ...

Before the job titles and careers, there were just two kids.

Both small-town girls from very different parts of the globe but with the same instinct to dream big and make things happen.

Years later, those two kids are now COO of @sponsorking and Head of Community at 27Names, and together they’re bringing the 9th edition of Talent X to Riga.

In two weeks, we’re launching a bold, reimagined format with an even stronger focus on what Talent X has always been about: community.

Talents from across our network will come together to learn from each other, challenge each other, and build connections that last far beyond the program.

We can’t wait to share more.

#27names #talentx #talentdevelopment #community ...