Rangefinder - June 2017

Hosting a large event had been in the back of our minds since 2011 when we were based in Vancouver (we’re based in Sweden now). We resisted the urge for years as the timing never felt right, and we wanted to earn our stripes within the industry before taking on the project. By waiting, nearly all the presenters we asked to come knew us and believed in our reputation. Within the English-speaking community in Europe, there was a gap in the market for an event like Way Up North. The name “Way Up North” naturally connected to us living in Sweden. From day one, the thinking was only Scandinavia.

Sponsors hope for exposure to as many people as possible, so we needed high attendance. Attendees want value, obviously, but also a reasonably priced ticket, so our entry-level price was lower than any other event we saw in Europe (395€ to start, then incremental increases), which helped attendance.

Upon announcing ticket sales for the first event, we sold nearly 500 tickets in about three weeks. That surprised us, and what surprised us even more was the demographics of the attendees: They were coming from all over Europe.

We wondered about the idea of doing two events a year, and Rome felt logical because it’s such a special place and in general, Italy hosts the most destination weddings of any country in the world.

Four hundred and fifty people turned out
and we were quite happy with the results,
but it was a legitimate challenge in every
way. We knew nobody there, we didn’t
speak a word of Italian and we were dealing
with a culture that
was definitely outside
our own. Swedes are
punctual and by the
book, whereas Italians
are a bit more laissez-
faire and free-spirited.

One specific and quite
boring example was
dealing with taxes
and accounting. For
a cash-based culture that isn’t fond of
providing receipts, we learned quickly their
accounting regulations are incredibly strict.