October 21 - 24, 2026
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The Most Valuable Thing
You'll do This Year Won't
be on Your Phone
Unplugged: The Future Is Human is a phone-free series for leaders, creators,
and builders who are done performing connection and ready to actually create it.
Clarity Is the
New Competitive Advantage
You're not burned out because you're working too hard.
You're burned out because you haven't had a single uninterrupted hour in months.
The meetings run back to back. The notifications never stop. The content machine demands more. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, you stopped being able to think clearly, connect deeply, or feel like yourself.
You've optimized everything except the one thing that actually drives performance: your presence.
WHO THIS ROOM
IS BUILT FOR
This is for you if:
✔ You've built something real and you're starting to feel the cost of it
✔ Your attention is fractured and you know it's affecting your work, your relationships, and your clarity
✔ You're craving depth — real conversation, real connection — and you can't remember the last time you had it
✔ You lead people and you know a distracted leader creates a distracted culture
✔ You're not anti-tech. You're pro-human. And right now, the balance is off.
✔ You've built something real and you're starting to feel the cost of it
✔ Your attention is fractured and you know it's affecting your work, your relationships, and your clarity
✔ You're craving depth — real conversation, real connection — and you can't remember the last time you had it
✔ You lead people and you know a distracted leader creates a distracted culture
✔ You're not anti-tech. You're pro-human. And right now, the balance is off.
What happens at offline
This isn't a wellness retreat. It's not a conference. It's not a detox. It's a series of experiences designed around one conviction: real human connection is the highest-performing advantage left.
AI is making content infinite. Algorithms are optimizing everything. The one thing that cannot be automated, replicated, or scaled is the experience of being truly seen by another human being, in the same room, without a screen between you.That's what we build. Every city. Every event.
The Series
Six Cities. One Movement.
Not every stop looks the same. Some cities offer the full day — mastermind, speakers, dinner. Others are intimate offline dinners only. All of them are phone-free. All of them are built around the same conviction: the most important conversations happen in person.Each event follows the same format — fully phone-free, fully present — with speakers, connection experiences, and curated spaces that feel nothing like anything you've been to before.
🇺🇸 Los Angeles — February 28 | Full Day + VIP Mastermind + Long Table Dinner
🇺🇸 Austin — March 14 | Offline Long Table Dinner
🇨🇦 Calgary — April 11 | Full Day + VIP Mastermind + Long Table Dinner
🇺🇸 New York — May 8 | Full Day + VIP Mastermind + Long Table Dinner
🇨🇦 Vancouver — May | Full Day + Long Table Dinner
🇨🇦 Banff — October | The Gathering Festival integration ( TBA )
Each experience is capped at 50-100 guests.
What You'll Walk Away With
You’ll leave with:
→A measurable reset in your nervous system — you'll feel it in your body, not just your head
→Your own personal blueprint for doing meaningful, ambitious work without burning out doing it
→The new playbook for how brands and creators can show up authentically and create real results in this new era of attention — built in real time, with the people living it
→Intimate access to creators and business leaders who are navigating the same massive shift you are — openly, honestly, without the highlight reel
→Clarity on how to build something that actually matters without losing yourself in the process
→Real relationships with people operating at your level who get it, because they're in it too
→The memory of what it feels like to be fully present — and the hunger to protect it
The Experience Tiers
General Admission
The Full Event Experience: A 5-hour, phone-free experience built around one thing: what becomes possible when everyone in the room is actually present.Hear from Mark Groves and curated speakers on attention, human connection, and what it takes to thrive in this era. Participate in connection exercises designed not to perform vulnerability — but to practice it. Have conversations that don't get interrupted mid-sentence. No phones. No performance. Just presence.
Included: 5-hour fully phone-free experience. Curated speaker sessions. Connection exercises. Lunch + snacks. Event workbook.
VIP: Mastermind & Offline Long Table Dinner
For those who want to go deeper: Start the day before the doors open. A small group. A reset ritual. Then a working session designed for founders, creators, and leaders willing to be honest about what's actually hard right now.Together you'll build the new playbook for this era — how to do meaningful, ambitious work without burning out, lead without losing yourself, and show up authentically in a time when everything is shifting. No highlight reel. No posturing. Just real people in the trenches, working it out together. Then the evening begins. A mocktail happy hour flows into a sensory long table dinner for 50 people maximum, hosted by Mark Groves and guest speakers. Every detail is intentional. Every conversation is real. Long tables are where masks come off. Where strangers become collaborators. Where you leave with friends, not followers.
Included: Morning ritual. Half-day mastermind. Lunch + snacks. Post event integration call. Event workbook. Mocktail happy hour. 3-course long table dinner. VIP Gift Bag. 50 people maximum.
