VibeFestNYC

The Experience

Step inside
a real studio.

With festival energy.

VibeFest isn't designed to find the best participant. It's designed to help every participant discover what might be possible for them.
Friday at VibeFest
Friday

Discover It.

  • Explore.
  • Pitch.
  • Form a team.
  • Pick a lead.

Friday opens the door. Meet people who do this for a living, see the real challenges, pitch an idea in 60 seconds, and form your six-person team. Not orientation. Discovery.

Saturday at VibeFest
Saturday

Create It.

  • Stand-up.
  • Sprint.
  • Test.
  • Iterate.

The real workday. Plan the MVP, sprint, put it in front of real users, listen, improve. Mentors work WITH you. Specialists are a Vibe Lab away.

Sunday at VibeFest
Sunday

Show It.

  • Deliver.
  • Demo.
  • Serve.
  • Perform.

All eight teams get a showcase station. Families, employers, artists and pros walk the floor. No brackets. No eliminations. Everyone gets seen.

The VibeFest Journey.

  1. 01

    Discover

    Explore problems, industries, people and possibilities.

  2. 02

    Form

    Build a six-person team around an idea or challenge.

  3. 03

    Define

    Understand the problem and who it affects.

  4. 04

    Plan

    Decide what matters. You can't build everything.

  5. 05

    Create

    Turn the idea into something real.

  6. 06

    Test

    Put it in front of actual people.

  7. 07

    Iterate

    Listen, learn and improve.

  8. 08

    Deliver

    Finish something real by the deadline.

  9. 09

    Show

    Demo, perform, serve, exhibit, screen or present it.

  10. 10

    Connect

    Turn the weekend into what comes next.

The six-person team.

8

Teams

6

People each

48

Participants

1

Weekend

1

Team Lead

Coordinates the team, facilitates decisions, tracks deadlines, owns delivery.

2

Product Lead

What are we creating, who is it for, what problem does it solve, what must be finished.

3

Build / Production Lead

Leads the actual creation. Technical lead in Tech, culinary lead in Food, production lead in Arts and Media.

4

Design / Experience Lead

Experience, design, usability and how people interact with what's created.

5

Business / Impact Lead

Feasibility, cost, audience, sustainability, community impact and growth.

6

Story / Communications Lead

Storytelling, documentation, messaging, and explaining why the work matters.

No pre-assigned leaders

"I'd like to lead this team because…"

Anyone can give a 30-second case to be Team Lead. The team chooses. Then everyone talks it through — what am I good at, what do I want to try, what do I want to learn — and you agree on roles together. A team of five can keep going; six is the max.

The weekend, hour by hour.

Friday

Discover + Form

  1. 5:00 PM

    Vibe opens

    Check-in, music, food, mentors, explore the venue.

  2. 5:45 PM

    Welcome

    Short. By Sunday, something that doesn't exist yet will exist because you made it.

  3. 6:15 PM

    Challenge reveal

    5–7 real-world problems plus the Open Challenge.

  4. 6:45 PM

    Discovery sprint

    Talk to mentors, ask questions, meet people.

  5. 7:15 PM

    Idea market

    60-second pitches. No slides. The problem, the idea, why it matters, who you need.

  6. 7:45 PM

    Team formation

    Move toward the ideas that pull you. Teams of six.

  7. 8:15 PM

    Build your team

    Name it, choose a Team Lead, agree on roles, write your Team Charter.

Saturday

The real workday

  1. 9:00 AM

    Stand-up

    What are we doing today? Who owns what? What's blocking us?

  2. 9:15 AM

    Define

    The user, the audience, the problem, the constraints.

  3. 10:00 AM

    Plan the MVP

    You can't build everything. Decide what matters.

  4. 10:30 AM

    Create sprint I

    Heads down.

  5. 12:00 PM

    Project review

    Five minutes. Show what exists. What's working, what's not.

  6. 12:30 PM

    Lunch + connection

    Pros eat with teams. No VIP tables.

  7. 1:15 PM

    Create sprint II

    Respond to feedback.

  8. 3:00 PM

    User testing

    Someone outside the team tries it. You listen — no explaining it away.

  9. 4:00 PM

    Iterate

    Improve on what you learned.

  10. 5:30 PM

    Product freeze

    No big new ideas. Delivery matters.

  11. 6:00 PM

    Story lab

    Problem → person → idea → what we made → what we learned → what's next.

  12. 7:00 PM

    Final stand-up

    What did I contribute? What surprised me?

Sunday

Deliver + Show

  1. 9:00 AM

    Final QA + rehearsal

    Last fixes.

  2. 10:30 AM

    Product lock

    What exists is what gets shown.

  3. 11:00 AM

    Doors open

    Families, friends, employers, universities, artists, founders.

  4. 11:30 AM

    Showcase

    Eight stations. Every team demos, serves, performs, screens or pitches. Equal time.

  5. After

    What did you discover?

    The real climax of the weekend.

Times are a sample. Each event confirms its own schedule.

Need help?

Vibe Labs.

Specialists don't sit with teams and solve it for them. Teams learn to say "we need help," find the right expert, and ask. You don't need to know everything. You need to know when and how to ask.

  1. Tech LabCode, AI, data and digital builds.
  2. Design LabExperience, visuals and usability.
  3. Business LabCost, audience and business models.
  4. Story LabShape the Sunday story.
  5. Impact LabCommunity and real-world impact.
  6. Production LabMake it physical, cooked, shot or performed.
  7. Career LabThe careers behind what you're making.

Sunday

No brackets. No podium.

All eight teams get equal showcase time. Recognition, when it happens, follows what actually happened that weekend — some may not be given, one project may earn more than one. It's never the point.

  • The Bold Idea
  • The Impact
  • The Pivot
  • The Makers
  • The Experience
  • The Story
  • The Breakthrough
  • The People's Vibe

The real climax

What did you discover?

  • What did you discover about yourself?
  • What are you actually good at?
  • What did you try for the first time?
  • What career did you learn existed?
  • Who did you meet?
  • What do you want to explore next?

I don't know what my vibe is yet.

But I want to find out.

Become a Vibe Fellow