Who Wants It The Most?
My unlikely story of attending Epicurrence Park City
I skied through the gate and waited for the chair to clip the back of my knees. I was headed up the Dream Catcher lift (real name), and next to me on the ride up sat Dann Petty. It was my last day on the mountain as part of his gathering in Park City, Utah. Even though I had just met Dann in person a few days earlier, we were already talking like old friends.
“So man, tell me. What do you think of Epicurrence?” he asked curiously.
“Well,” I hesitated, “do you want me to be honest?”
“Absolutely” he said.
“Alright” I started, “here it goes.”
I’m a designer in Houston, TX. If you check out my work on Dribbble, I hope you’d consider it good, but it’s never landed me on the front page. I don’t have thousands of followers on Twitter. This is my first Medium post. What I do have is a reliable freelance business model and happy clients. I have a career that provides for my family, indulges us in the occasional vacation, and allows me to invest creatively in fun ventures with my friends.
I started following Dann Petty almost five years ago. Like a lot of you, I’ve curated a solid list of designers and creatives I admire, but Dann has always stood out to me. He is a freelancer that has it all figured out.
Dann lives in California which I’ve always placed on a pedestal, he’s done stand out work for incredible clients, and 9/10 posts on any of his channels come from a wave, a mountain, or a cross country adventure with his family. If there is anyone in the creative industry I aspire to be like, it’s him.
About a year ago, Dann started posting about a new kind of conference he envisioned called Epicurrence. His original intent was to give himself and his friends an excuse to go snowboarding in Tahoe for a week, but so many people wanted to join in that the idea snowballed into something much bigger. Something epic. He ran with it, first with the event in Tahoe and then a second in Hawaii. I requested invites to both.
That’s the thing about Epicurrence. You can’t just buy a ticket. You have to be hand selected to go. When you check out the guest lists, it’s easy to understand why I didn’t make the cut. The people who attend these events, in my mind, are the best of the best. People building the products, and working for the agencies, and hustling the hardest. Epicurrence is an event where these people gather together to talk on very personal terms about life, and the industry, and the future that we as designers are all facing. I understood why I didn’t make the cut, but that only inspired me to go more. I wanted to be a part of this thing. On October 3, 2015, I set a goal that one day I’d attend.
Epicurrence Park City was announced with an incredible site launch from the team at Rally Interactive a little over a month later. I submitted another invite request with my reasons for wanting to attend; but when invitations went out, I found my inbox empty again. That is, until Dann posted this tweet on December 9:
I happened to see the post about an hour before the deadline. I cracked open Photoshop, quickly put together this poster that I titled “Who Wants it the Most? Brian Athey Edt.” and replied. Within 24 hours, I got the news. I had won the golden ticket and was going to Epicurrence.
So back to Dann’s question: what do I think of Epicurrence now that Park City has come and gone? Honestly. Honestly, here is how I answered Dann:
You know, I don’t really run in your circles. Most everyone here is from San Francisco or New York. You’re all working on incredible things for amazing clients. You’re all leaders in the industry. I really didn’t know if I could fit in here. I mean, I had really high hopes for this, but I tried to downplay them ever since I got the invite. I tried to set my expectations low, because I worried this might be an elite event for the kind of people with egos too big and too pretentious to be any fun. I held everyone here in such high regard, that I was worried that I’d be disappointed once I got to see behind the curtain. But what Epicurrence is is anything but that. I’ve never felt so welcomed as part of a design community in my entire career. I feel confident and supported for the work I do. I feel genuine connection and friendship with everyone here, even my design heroes, and I’ve only known them for a few days. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around it because it’s all so surreal, but I feel gratitude. What you’ve created is really something special and I feel fortunate to be a part of it.
Epicurrence truly is one of those experiences that is hard to qualify. It’s unique because it’s one man’s vision; and even though he’s all heart and incredibly humble about it, it’s almost exclusively one man bearing the intense weight of pulling it all off. Every detail is planned and perfected by his top notch creative talent, and up until now it’s been designed to be experienced in small, intimate batches.
