Quantum’s traveling circus: Turning events into experiences that matter – Project: Quantum Meets
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With events happening almost every month, many in the field talk about a growing “traveling circus,” where the same people, topics, and panels reappear from city to city. Content often repeats and discussions stay surface-level, leaving the regulars without much that feels new.
That’s where Quantum Meets was designed to be different.
In 2023, when I was Head of Communications at Quantum Delta NL, I launched Quantum Meets to bring the global community together in Amsterdam in a new way. What began as a bold idea quickly grew: in 2024, over 800 participants joined, and in 2025, the third edition — delivered through Colorful Matter, with Q-Expo as its returning headliner — welcomed 1,155 visitors from across the world. The heartbeat of the event is the large-scale facilitation of personal connections among all attendees.
Connection over cold networking
As I’ve written before, many events gather relevant people and then leave “networking” to the coffee breaks. But conversations easily default to roles, titles, or sales pitches.
Human connection is different: it’s built on shared experiences, interests, and values. That type of bond leads to trust, collaboration, and long-term relationships (Thye, Yoon & Lawler, 2002). It also has measurable side effects. Even short conversations with strangers boost happiness (Epley & Schroeder, 2014). Happier people are more resilient, creative, and collaborative; they persevere longer and find better solutions together. Shared experiences raise enjoyment (Boothby et al., 2014), and expressing gratitude creates durable boosts in wellbeing (Seligman).
In other words: connection makes people happier — and happiness improves outcomes. At events, this translates into higher engagement, stronger follow-up, and more successful collaborations.
From consumption to contribution
Many conferences are still shaped by a “consumption” mindset: people attend expecting to take something away — knowledge, contacts, opportunities. At Quantum Meets, we invite participants to flip that script.
Through our communications and platforms, we encouraged people to arrive not just as consumers, but as contributors: to bring their ideas, energy, willingness to engage and, most of all, excitement to connect. This subtle shift mattered. Visitors didn’t just show up; they showed up with a smile and ready to contribute. The atmosphere reflected it — lively, open, and collaborative from the moment people walked through the door.
Designing truly welcoming entry points for end-users
One of the groups the quantum space has consistently aimed to involve more are end-users — companies and professionals from outside the quantum bubble who could be impacted by quantum technologies. For them, quantum events can easily feel intimidating or irrelevant, as if they’re “not technical enough” to belong.
That’s where communications matter before the first handshake ever happens. In our outreach, we made sure the tone was inclusive, practical, and clearly addressed why end-users should be part of the conversation, framing it in industry-specific terms. We worked across different platforms — from professional networks to targeted channels — to ensure the invitation felt accessible and welcoming.
And once they arrived, the program design backed this up: clear entry points, guided connections, and a culture that valued any question. By making end-users feel the event was for them, we bridged the gap between the quantum world and the real-world applications it hopes to serve. Its effectiveness was showcased in the number of participating end-users and sectors.
Facilitating connections
The design principle was simple: community first — make connections easier, more natural, and more meaningful. One clear example was the Matchmaker Hub.
Instead of leaving networking entirely to attendees themselves, we set up a staffed hub where participants could post what they were looking for (including a cheerful Polaroid) — a collaborator, a perspective, a challenge to solve — and scan the board for matches. Our team actively helped connect people on the spot, supported both through the online event platform and a WhatsApp community. Whenever a successful match was made, we celebrated it with a short public “we’ve got a match!” moment.
This approach gave structure to chance encounters without losing spontaneity. It created energy in the room, showed participants that their goals mattered, and highlighted the hosts as true connectors in the ecosystem.
Organizers as connectors
Events are more than their content. Organizers aren’t just content providers, they are connectors, shaping the environment in which people engage, contribute, and find belonging.
Of course, content matters. The Q-Expo featured incredible headliners on stage — Prince Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau, Nobel Laureate Prof. Alain Aspect, Director-General Erwin Nijsse, UNICC Director Sameer Chauhan, Sir Peter Knight, and many more. But the program design ensured that world-class talks and panels went hand-in-hand with opportunities for connection, making the content a catalyst rather than the sole centerpiece.
Participants describe Quantum Meets as “more than a conference.” With over 1,100 people gathering in 2025, the scale showed how much the community has embraced this meeting ground. They left with insights and allies, and a contact list full of people equally excited to start collaborating. Crucially, they carried a sense of belonging — the feeling that they are part of a living community, not just attendees at yet another conference. For the ecosystem, that feeling is not a nice extra; it is the engine that turns content into collaboration.
The takeaway
If you want events to accelerate a field, design them for connection first. Knowledge matters — but for people toxf actually connect, how they feel, and what they do together afterward determines the real impact. Build personal connection into your format, and both the community and the work will flourish.
Want to learn more?
If you’re interested in practical ways to make events more human-focused, follow one of these free classes:
🎓 Level Up Your Plenary and Session Moderation – A 20-minute masterclass introducing 6 human-focused audience engagers.
🎓 Elevate Your Event to a Powerful Networking Experience – A 3-step guide with plug-and-play ideas to transform networking into genuine connection.
Next up
I’ll be attending Q2B in Paris and Quantum.Tech in Rotterdam. If you’ll be there too, I’d love to connect in person.
For an overview of all worthwhile events in quantum, visit quantumconferences.com
Does this suit your organization or any of your projects? (juliette@colorfulmatter.eu)
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