Connecting Things is an event series that promotes the ideas, collaborations and knowledge that make us creatives and doers great.
Connecting Things was forged out of 9 friends who felt that creatives and entrepreneurs in their community needed a place where they could share, learn, and start collaborations that feed their skills and passions. A safe place in this dog-eat-dog world where transparency was valued and encouraged. Connecting Things takes place monthly in Orange County, CA, Louisville, KY, Denton, TX, and Colorado Springs, CO – where doers and creatives can hang out, eat and drink together, and talk shop.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Kohl Crecelius and Ryan Haack recently to discuss how Connecting Things got started and what the future of the event series looks like.
Everyone comes from very different and diverse backgrounds, how did you guys all meet and come up with this idea that you wanted to bring a community together?
Kohl: Yeah, well of the founding crew, we each knew each other in kind of different spheres, and then there was a little bit of overlap. Like, two of us know this one, and a group of other people knew someone else. So we weren’t distant from each other, but we hadn’t all synced up until we stared to get together at Wolfcamp Studios just in like a really casual way. Did we do like donuts and coffee or something?
Ryan: Yeah, it was just more for all of us to touch base and catch up. Once that first kind of crew met up, it felt like we did that for like three months?
Kohl: Yeah
Ryan: Of just having coffee, donuts, asking where everyone was at with business or advice, and stuff like that. And then at that point we started to open the door to ‘Hey, so and so wants to come, can they come?.’ And it just happened real organically where there’s of all of a sudden like from 8 of us to 25 to 30 then I think at that point it was like, maybe someone should talk.
Kohl: Yeah. Then there was just this tipping point, like the first time we did it there was like 100 people that showed up, when the Hoods first spoke. We just thought to ourselves there’s something here, more than anything there’s a need, you know? People are hungry for this. So, let’s try to be consistent and do it more.
Was that the first time you had a speaker? The Hood sisters?
Kohl: So they’ve spoken twice. I think they spoke first, and then I think I spoke next. They spoke in like November, I spoke in December, and then honestly aside from a few months around the holidays through the last 4 or 5 years it has happened nonstop.
That’s cool! Where do you think, that need of you guys coming together and asking about each others businesses, where do you think that came from? This isolation in what each of you guys are doing? I know that’s something I have heard through some of the Connecting Things talks, how it’s easy to become isolated and miss that community.
Kohl: I think that’s it man. I think we’re all deep down wired for community and need that. But, I think uniquely Orange County, for me I’m a transplant here, I just sort of experienced the difficulty in finding community. There’s a bunch of factors that play into it, but it’s kind of an isolating place. So recognizing that, and then trying to build bridges and build ways for people to connect. We were looking around, even as our founding crew, like ‘Oh, have you guys met all these cool people doing all this cool stuff in Orange County?’ It felt like for a while everybody needed to be in LA or needed to be somewhere else, and we’re looking around saying there’s so much cool stuff happening here, like why aren’t we sort of connecting the dots and making Orange County a place where people can be proud to be from.
Yeah. I’ve been to a few of these events now and it seems like it’s getting bigger and bigger every time now to the point where you’re setting a max at 150 people and still getting more than that. Do you think that’s what people are gravitating towards?
Ryan: Yeah, I mean I’m blown away still, it’s just like we’ve put a max and that goes through the roof. I just think there isn’t much like this that happens now, and we spend all our time on our phones, looking at those and like it’s happening, and then showing up here where the people that do come are really cool and down to earth and ready to talk and hear what’s going on. Yeah, what do you think?
Kohl: Yeah, I think thats a big driver, is just that connection. You know? Like, that’s what people are consistently here for, but the content has been…I’ve been so blown away.
Ryan: Yeah me too.
Kohl: I’ve learned about and met so many more creative, incredibly smart people running businesses or doing creative work here in Orange County that I had no idea about. So each speaker kind of brings a new audience and then that audience sort of builds that way, you know?
Yeah, they sort of catch onto what’s happening here. I was looking at it, and I know you guys have talked about it, but you have a few other locations; Louisville, Denton, and Colorado Springs. Where did that come about? How did that happen, where you all of sudden had this growth and are able to be in 4 different states?