I’ve seen a lot of chatter since the beginning from folks on the sidelines who think Dann should do his event differently. Who want him to change the dynamics, or increase the size, or follow more traditional conference conventions. But to do that without the right motivations and momentum would take away from Epicurrence what makes it so special. Making it everyone else’s vision ceases to keep it Dann’s, and anyone who’s attended will tell you Dann’s vision is the part that makes the experience so worthwhile.
That’s why I’m so stoked for what comes next. Dann’s been masterminding something big with these first three endeavors, and it’s lead him to announce his most epic iteration yet. For anyone who wants to be a part of the movement, check out The Montues, the culmination of Dann’s hard work and vision, happening at Northstar Lake Tahoe this March 6–9. Not only is this event stacked with an incredible line-up of speakers and attendees, not only do you get a chance to shred the mountain and chat fireside with the best creatives in the industry, not only do you get a chance to become part of the Epicurrence family — but the Montues is the most open and inclusive event yet, giving you the ability to invite your whole team to join in with you.
The Montues is the most open and inclusive event yet, giving you the ability to invite your whole team to join in with you.
If you’re just hearing about it or even if you’ve been considering it for a while but aren’t sure it’s for you, take it from me as a guy that was right there with you. Do it. Make the investment in yourself and your team. Be a part of something bigger. Connect with this community. You will not regret it.
To cap off this post, I’ve got to share a few highlights (Phil Coffman style) from a trip full of them. These are some of my favorite moments from Epicurrence Park City:
- Meeting Dann Petty for the first time (passing out Epicurrence welcome bags from his Ford E350 Adventuremobile) and getting to shake his hand felt like a great moment, but on the first night I found myself sitting around the fire pit with him and Geoff Teehan talking about life and family. Unreal.
- 1 minute in and chatting with Meg Robichaud about some unbelievable, no-woman-left-behind French snowboarding gauntlet she was just returning from. #FirstFriendAtEpicurrence
- Getting to meet Jean-Marc Denis, Robin Clediere and Roxane Clediere just a few minutes into arriving, and making fast friends over name-tag talk and 3D camera demonstrations.
- Having a respectable amount of Utah’s finest craft beer with Ben Cline (and occasional members of the Rally crew willing to brave the back porch cold), chatting about agency life and the dark side of ski relays.
- Being the first one awake on the first morning, and trying to pretend like I didn’t know who Mackey Saturday was when he was the second one down the stairs and introduced himself. The dude is the real deal and so humble. We had coffee every morning before the rest of the house got up.
- Listening to Marc Hemeon and Geoff Teehan talk on a panel and then debate (with love) late into the night. A conversation that could only happen at Epicurrence, and one I’m proud to have been a part of.
- Getting my ski gear on and discovering that the only person still at the house and on my level was Tobias van Schneider. That was a hell of a day skiing, and I’m still expecting to see some footage Tobias!
- Chatting up Josh Austin about working on VR at YouTube, and possibly geeking out a little too much over his selfie with Casey Neistat.
- Bombing (read grinding an edge back in forth while semi-in-control) a black diamond with Dann, Matt D. Smith , Aubrey Johnson, and Arthur Armenta.
- Praising Ben Johnson for his epic Jack Dusty project, and ending up talking helicopter hunting and September in West Texas. Come down anytime, dude.
- Making a random cameo in my favorite design podcast with Brian Lovin and Bryn Jackson.
- Getting beaten by Jen Hood in pool, because apparently scratching on the break means something in Southern California. Also accidentally making the 8. Also, just out and out not winning. Girl’s a shark. A tiny shark.
- Too many other great memories to count. Thank you Dann for being the catalyst that made them all happen!
Want to be a part of the next Epicurrence? Check out Montues.com.
One last thing for those of you who’ve made it to the end and are still reading. If you’re trying to get to Montues but are struggling to purchase a ticket, recommend this post and leave a note in the comments below. I was gifted my experience. It would be my pleasure to pay it forward and help someone that’s truly stoked get to experience this trip of a lifetime.
Cheers!
