Popup villages should not just be about gathering influential people in one place (like Davos); it should be about focusing on those for whom the connections made at these events could exponentially amplify their ability to make a difference in the world.
Take for example individuals working on breakthroughs in medicine, technology, or urban design geared towards wellness and human flourishing. These are the kinds of people I'm talking about – those whose work has the potential to significantly benefit humanity. The key is in finding those whose impact would be 10 to 100 times greater if they weren't working in isolation*
I've always believed that there's no shortage of geniuses or well-intentioned people out there. What's missing is a mechanism to connect and build trust between these brilliant minds. Imagine the leaps in progress we could make if these individuals were given an in-person multi-week or multi-month platform to collaborate, to share ideas, and to build upon each other's work.
I envision popup villages as incubators for this kind of collaboration. Here, someone like Bharat could potentially make ten times the impact in DeSci than he might have made otherwise. Or someone like Mike Johnson could significantly advance the field of consciousness studies, much more than he could have in a more traditional setting. Or KC, who could make a huge imprint in the network state space thanks to all the connections and inspiration from his participation in popup villages.
I also see popup villages as personally transformative. Being part of such a vibrant, innovative community, I feel I could make an impact tenfold greater than what I might achieve on my own. And that's what we want for every participant – to come away feeling empowered, connected, and ready to make a substantial difference.
When we think about who to invite, we should focus on individuals who would find immense value in these gatherings. We want these popup villages to be so enriching, so uniquely beneficial, that participants see the value in investing in this experience (as a ticket holder and/or donor of some kind).
Important to note: if someone who could massively benefit from the connections in a popup village isn't going to actively participate in a popup village experience for one reason or another, they should not take up one of the scarce spaces.)
In essence, our ideal invitees are those whose talent and work is already commendable but who, through the connections and collaborations forged in our popup villages, could see their impact increase exponentially.
That’s the core of what we want to achieve – to be a catalyst for magnifying impact.
* By isolation, I mean the following: they could be networked within e.g. their existing community / company / university, but not cross-pollinated/connected with other parts of the broader ecosystem of builders working on a topic/problem.