What Now For Hubapalooza? With a Little Imagination, We Think Anything Is Possible

Here at The Hub we are constantly looking for ways to reinvent and improve our work, to keep it fresh and relevant, and to break new ground.

Organizations that become complacent quickly lose their purpose and their value, and we know there is so much critical work to do in West Virginia right now that complacency just has no place.

So, this year, we’re mixing things up a little.

We think Hubapalooza, our regular gathering of community development folks, needs a little shake up. So, in 2017, we’re taking Hubapalooza back into the garage. We’re going to get under the hood, break this machine down, and see what new and improved beast we can rebuild in its place.

Want to help us design Hubapalooza 2018? Then you’re just who we need on our Hubapalooza Advisory Team. Email me if you’re interested.

No doubt, Hubapalooza is always a blast, and no sooner do we pack it up for the year than folks are asking us “when’s the next one?” We know that Hubapalooza is fun, relevant and useful.

But as we sat down to build this year’s Hubapalooza, we noticed ourselves falling back into familiar patterns – some of the same invitees, perhaps the same venue, the same timing, the same approaches. There was too much “same” and not enough innovation, and that was a huge red flag for us.

So, rather than put on another Hubapalooza for the sake of it, we want to spend a moment to reinvent what Hubapalooza could be; why, where and for whom.

Maybe we should have smaller gatherings in various places across the state? Maybe it’s completely online and in the digital cloud? Maybe it’s a traveling caravan of refitted school buses accompanied by a moving festival of food trucks? (Not really. But that would be awesome.)

Point is, we are ready to think outside the box, to create a Hubapalooza that breaks the mould. Most importantly, we want Hubapalooza to be fun, fresh, and to bring value and inspiration to you.

If you’re interested in contributing your ideas, then get involved in our Hubapalooza Advisory Team by emailing me.