Dubrovnik, Zagreb Digital Nomad Events Finalists in 2021 Conventa Best Event Awards

Four very dynamic Dubrovnik Digital Nomads-in-Residence

The Conventa Crossover Festival of Events and Live Marketing will be held 26-27 August in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The event is the only one of its kind in the region, and every year brings together leading speakers, workshops and in 2021, over 300 MICE professionals. Winners of the Conventa Best Event Award will be announced this Friday at the festival. The 18 finalists, listed on the Conventa event website, include 7 Croatian entries across the B2B, B2C, B2I (internal events) and ‘crossover’ (B2B/B2C) categories.

The Zagreb Digital Nomad Week and Dubrovnik Digital Nomads-in-Residence program entries and all other finalists can be viewed on the Conventa Crossover Best Event Awards website.

To be eligible, events were held between 1 January 2020 to 15 July 2021. The Croatian finalists include Saltwater and TCN’s digital nomad events in Zagreb and Dubrovnik, a Croatian/Slovenian Phillip Morris internal event and four clients of Komunikacijski Laboritorij agency including Porsche Digital Croatia, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, DOK-ING Robotics and Photomath learning app.

The project co-founder, Gorazd Čad, reflected on the state of the industry to Kongres Magazine, noting “the competition is an indicator of the industry’s condition and enables comparison while showing the way for the future. Judging by the registered projects, the regional meetings industry has a bright future ahead.”

The jury consisted of experts from across Europe’s event sector. Entries were scored on innovation, sustainability, creativity, relevance, results, execution and overall impression.Total Croatia News covered the two digital nomad events extensively in its features on digital nomads. The events collectively reached large audiences on LinkedIn Remote Work groups, digital nomad forums and over 20 media features including Fast Company, Cities Today, Travel Off Path, The Mayor EU, ARTE TV and a number of Croatian media outlets including Slobodna Dalmacija, Vecernji, Jutarnji and HR Turizam among others.

Excerpts from the award entries:

Zagreb Digital Nomad Week
Event description and key objectives

7 days. 7 themes. Plus a 6 month global ambassador project. Zagreb held a groundbreaking event for digital nomads in June 2021, only 6 months after devastating earthquakes in 2020.

The entire city was the venue.

For one special week in June, the capital city drew in remote professionals in person, and reached a global online audience of over 70,000, to cover emerging themes in remote work and highlight lifestyle and experiences in the city.

Zagreb Digital Nomad Week ran from 21 to 27 June 2021, in person and online for a series of 7 themes over 7 days, covering: cyber security, online presence, remote careers, tax & finance, future of work, wellbeing and exploring Zagreb.

There were over 26 speakers, streaming live from Bali to Barcelona, Manly Beach in Sydney, to a coworking space on Zagreb’s British Square, struck by one of the earthquakes.

Dubrovnik Digital Nomads-in-Residence
Event description and key objectives

10 winners. 4 weeks. A once in a lifetime experience.

The Dubrovnik digital nomad-in-residence (DN-I-R) program is a collaboration between the city of Dubrovnik and the global digital nomad community it hosts. It was held from 23 April to 23 May 2021.

Using a co-creation model, the Saltwater program team brought together residents and 10 digital nomads selected as DN-I-Rs. Over a four week period, the digital nomads attended design thinking workshops to create a strategic direction for the city, especially as it adjusts to a more sustainable direction and manages the impact of COVID19.

Winners stayed free in Dubrovnik for 4 weeks to collaborate, upskill and contribute as Dubrovnik’s first special guest Digital Nomads-in-Residence.

The activities in the program were intended to contribute to enhancing the city’s standing among digital nomads globally. DN-I-Rs were expected to engage fully, respect their position and bring their collective expertise to benefit incoming digital nomads and the City. DN-I-Rs received professional development training, participated in workshops and presented their findings on shaping Dubrovnik as a Digital Nomad Friendly city. This was presented at a finale event at the end of the program as a roadmap of quick wins, mid and long term goals.

The program team included design thinking experts and a placemaking strategist. They led representatives from the city and digital nomads ranging from CEOs, radio hosts to writers and a migration scholar.