How to attend our 24 Hour Festival without “burning out”

5 min readMay 28, 2018

So on June 13th we’re launching the world’s first 24 hour festival for the head. Called Getahead Festival it’s aim is to help you “get ahead without burning out”. Cue people saying “OMG you’re going to make everyone burn out by attending it!”.

Yes, a 24 hour festival about mental health, wellbeing & productivity is a preposterous idea. Which is precisely why I fell in love with it. It’s outrageous. Counter-intuitive. Stupid.

I’m full of daft ideas some of which even work

It’s a giant two finger salute to the burnout & depression that has blighted my life since 2006. If I can pull this off (while running a fast changing small business, and attending a wife & three daughters) then life is worth living.

“Because it’s there”

I had the idea in conversation with my bro (a DJ) and his pal (a promoter of pre-work sober raves). And once I’d linked late nights & early mornings the rest filled my mind quick as a flash in glorious detail. I could see this thing vividly.

When George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest he replied: “because it’s there”

That’s the response I had to Getahead when it appeared in my addled brain. (For what it’s worth, the name & URL were all created & bought within 12 hours of having the idea for a 24 hour festival).

How to attend our 24 hour festival

We start at 6am on the 13th June and go all the way through to 6am 14th June. If you attend all of this then you need your head seeing to! (it does have a mental health theme I guess).

Seriously, don’t do it.

However if you’re legit MENTAL like me then you’re more than welcome.

But you don’t have to :-)

You can come & go as you please through the day (subject to ticket type). The space is incredible, the multi-room OMEARA. Check it out, it’s a great place to hang out. With a food hall next door. As tickets start at TEN GREAT BRITISH POUNDS you can even just snag one, come down & use it as a place to work from all day.

There are 3 key themes, reasons to come down:

Health: Mental & Physical
Wellbeing & Productivity
Fun!

We aim for you to come away with practical hints & tips you can apply to your life right away. If you look at our full line up you’ll see some themes which evolve through the day: www.getahead.life/programme

But here’s some ideas of how to approach this crazy 24 hour event…

Getahead By Day: 6am — 6pm

Come down before work, at lunch, or for the afternoon.

6am-9am sees Soul Sisters & Weaver Bros present a fun fitness dance workout & sober rave (never seen before & completely unique). Or simply some yoga & pilates & a cuppa at our cafe. Or maybe just a brew! Your shout!!

Glove London are coming so you can hit stuff!

9.30am-6pm is in effect a ‘wellbeing at work’ conference, with talks, panels & workshops. We start with a great session on “Chimps at Work” with a psychiatrist & top tech entrepreneurs. Then there are productivity workshops with endurance athlete coaches, panels on mental wellbeing & inspirational talks from the likes of Geoff Macdonald.

Geoff led the global HR team for Unilever & is a celebrated keynote speaker

All afternoon you can enjoy live music from some of the best up and coming artists in the UK. Plus standup comedy from incredible talent. And if that sounds like too much there is free massage, meditation & fitness classes all day.

So come down before work, pop back at lunch for a pint & a gig, then back at the end of the day for some inspiration. Or any mixture of the above!

Andre here will be taking Transcendental Meditation classes all day

Getahead By Night: 6pm — 6am

The evening gets more rock & roll, leading to a full on rave up til dawn. This is a great time to come down after work with your mates / colleagues & get entertained & informed.

We wanted a great selection of stuff “after work” so if you get down to us for 6pm you’ll see Dr Jack AKA “the Jamie Oliver of neuroscience” taking a session in the bar. See him in action here.

Then radio 1 Xtra DJ Melody Kane is hosting “No Kane No Gain” from 7pm. We even have counsellors available from Music Minds Matter for “Drinks with Counsellors” if you wanted some Dutch courage to discuss an issue.

After Melody it’s the return of ‘the lovechild of TED Talks & WWE’ The Tech Off who are hosting a Soundclash for the second year as an official event during London Tech Week. You have never seen anything like this before, as top music-tech speakers battle it out for the Belt Of Tech! As witnessed at SXSW, Cannes Lions, DMX Dublin.

Or if you’re a dirty stop out, come down at midnight & enjoy London’s top party DJ’s and some “very very special” Drum & Bass DJ’s (seriously it’s worth it). We kick into full on rave-mode as we host not 1, not 2, but 3 rooms full of music!

Cantina Bar: Desert Island Disco hosted by Santero

The Siding: SISTER presents hosted by Carly Wilford

Don’t do yourself in!

Remember Getahead is all about “how you get ahead without burning out” so PLEASE don’t burnout at our wellbeing event. Come for an hour, an afternoon or all day! But look after yourself.

See the full line up & buy your tickets here.

In case you were wondering, I’ll be boshing the whole thing.