Kohl: Well, it’s honestly wild in the sense that it was completely organic outreach. And we probably have 4 or 5 others, like other cities and people that have hit us up and said, ‘Hey, we want this in our city.’ And there’s 8 of us that are involved, and we all are at like capacity and above with our existing work and projects, so it’s tough because we’d love to facilitate that growth in even more substantial ways, but we just can’t. We just don’t have the capacity to do so. So the things that are there happening, and the people just share the same heart we have for connecting in their community, and we have a little bit of a framework and a platform now to help them do that, but there will probably be more of that to come in the future because it’s that same just core desire of helping people connect on a common platform within their community. There will be more to come, I guess that’s all I can say.
Ryan: Yeah, it’s not us. It’s just like here’s just what we’ve done, you can do it in your own city. People are going to come. These talks are pretty important. And, we’re not trying to make money off this, it’s been really organic.
Kohl: It feels like, we’re just volunteering, we’re schlepping around microphones, speakers, pizza, getting sponsors from the community, it’s all heart and just for the love of getting people together and the connections that are being made.
Super exciting! Is that what you guys had anticipated for the future of this? That what we are seeing here is what it can be in all these other cities? Or do you see it going in a different direction?
Kohl: I think it is what it can be due to the amount of attention that we can put to it. Like, for us, it happens every month, it’s a miracle that it happens every month because of how busy everyone is. You know, of the 8 people that are considered founders, like 3 of us were able to make it tonight, and like even the 3 of us just barely. So we’re like calling in favors just to be here away from family or whatever else. I think that it’s super organic, and great for what it is, but the future for what it could be is really limitless, and it’ll really just be a matter of the amount of energy that we can carve out to put into it.
And how much extra time you have to give?
Kohl: Yeah, there’s only so much time in a day.
Totally. So one thing I was wondering about is, we talked about how you guys all have these different resources and different communities, how do you get speakers? Is it just a favor you ask of someone you know? Or do you go ‘Hey this guy is doing something really cool’ and just reach out? How do you decide who is going to be the speaker and get them here?
Kohl: I mean two ways. One is for sure calling in favors and working within people’s networks, like ‘Hey I know this amazing chef, we’ve done photography work with him’ or ‘a friend of mine’s a great designer and has a great talk’ or we’ve done a lot of panels, so that’s been fun just to pull together different people within beer, or coffee, or nonprofit work. So that happens. And then I think at this point, there’s enough of a sort of body of work and of examples of speakers that, and an audience, that people are really excited to come and share. You know? It’s a very targeted, cool demographic, of very smart, intelligent, creative folks here in Orange County. Anyone would want to get the chance to speak to these folks, because they’re sort of the movers and the shakers and the change makers here in this community. So, that’s been really helpful.
So one last question, do you have any advice for a young creative trying to pursue their own career? You guys have all shown great success within your personal careers and the success of Connecting Things. Is there any advice that you would give for anyone who is trying to get into that?
Kohl: Mr. Haack! The wisdom!
Ryan: [Laughing] I just realized that you’re holding the mic like right next to me.
Kohl: I’m pointing it right at you!
Ryan: Oh no! Oh my gosh man! I don’t know, I mean, you’re gonna fail. You know right? You’re going to fail a lot. And you just got to keep going after it. But then I think surrounding yourself by these people, or find your core 8 or 10 that you can lean on, you know? And I think for Kohl and I that’s been very impactful for us. And as just friends or whatever, but to just get together and talk about it or talk about life. Cause it’s not just creative and work, it’s everything around them, it’s life in general. You know? And I think just having those people to get back to, and bounce ideas off and just go surf and do other things that can clear you mind and you can come back to it.
Kohl: If this wasn’t your phone I would literally drop the mic on that response!
Kohl: Yeah it’s like the sustainability in whatever you want to do, it’s not just the thing. And it’s not just the thing and it’s not just you. The success and health of what you want to accomplish is the success of your own capacity mentally, physically, emotionally as well as the same sort of metric for your community. Are you supported? You will do well if you are well supported. Because people have your back, and what that takes is like a certain level of selflessness. I think the narrative in too many circles is like, ‘you just gotta hustle or work harder’ and that can be so damaging because it can create this spiraling version of success, like ‘Oh, I need to do more, and I can’t rest, and this is me’ and you get self-protectionist and all of that. I think the success of what you do is the success and health of your community.
Check out Connecting Things at connectingthings.co to get to know the whole crew and on Instagram @connectingthings.co
All images courtesy of Connecting Things
