I made it to Amsterdam for IIEX Europe! We have a couple days until the conference starts. I am lucky enough to have a good friend, Rachel, who lives in the Netherlands. She gave me a few tips to get me going:
Museums are super expensive in Holland but some good ones are Stedelijk (modern art) and Rijksmuseum.
Rijksmuseum
I went to the Rijksmuseum today. It was amazing to see the paintings I studied in high school in real life. I had no idea how big the Night Watch or the Last Judgement were. The Rijksmuseum has more than paintings. It features large model ships, medieval weapons, and unicorn horns. It’s always mind-blowing to me to see how people from hundreds of years ago used to do things.
Anne Frank House
I didn’t realize how far ahead we needed to get tickets for the house tour. We ended up standing in line for two hours! The house looks out across a canal and is mushed between two other buildings. It was surreal walking through the space where eight people lived trying to out-hide the Nazis. It was hard to imagine that this country, with its cute houses and tranquil canals, were captured by Nazi Germany.
Thoughts while standing in line for the Anne Frank House.
3:45 pm Got it line. The line attendant told us it was about a 3-hour line. It wrapped around the whole block.
Mom, “I just wanted to get my Kindle so I could read while standing in line.”
The group in front of us has stepped out of line. They gave up after 10 minutes.
4:15 pm We walked forward half a block!
The sun is setting.
The line attendant came by again. He either said we 90 minutes or 19 minutes to go.
It’s time for hot chocolate.
4:55 pm My FitBit just buzzed, I’m not getting enough steps this hour.
Mom, “I think it’s heartwarming how many people care to stand in a line like this to see this little bit of history.”
5:26 pm Home stretch!
5:39 pm We got museum guides!
5:50 pm Made it!
Pulitzer Amsterdam
Pulitzer Amsterdam was awesome, although we only stopped into the bar. We walked by our way to the Anne Frank House. I heard that the hotel used to be a bunch of individual houses constructed together to make the hotel. Because of this each hotel room is unique. It’s worth it just to eat at the restaurant or bar. Mom and I had amazing Cosmos that Pulitzer Bar.
Simply walking around the streets of Amsterdam is an experience. Luckily I had my brother with me to explain the difference between a Coffeehouse and a coffee house (hint, one sells marijuana the other sells coffee). There are so many bicyclists on the streets! It makes me wish we had more bicycle options in Georgia.
The real reason I’m here is to present at IIEX Europe. In addition to my awesome talk (VR gives business people superpowers), there are many interesting presentations listed in the agenda. “Using Wearables, Machine Vision and the Crowd to Mine Actual Behaviour”, “What the Hell is Innovation as a Service?”, and “Driving Insights into Ideas: Creative Leadership and the Way of Elvis” are just some of the other talks that I’m looking forward to attending. Not only that, but I’m looking forward to meeting the other attendees and the Corporate Partners.
If you went to IIEX Europe, I hope you said “hi” and were able to hear the presentations were you most looking forward too.
Lily Snyder 
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