After hours of sitting slouched, heads-down at your desk developing, or typing out your 20th email of the day, the inevitable crash comes. The work week suddenly seems never-ending, and no cup of coffee, no matter how generous, can convince you otherwise. What could, however, is a mid-day dance party, you think as you tap your foot absentmindedly to the electronica pulsing through your headphones.
Now, go ahead. Wistfully roll your eyes. Like that's an option. Startup advisor Dmitri Gunn is here to tell you it is, though, courtesy of Lunch Beat: a before-hours import fresh from Stockholm, Sweden.
There's one simple rule — a tongue-and-cheek play on "Fight Club."
If it's your first time at Lunch Beat, you have to dance.
"I circle the room like a shark forcing people out of the corners," confirms Gunn, who hosted the first Lunch Beat Boston in March alongside HubSpot's Head of Customer Marketing Rebecca Corliss and Fred Destin, a partner at Atlas Venture.
"We live in an incredibly innovative city, and we invent new tech all the time," Corliss said in an email to BostInno. "Why not reinvent the typical networking event? If any town was going to embrace such a fun and unique event … it was Boston."
And Gunn agrees, acknowledging, "Lord knows we don't need another expert panel discussion or meet up."
The city's startup community works hard — damn hard at that. Meaning, a one-hour break away from their cubicles and onto the dance floor, glow sticks in hand and house music blaring, is well-deserved. The environment is meant to make individuals feel safe, with roughly 55 percent women and 45 percent men in their mid 20s in attendance. There's no alcohol served, but plenty of water and sandwiches on hand to fuel the "Footloose" fire.
"[Attendees] have a good time, and go back into their work environments energized," Gunn says, adding that no one is swapping business cards. "It's a moment in time where everyone was part of this shared experience and it didn't matter who you were."
Gunn describes the event as a "completely democratized culture experience." College students can be dancing to house music alongside the managing director of a big-name VC fund and, for one hour, they're on a level playing field, just having an entertaining time.
"Lunch Beat is quirky and fun," said Destin in an email to BostInno. "It's so ridiculous, it just works. … Sometimes you need slightly wacky ideas for people to realize they're not as buttoned up as they thought. Boston's tech crowd has a real sense of community and this is a great way to celebrate it together."
Whereas the first Lunch Beat Boston at Kendall Square's hack/reduce saw 150 people hit the d-floor, the latest is ready to welcome in 300. The event will be held at Roundarch Isobar in Boston's South Station on October 22 from 12 to 1 p.m. Acquia Founder Jay Batson will be bringing the beats, and, if you can't make it, Gunn says another Lunch Beat Boston will be held in the Innovation District's newly-opened District Hall on November 6.
Anyone still skeptical, just watch a video from the first Lunch Beat Boston below. Yes, it's immense fun those people are having.
If you go: Roundarch Isobar, South Station; Tuesday, October 22, 12-1 p.m.; Tickets are $10, and can be purchased here.
