Drinks, Pitches & Demos: 'Plain human, not official, not pretentious, always playful'
"Two of the region’s most charismatic 'jokers' managed to create something that no big, official organization could ever achieve with all their budgets, paid professionals, slick marketing and branding."
Published on December 14, 2024
Hans Meeske, Bert-Jan Woertman at DPD100. Photo © Bram van Dal
Bart is the co-founder and co-owner of Media52 (publishing IO+) and a Professor of Journalism at the University of Groningen. He is responsible for all the branches of our company—IO+, events, and Laio—and focuses on commercial opportunities. A journalist at heart, he also keeps writing as many stories as he can.
Last week, the 100th edition of DPD took place at the High-Tech Campus. The three letters stand for Drinks, Pitches, and Demos, and in essence, "it's just a casual gathering where people, well, drink (mostly beer, a typical Dutch borreliae). They also listen to a few short talks ('pitches'), and then chat. And chat, and chat." Speaking is Slava Kozlov, one of the visitors of the 100th DPD, on December 4 at the High Tech Campus.
Slava wrote a LinkedIn post about it, and it's too good not to share. "It’s a very unpretentious format", he writes. "It seems completely unremarkable. So why do so many people keep calling DPD one of the most important parts of the entire Brainport innovation ecosystem?"
DPDs began almost by accident. The series was started by Bert-Jan Woertman and Hans Meeske, exactly ten years ago. "During the celebration, they joked that neither could quite remember how the idea came about. But somehow, it took off and went on and on, attracting more and more people in its orbit."
Even when the initiators pretend to be clueless, Slava knows why. "Probably because DPD is just plain human. It’s not official. It’s not pretentious. It is playful and almost not serious - though people do talk about serious stuff, of course. There’s no shortage of 'serious' meetings and events in the region - about high tech, deeptech, and every other flavor of “tech” that Brainport officialdom loves to chest drum about. Compared to all of these, DPDs are gloriously unprepared - a signature feature of these gatherings. Most of the programs probably came together at the last minute. They are spontaneous, serendipitous, messy. In other words, they are alive. Human. Humane."
Impactful
And that’s why it’s been so incredibly impactful, Slava continues. "Two of the region’s most charismatic 'jokers' managed to create something that no big, official organization could ever achieve with all their budgets, paid professionals, slick marketing and branding."
Over the years, Slava recalls visiting about twenty DPDs. "I regret that I didn't come to more. I feel lucky to have joined this 100th edition. I can’t recall another event where people laughed so much and so sincere. Long live DPD, to the next 100! Kudos, Bert-Jan and Hans!"
The next Drinks Pitches & Demos will take place on the first Wednesday of February 2025. Join the Meetup Group to receive the announcements.
Bram van Dal took pictures during DPD100. Watch them here.
Or take a deeper dive into DPD's historic photo album.
Drinks Pitches & Demos, episode 100. © Bram van Dal