Let’s make good internet, together. Grok is a roundtable un-conference for independent thinkers who make our digital world better. Designers, developers, writers, strategists, project managers; if you create things online, you’re our kind of person.
We talk, you talk. You have unique, insightful perspective. Show up and we’ll ask you to speak up. We won’t fill your day with talks from a podium because we believe planned conference talks should start conversations, not end them.
Focusing on your distinctiveness. We’re interested in what makes you talented and different, whether it brings home a paycheck or fills your evenings. Want to talk about your nerdy self-made React build or interface design? Perfect. Want to talk about your competitive dog grooming hobby? Even better.
Grok is about you. What you think, your perceptions. Your ideas can start businesses, make them better, or end them. Bring ideas to Grok and we’ll engage with them together. Grok is a place to build clarity and share passion with proficient people just like you.
Need some photos or a few tweets to show your boss? We gotchu.
@robricgon Great talks, conversations, and people at @greenvillegrok this year. #grok17
@tom_cheadle “Your ideal work is your trade plus your core value.“ Love this approach to entrepreneurship from the @PathwrightApp crew. #grok17
Want to be a sponsor? We’ll love you, and so will our attendees. Send us an email at grok@atlaslocal.com.
Ok, here’s our shot: The best employees have side hustles. Grok is a place to converse over what you care about; whether that’s work, life, or that thing you’re building on nights and weekends. Because we’re pushing for what attendees love, we’re not here to inform. We’re not even here to motivate. We’re here to inspire. We believe the best way to do that is fuel the innate drives of your best people. Harvard Business Review says this is essential to citizenship crafting. We fuel people by encouraging them to speak about their passions while putting them in a room with other multi-faceted people who will do the same. Passion is contagious. If you believe you have an excellent employee and you want to unleash that excellence, send them to us and we’ll return them on fire ready to make their work and life their own. If you need your employee to better understand best practices in designing for ________, send them somewhere else.
Grok is in Greenville, SC and will be at the ONE building on 1 N Main St, Greenville, SC 29601. We’ll be in the heart of the city, a downtown the New York Times called “the next major food destination” and Forbes ranked #18 on it’s list of Best Downtowns. We’re 15 minutes from an international airport and walking distance from 5 major hotels and a plethora of reasonably priced AirBnB’s.
We’re in Greenville because our founders are in Greenville. Grok is lovingly cultivated by Atlas Local, one of the best (and oldest) coworking communities in the country. We love our city and think you will too when you get here.
We’re a community of independent and inspiring folks. We also happen to be a coworking studio of mostly web designers, developers, and related roles.
After you buy a ticket, we’ll send you a lot of ideas and options. For now, take a look through this list:
A 10/20 is a mini talk that we ask attendees to prepare and bring to Grok. You sign up for either 10 minutes or 20 minutes to present anything you want. 10/20’s are presented in a facilitated breakout group of roughly 30 people. You can ask a question, present an idea, show work, or run an exercise/game. The floor is yours. You’ll have a white board, a podium, a projector, or any other materials you want and bring. Some of our favorite 10/20’s from years past include: presenting an app build, demonstrating self-defense techniques, running a usability test, walking through what makes a good design system, and teaching how to properly read a book.
Well, what do you care about in life or work? We don’t want you to
feel obligated to present about your professional talents (although we
love those nerdy talks and they’re awesome). Maybe you can present
about an idea you have to make your company better. Maybe you can talk
about what you learned and felt while reading through a recent novel.
Maybe you can facilitate an intentionally chosen discussion among your
break-out group. Just remember, this isn’t intended to be polished. It
can be rough around the edges.
Once you have the idea, pick a format. You can show a video, stand and
talk, do Q&A, create an ad-hoc panel from your group, or pass around
materials and put people to work. Sometimes the craziest formats make
the best 10/20. If you need help, reach out to us at
grok@atlaslocal.com. We’ve
been giving 10/20s and helping others give them for 11 years. We’d
love to help you craft yours.
Join us for 1.5 days of keynotes, breakouts, and unique group experiences in beautiful Greenville, SC.