”Trust me, if I could do it, everybody in here could DEFINITELY do it.” – Jared Dillian, keynote speaker
The author of Street Freak kicked off WSO Conference 2013 with a stirring story to a rapt room of monkeys from all over the country. His story was an inspiring one indeed, as he told of bucking the family trend of public-sector civil servants to enter Wall Street, while working 2 jobs AND going to school (a grueling schedule even by our standards).
“I thought the guy who wrote ‘A Random Walk Down Wall Street’ was an idiot,” he remarked, “because he thought anyone who tried to beat the market was wasting his time. I eventually realized that most people are idiots, and that you could outsmart all those idiots to make money.” Which he did, and thanks to his upbringing he did not hoard it, waste it, or worship it.
As I spoke to Jared later on, he told me that he was quite anxious giving his speech, because it was so quiet in the Penn Top Ballroom during it that you could’ve heard a pin drop. But clearly, he need not have worried—the audience of over 300 was just that rapt with attention!
No doubt all the attendees will each have their own personal favorite moments, as WSOCon is one of those events that will mean many different things to different people. I’ll share a few personal highlights and then officially open the floor for others to open up.
I’ll begin at the Pre-Conference Happy Hour, which to Patrick’s personal amazement featured easily triple our usual turnout (and in case anyone’s wondering, yes, there were ladies in attendance, and yes, they all enjoyed themselves). As the Maker’s and Gingers, Gin and Tonics, Rum and Cokes, and craft beers started flowing the energy really ramped up.
WSO user Frieds, who had worried “I hope this isn’t the entire turnout” near the beginning, was thankfully wrong. I won a game of billiards, passed out a few Head of Metal business cards, and around the fifth drink started in on the 007 quips.
Judging by the number of people who were still hung over the next morning, the Pre-Conference Happy Hour blowout was a definite success.
This year’s energetic Monkey Man was a hit, and was mercifully free of body odor.
Josh Rosenbaum’s talk topped his speech last year by general consensus. He was optimistic about the future of the industry and gave both amusing and thought-provoking answers to questions about life on the job. The panels were all as diverse and informative as ever, but for my money the real gold was in the time spent in the break room, shaking hands and enjoying good conversation about business and life.
There were a couple of duds, like the guy who thunders up to me at the afterparty and bellows, “So are you, like, middle-career, just starting out, or like, more senior?” Miffed, I responded, “Pro tip: most people start by telling you their name.”
But in many ways, the networking that went on at the afterparty was actually more rewarding in a different way than at the main event. It was only slightly less of a blowout than the Friday night rager. The final brunch next morning was much appreciated, and due to AndyLouis’ absence there was enough Guinness for everybody!
To all who made it out, thank you for coming. To those who couldn’t come for legitimate reasons, sorry we missed you. To those who simply refuse to decide on anything until the last minute and missed out as a result, next year man up, put on your suit, and buy the ticket. We’ll be glad to have you.
Here’s looking at you, Mr. Braverman!
mod note: add any photos/videos you have from the conference/afterparty to this folder
definitely good fun and great recap!
Had a blast. the afterparty was cool and then we went and hit NYC in full force for the rest of the night/morning.
on a related note...does anyone know how to access the 3 free months job board for going to the conference...is the a promo code?
email WallStreetOasis.com>[email protected] a receipt of your ticket purchase, and in the email/subject request the access
email WallStreetOasis.com>[email protected] with your reciept and job board in the subject line
edit: I was beat to it.
Thanks for the help Andy and Skinnayy
Jared was very candid and entertaining. I really enjoyed talking to fellow attendees about career, alcohol, facial hair, and anything in between. Met a few really great contributors to this site (lookin' at you ITF), but was disappointed that I didn't get to meet the one and only blastoise. Oh well, there's always next year. The Sunday brunch was a great way of ending my weekend in New York. Overall, the sharp people and their joie de vivre are what made this conference so great for me. Thanks for Patrick and the WSO team for pulling it off, as well as the sponsors. Much love.
Where was the afterparty this year? Any interesting ANTics this time around? ;)
Thanks for the feedback guys...I just sent out an e-mail asking for more feedback through this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q9NVDWP Would really appreciate the feedback...
Also, check your e-mail for a special earlybird deal for WSO Con 2014 (for the 2013 attendees) :-)
from one of our lead interns:
Just bought my tickets for 2014! This was my first time at WSO's conference, as well as my first time in NYC. Not going to beat the dead horse; I had a fantastic time.
Besides lowering the price of the tickets (which we are doing for earlybirds), any other ways you guys think we could make it more affordable for people? We know NYC is super expensive to stay in a hotel.
What if we create a "WSO Conference Couch Database" where WSO members that live in NYC offer up their couch and/or air mattress for 1-2 nights for $30-$50 per night? Kind of like a WSO AirBnB just for the conference?
Would anyone here from NYC be willing to house a WSO Conference Attendee for 1 or 2 nights? I think that could make a big difference expense wise since travel wise there are usually bus options that are super cheap.
Thoughts?
I think that's a great idea especially for us poor college students
Any way we can make a subforum or group just for conference discussion (maybe could open it a few months before the con)? Would be a useful place to arrange hotel shares, couch crashing, carpooling, etc. I remember last year my hotel share was found just from haphazardly tossing out PMs until I landed on someone who would match my stay duration and was comfortable sharing a room.
What about something like this that we link to on all of our conference material / announcements / etc?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0At8rMLVexgdJdEpXNW1WamE3Vj…
Also, thank you to those that have given us feedback so far. VERY VERY helpful. Next year we will have an under 21 event after the conference as well for Saturday night for those that are staying the night.
Thanks, Patrick
ok, as we start to promote WSO Con 2014 we will link to that sheet to try and use the strength of the community to get cheaper lodging for at least some attendees.
Seconded. Found out at the conference that I was literally sitting rows away from more than one fellow monkey on my way to NYC. Would've been fun to know beforehand!
Hate to burst your bubble Patrick, but the airbnb setup is pretty much illegal in New York unless you want to get fined 40,000 bucks....there's a NYTimes article about it.
$40k?? They charged one guy $2k and looks like AirBnb is now fighting it in court. Looks like plenty of people are still listing on AirBnb in NYC. https://www.airbnb.com/s/New-York--NY
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