This blog post has been cross-posted from the Power of One blog

So, we did it.

Six months planning, two months telling friends, not a spot of advertising and no hint that BlueVia was behind the whole thing.  The Power of One was a different type of event altogether.  A day to celebrate the start-up culture that’s turned the world of technology upside down.

It had first been promoted via Twitter.  Later, we spread the word through our network of friends.  We used a little bit of arm twisting to get things done like the awesome augmented reality flying pig (because yes, sometimes they do).  And in the end, the word spread further than we’d ever hoped.

An unusual gathering

The result was an unexpectedly intimate event held in a tented area dwarfed by the ersatz splendour of Battersea Power Station.  The setting offered a stark reminder that the monolithic companies of old are in decline and start-ups now driving innovation.

This surely was a gathering characterised by contradictions.

The speakers we invited were a mix of the world famous and the up and coming, truly representing the spirit of the Power of One.  Jason Calacanis, Morten Lund and David McCandless gave their stock-in-trade honest, off the cuff and inspirational perspectives on how ideas spread and start-ups catch fire.  Yosi Taguri (developer of cult mobile game Pah!) and Stuart Arnott of Scottish startup Mindings were probably new names to most people but their perspectives were perhaps the most valid, given the people listening.

Everyone had a story to tell.  Collectively, they told a story of both inspiration and hard hours.  And in the end, the few hundred who made the trip to the banks of the fast-flowing Thames were united in one view: tomorrows giants may have been right there among us in that ancient turbine hall.  We may never know for sure but we heard some extraordinary ideas on the day, so we’ll be looking out for them.

The point of the Power of One was about a single message: that in today’s ultra-connected world, anyone can create the next big thing.

Power of One in numbers

Zero – the number of dollars spent on advertising
Two – the number of minutes silence respected for the Armistice
350 – the number of people who turned up because they heard about the event on the grapevine
50,000 – the number of words tweeted about #p1event on 11.11.11

We’re truly excited about the fact that BlueVia was able to pull together something so big without anyone questioning it..  We had moments of self-doubt; would people come, could we find the right speakers, could we find an awesome venue.  We feel completely vindicated, if not a little exhausted! The sense of positivity at the event came from the fact that people were really just there to meet, talk and listen.

There was no sales pitch.

And that leaves us looking ahead.  We’re considering what the future holds for Power of One.  We loved it.  We think everyone who came along loved it.  So we want to know from you whether there is an appetite there is for future Power of One events.  Please help us by answering these questions (there are only three!) or in the comments below.

As they often say at the end of blog posts like this… watch this space.

Photos courtesy of Mark Power and James Parton