There are digital groups, tech groups, young professional groups and, of course, lots and lots of expat groups.
Now, there’s a group in Europe bringing everyone together … and they might be coming to your city.
Digital Yuppies, based in Rome, is a community of young people in the digital industry including designers, marketers, coders and entrepreneurs. Digital Yuppies organizes monthly networking events across Europe.
Inclusiveness is a big part of the mission – creating professional connections and opportunities among its members with the ultimate goal of creating a network of high-level professionals, companies and institutions.
Founded in 2015 by Giorgio Gioacchini, Digital Yuppies has organized more than 17 conferences and networking events between Rome, Milan, Amsterdam and Leipzig, Germany. Tommaso Politano came on board as a co-founder after three events.
The events that bring everyone together include a conference with multiple speakers and an after-party, with the aim of members making valuable connections and opportunities.
The events feature both younger talent from the startup sector as well as senior executives such as marketing directors and creative directors from big agencies, Gioacchini said.
“Rather than creating events only for entrepreneurs, we like to have people to interact with them,” he said. Digital Yuppies include people working in different areas of interest, but all work in the digital space and/or creative industries. Gioacchini said.
DY membership isn’t based on “precise skill profiles … as long as someone is interesting – professionally interesting – we want them to join,” Gioacchini said.
All events outside Italy – and some in Italy – are English, depending on who shows up.
ABOUT THAT NAME
And before we get too far, let’s talk about that name, which takes us back to the early 1980s.
“We know Yuppies were super-ambitious young people very successful in business, barely caring for anything other than making money,” said Gioacchini, who’s 28:
We adopted this term, giving it a new life by saying Digital Yuppies are young and talented people living in a new digital era. We changed our style. We’re not wearing a suit! You can find young talented people wearing casual clothes, managing companies with 100 people.
Digital Yuppies bring those people together ….
TOMMASO POLITANO, LEFT, AND GIORGIO GIOACCHINI.
The most recent Digital Yuppies event was last month in Amsterdam where the topic was “Growth Hacking” and included seminars about how to grow a company with digital marketing techniques and other topics.
“It was sold out! No seats left. It was a great success, and now we’re back in Rome,” Gioacchini said.
A BIG – AND GROWING – NETWORK
Digital Yuppie events are products of Gioacchini’s and Politano’s network.
“In Amsterdam, I have a friend – we both studied (at university) in Rome. He texted me and said, ‘I saw Digital Yuppies. I’m working in Amsterdam and love to help you.’ ”
The friend invited some speakers working at different companies, and the Digital Yuppies team brought a speaker from Rome.
“The event was very good, thanks to our network. We have 2,700 Facebook members, and we emailed them saying, ‘Hey guys, what’s up? Do you know someone in Amsterdam interested in attending event?”
Voila … sellout!
The next events are scheduled for Milan and Rome.
They have strong connections with Berlin, “and we’d love to go to London, Barcelona or Paris,” Gioacchini said.
The more connections, the more value DY is to professionals and entrepreneurs pursuing new clients and opportunities “in an era of change where everything is dynamic and we’re all interconnected all over the world,” he said.
“We can create things together.”
MORE INFO:
You can sign up for the Digital Yuppies Facebook group here.
The video from their latest Amsterdam event is here.
The video from their Rome event is here.
Video from their Milan event is here.
Video from their Leipzig event is here.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
