Last year, I flew over to the stunning Algarve region in southern mainland Portugal and made my way over to Albufeira for The Nomad World Fest. I was so excited to finally attend this event for the first time, having heard about it for a while and seen it promoted by its founder Gonçalo Hall, who is a big name in the digital nomad world and one I follow closely. Run by his company NomadX, which specialises in building digital nomad communities, Gonçalo had told me that it was a community-oriented event, which is one of my favourite types of events, so I just had to be there! And I’m glad I did it, as it ended up being everything I expected and more!
This event doesn’t include accommodation, so you do have to arrange your own. Some attendees would appreciate the flexibility of this and being able to choose a place to stay that matches their comfort and budget. I stayed at Sun Lovers Hostel, which is within short walking distance from both main venues for The Nomad World Fest.
Talks
When I arrived on the first day at this wonderful stage on a beach, I really knew I was in for a treat! This beach stage and the nearby auditorium hosted so many insightful live talks about digital nomadism and entrepreneurship, filling many pages of my notebook. The talks I went to were:
- The Future of Nomadism, with Gonçalo Hall
- Bound to Belong: The Power of Vulnerable Leadership in Community Building, with Hannah Dixon
- Voting with Our Wallets: How Nomads Shape Local Economies with Each Purchase, with Safir Jamal
- Building a Remote Marketing Agency, with Marie Tuason
- How Your Startup Can Outposition Market Leaders, with Alex Napier Holland
- Redefining Work: Solopreneurs and the Rise of the Digital Nomad Economy, with Andrew Williams
- Harness the Wind: An Entrepreneur’s Secret Formula, with Miguel Fernandes
- São Roque do Pico in the Azores – A new government-sponsored project, with Daniel Assunção
- Digital Nomads in Türkiye, with Mine Dedekoca
- Panel: How digital nomadism can change the future of the Algarve, with Joana Gloria, Flor Dos Reis, Miguel Fernandes, and Gonçalo Hall
- Panel: Digital Nomad Visas – What’s their goal and how to use them, with Mine Dedekoca, Chris Cerra, Anna Maria Kochanska, and Andrew Williams
- Connect to Grow: Learning Through Relationships, with Robin Steyvers & Manon Jongejan
- How Retreats Turned Us from Travellers to Founders, with Federico Violante
- The Future of Nomad Accommodation, with Chris Cerra
- Digital Nomads & Rural Areas: A win-win partnership, with Juan Barbed
- How to use creator marketing to build your brand, with Rebecca Males
- Spaces that help you thrive: how to spot them and design your own, with Kate Shifman
- How to facilitate community experiences that transform lives, with Jon Hormaetxe Castells
- Organically Growing an Audience on YouTube as a Digital Nomad, with Sergio Sala
- Neuromarketing applied to digital business, with Catarina Alves Ribeiro
- Panel: Digital Nomads and their role in local development, with John Alves, Hannah Dixon, and Sarah Rapp
- Panel: The Future of the Nomad Movement, with Gonçalo Hall, Federico Violante, Rebecca Males, and Chris Cerra
- Home: creating a definition that works for you, with Beck Power
- AI Augmentation for Solo Entrepreneurs, with Ignácio Correia
- Automating Business Workflows with NoCode & AI, with Miguel Costa
- 5 Startups Before 25, with Luca Arrigo
- Scaling a hyper-growth, fully remote company, with Ken Weary
- Methodology before technology! with Silvia Boller
- Navigating the Future: The Role of AI in Transforming Tourism, with Hugo Teixeira Francisco
- The Experience Economy: Why Communities are Your Best Product, with Beatriz Ebert
- Mushrooms: Where Science and Spirituality, with Sara Eising
- How to pick a base country for tax optimisation, with Zeev Fisher
- Digital Nomads in Portugal: Navigating the Immigration Pathways, with Diogo Capela
- The Burning Ladder: AI and the end of all jobs, with Daniel Duma
- Mastering the Art of Scaling with Strategic Operations, with Mischa van Wieringen
- Fireside chat – The Future of Nomad Accommodation, with Dror Rasin
- Connecting humans as a business, with Sarah Rapp
- What’s Next for Nomad Retreats, with Federico Violante
Wow, listing that all out, I went to so many talks and learned so much! And that’s also taking into account that I did miss a couple due to other appointments, but I’m glad I was able to take the time to attend almost everything that I wanted to. The way that The Nomad World’s schedule was structured, there weren’t many things clashing, which meant that you could realistically go to almost everything if you wanted to.
Workshops
Some more interactive learnings I did were joining and taking part in an interactive mastermind about community building with Flor Dos Reis, and an “intimate conversation” with Federico Violante and Silvia Boller about how to reach more remote workers.
I also partook in a workshop called Match Me If You Can with Marie Braud, which involved speed dating (for love, business and travel friends) at the beach and matches reveal. There were lots of fun chats, although it was also rather chaotic.
The end of this jam-packed business festival also had me attending an integration session with Sarah Rapp, to reflect on all that I’d learned that week, and consider how to integrate it into my own goals, moving forward.
Networking
The Nomad World is the sort of event where it’s very easy to get chatting with fellow attendees and engage in lots of meaningful discussions. The various meetups, dinners and parties – some organised by The Nomad World and others organised impromptu by attendees – certainly helped too!
I also enjoyed the activity of doing a few Portuguese arts and crafts and making use of the well-equipped free coworking space near the beach stage with a gorgeous view of the beach and sea. There was also an insightful wellness education session hosted here.
Towards the end of the week, it was awesome to attend the very first of The Nomad World Awards and witness some of my favourite brands win in their categories, such as Hannah Dixon and MINOMA!
I met so many lovely people, some of whom I’d already met at other events, some I’d just known online, and others who were brand new additions to my network. Way too many names to list, but you know who you are! Such a wonderful and welcoming community to be a part of. I’m so glad I made the effort to fly out to the Algarve for this event – doesn’t hurt that it’s a beautiful, warm destination! Thank you to the organisers for putting on such a great event!
Concluding thoughts
I have to admit, this was one of the best business events I have ever attended. The value was immense, and I couldn’t believe we got so much for how little we paid – tickets were from €59 for the early bird price up to €149. It was certainly worth at least 10 times more! The cost was low because it was a government-funded event, in a bid to attract more digital nomads to Albufeira and contribute positively to the area. I personally hadn’t heard of Albufeira before, so it was my first time there, and I previously only really knew the Algarve region as a holiday destination. However, it was brilliant to have our eyes opened to the fact that it’s a great place to come in the low season to stay for a while and work from. For those of us sun-chasers, it was delightfully warm and sunny in October during this edition of the festival, and the climate remains similar throughout the year.
I would definitely recommend The Nomad World Fest and hope to go back to a future edition, which started hosting events just in Portugal, but has since expanded to Brazil and Mexico.
