/ By Christian Clansky /

Remember the last time you sat in a windowless conference hall, squeezed into a row of uncomfortable chairs under the dull hum of underpowered florescent lights, and thought to yourself, I FEEL ALIVE! I’M BURSTING WITH ENERGY AND READY FOR ACTION!

Our bet is that you probably haven’t had that experience (and maybe you don’t have such effusive thoughts anyway).

Back when we first started thinking about Upswell, we conducted a lot of interviews to learn how people feel about big events. One of the themes that kept bubbling up was that these events tend to use their spaces like containers. The general perception is that organizers know how many people are attending and look for space to fit them all – and that mentality often manifests itself in the experience itself.

For Upswell, we don’t want you to feel like you’re in a container. We want to create an environment where you’re truly inspired by the spaces around you. That’s one of the reasons that a key part of Upswell is getting you out into the community.

It’s also why we’re ecstatic that our home base in November will be the new InterContinental in downtown Los Angeles.

From the outside, the building dominates the LA skyline. Maybe it’s not as iconic as the Hollywood sign, but it can be seen from even farther away. And when you take a pause to consider its unusually curved shape, you might recognize that it looks like a California landmark that’s unquestionably more iconic. The 1,100-foot tower was carefully designed to resemble Yosemite’s Half Dome.

Before you even get inside, your expectations are set sky high – and appropriately so, because your first stop is the lobby on the 70th floor. As the elevator doors open, you’re welcomed with a flood of warm light that pours in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sensation is a little disorienting because, stepping out of the lift, you can literally see for miles unobstructed. It’s a powerful and immediate signal that you’re not in an ordinary space.

That’s a feeling that extends across every inch of the building. As you wander through the capacious corridors, glowing with sunshine and accented with bright colors, it’s easy to imagine that the hotel could have just as easily been a museum. The architecture itself is art.

We’re excited – tremendously excited – because the building offers a huge amount of creative space to think, experiment, network, explore, and act.

Whether you’re in a workshop overlooking downtown LA, meeting colleagues over a drink at the No Dive Bar by the pool, meditating in the Zen garden, or breathing in some high-altitude air on the jaw-dropping (or maybe knee-rattling) roof deck with a 360-degree view, we think the InterContinental is going to put you in an expansive and energized frame of mind.

Words and pictures can’t really do it justice. You’ll have to experience it to believe it!

Christian Clansky is the director of marketing and digital strategy at Independent Sector.