Ideas… happenstance by design

I discovered Ideas Fest the day before it started.

How did that happen?

I work in innovation. I’m naturally curious. I spend a fair amount of time looking for interesting people, ideas, events and opportunities that might challenge my thinking.

Yet somehow this one had completely passed me by.

For a few minutes I seriously considered changing my plans, paying top price as penance for my lack of awareness and parachuting in for a day completely unprepared, but rather excited to see what happened.

There was something quite appealing about that.

Turn up. Wander around. Talk to whoever I bumped into. Listen to something I hadn’t planned to hear. Perhaps leave with a completely different thought from the one I arrived with.

Happenstance in its purest form.

I very nearly did it.

Instead, I booked for 2027. But why?

I’m currently developing a new manufactured product. It is still early enough in its journey that plenty will change between now and next September.

That is innovation.

But suddenly I have another milestone.

Not because the product needs to be finished by Ideas Fest.

It doesn’t.

Not because I need to meet an investor, manufacturer, customer or collaborator while I’m there.

I might not.

And certainly not because two days at an event are somehow going to determine whether the idea succeeds.

That would be placing rather too much faith in a field full of entrepreneurs.

The interesting part is simply having a reason to ask:

Where could this idea realistically be by then?

Developed enough to put into someone’s hands.

Validated enough that I can explain clearly why it exists.

Perhaps far enough along that one unexpected conversation could genuinely accelerate what happens next.

And that is where this starts to get interesting.

Because happenstance cannot be controlled.

I cannot know whether the person I happen to stand beside between sessions might have exactly the experience, connection or perspective I didn’t realise I needed.

They probably won’t.

But they might.

What I can control is whether I’m ready if that conversation happens.

There is quite a difference between leaving something you can plan to accident and leaving room for the unexpected.

The development cycle will keep moving under the momentum I’m applying.

I’m driving it, not Ideas Fest.

The event is simply one more tangible marker along the way.

Perhaps nothing of consequence will come from it.

That would be interesting too.

Maybe the most useful conversation happens three months earlier somewhere completely unrelated.

I might arrive more interested in contributing to Ideas Fest than talking about my own idea and volunteer to become involved, assuming they’ll have me.

Or perhaps I’ll simply spend a couple of enjoyable days talking to interesting people, hearing different perspectives and enjoying what looks like a great social event.

Hardly a wasted journey.

That uncertainty is part of the appeal.

Ideas Fest isn’t a target. It is a milestone acting as momentum.

A point on the horizon that creates a little purposeful tension without dictating the path I take to reach it.

So between now and Ideas Fest 2027, I’ll keep driving the development forward.

And every now and again I’ll return to this thread and see whether having that date in the diary has influenced the journey at all.

By next September perhaps something remarkable will have happened.

Perhaps absolutely nothing will.

Who knows?

That is rather the point.

Leave nothing important to accident but leave enough space for happenstance.

Not all conversations need to be left to chance. Connect with me.