Wok+Wine

Most of us hate ‘networking’ events. Name badges, awkward moments and meaningless conversations with people you don’t really care too much about and will probably never see again. Just because someone works in the same industry, went to the same school or is from the same country doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily be best friends. Consider also the mounting evidence of the value of breaking out of silos and collaborating across departments, industries or cultures, yet most people are not comfortable doing it or simply don’t know where to start. Wok+Wine creates an experience where participants share an open, curious, creative state of mind rather than a job title or passport. We were curious what would happen if you put, for example, a fashion designer, a VC, an architect, a teacher and a neuroscientist around a table with no particular agenda. The results have been quite remarkable. The key to Wok+Wine’s success lies in its simplicity. 40 strangers converge on a secret location where they stand around a long communal table peeling and eating jumbo prawns with their hands. At first glance Wok+Wine seems like another ‘foodie‘ idea but digging deeper, you’ll find that the food and wine are just props to help cultivate the magic of the concept. Wok+Wine is a people concept, and despite its underground nature its already gained a lot of traction including from organisations who are looking for more effective ways to break through silos and engage teams.