The Details
Each event is capped. Each city sells independently. When it's full, it's full. There's no replay. There's no recording. That's a design choice.
The experience only exists in the room.
Format
Format: Fully phone-free. Devices collected on arrival.
Length: 5-hour general experience
Full day plus dinner for Mastermind
Capacity: Intentionally limited per city 50-100
Investment:
GA $350
VIP Mastermind: $1,500
What's not included: Your phone. Leave it in the bag. That's the whole point.
Meet Your Hosts
Mandy Balak
Leadership Strategist + Experience Designer, Author of Chasing Enough
Mandy believes high performance doesn't require self-destruction. She's spent 20 years designing environments where leaders think clearly, lead humanely, and build cultures that last. She works with high perfromance leaders and high-growth teams to build the one thing that makes everything else sustainable: capacity.
Mark Groves
Human Connection Specialist, Author & Podcast Host
Mark spent a decade teaching people how to love better. Then he had to learn how to live better. After building a global audience of millions, writing books, and coaching thousands he's now helping leaders, creators, and builders reclaim their attention, reconnect to themselves, and remember what it means to be fully human in a world designed to keep you distracted.
Real connection is becoming the scarcest resource we have.
Come get some.
The table is set. The rooms are small.
The phones go in the bag.
Choose your city and secure your spot.
Select Your City
Not in your city yet? [Join the waitlist ] and we'll bring the table to you.
Offline Series
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Unplugged – The Future is Human?
It's a phone-free event series for leaders, creators, and builders who want to do meaningful work without losing themselves in the process. Not a conference. Not a wellness retreat. A curated, fully offline experience designed to reconnect you to your creativity, your clarity, and the people in the room with you.
When and where is it happening?
The series runs across six cities in 2026:
🇺🇸 Los Angeles — February 28 [Get Tickets →]
🇺🇸 Austin — March 13 [Get Tickets →]
🇨🇦 Calgary — April 11 [Get Tickets →]
🇺🇸 New York — May 8 [Get Tickets →]
🇨🇦 Vancouver — May 30 [Get Tickets →]
🇨🇦 Banff — October 21-24 [Get Tickets → The Gathering Festival ]
Don't see your city? Join the waitlist here.
What ticket options are there? How do I know which one is right for me?
There are two options at most events:
General Admission is the full 5-hour experience — speakers, connection exercises, lunch, snacks, and your event workbook. It's the right choice if you want to show up, be present, and leave with fresh perspective and real connections.
VIP: Mastermind + Long Table Dinner is for those who want to go deeper. You'll start the day with a reset ritual and a small-group mastermind before the main event, then close the evening at an intimate long table dinner hosted by Mark Groves. If you're ready to work through the hard questions and leave with a personal blueprint, this is your ticket.
What do I need to prepare?
Just yourself. Come as you are, in whatever feels comfortable. We suggest bringing a notebook — we'll take care of everything else. Leave the blazer at home if you want. Leave the performance at the door. Just come ready to be present.
Is food and beverage provided?
Yes. GA includes snacks, beverages, and lunch. VIP includes everything in GA plus a curated mocktail happy hour and 3-course long table dinner.
Who is this for? Will I fit in?
If you're building something — a business, a brand, a body of work — and you want to do it without burning out, you belong here.This is for the people thinking seriously about the attention economy, the experience economy, and what it means to show up authentically in a time of massive change. You want to be more present, more creative, more focused — and more connected to the reason you started in the first place.
If that's you, you'll fit in just fine.
Who are the speakers?
Each city features a different lineup of speakers and local creators relevant to that region and community. The best way to stay current is to follow us on Instagram — that's where speaker announcements drop first.[@thegatheringfestival →][@markgroves →]
Can I come alone?
Absolutely. Many attendees join solo and leave with lifelong connections. Our gatherings are intentionally designed to create belonging from the moment you arrive.
I have more questions. Can I talk to a human?
Always. Reach us at community@gatheringfestival.com and a real person will get back to you.
Welcome to
Nita Lake, Whistler, BC
Famous for its vibrant lakes, majestic mountains and easy access to outdoor adventures of all kinds.
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Whistler is a town north of Vancouver, British Columbia, that's home to Whistler Blackcomb, one of the largest ski resorts in North America. Besides skiing and snowboarding, the area offers snowshoeing, tobogganing and ski jumping at the Olympic Park, a venue for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
The hub of Whistler is a compact, chalet-style pedestrian village at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Whistler is a mountain resort town renowned for its breathtaking landscapes and vibrant community. Whistler offers visitors endless adventures and natural beauty.
Join us February 25-28th, 2025
Only 14 spots are available to ensure an intimate and high-touch experience.
Apply to Join UsOur travel partners
