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THE NEXT CHAPTER

Prepared as a basis for conversation.

A strategic perspective

The questions before the strategy

What is already working?

What is worth building on?

What could Dragonfly become?

How could we start?

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In one page

The Summit creates the moment. The network creates the long-term value.

Dragonfly’s next chapter is not about becoming bigger or always-on. It is about creating a deliberate rhythm that keeps people connected, gives relationships somewhere to go and allows value to compound between Summits.

Three strategic priorities

Where I can contribute

01

Protect what makes Dragonfly distinctive.

02

Build a small, useful rhythm between Summits.

03

Turn relationships into lasting intelligence.

Strategy, commercial thinking and operational build-out — held together in one process.

Twenty years turning ambition into operating reality, across cultural programming, commercial scale and delivery.

Not a strategy to adopt. A basis for the conversation that decides one.

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01 · Understand

The tension Dragonfly faces

01

The Summit is a success.

Attendance is growing. Trust and credibility are established.

02

But the value created risks dissipating between events.

Relationships fade. Momentum is lost. Opportunities go unrealised.

03

The opportunity is not to add more activity.

It is to give the existing value a stronger structure between Summits.

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01 · Understand

Dragonfly has already built what many platforms spend years trying to earn

Trust

Access

Credibility

Earned credibility in the community.

High-value networks and individuals.

A proposition beyond a single event.

3,000+

+15%

Year-round

Attendees · 2025

Year on year growth

Retreats · Workshops · Lead Well Academy

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01 · Understand

The Summit creates

The moment.

The network holds

The value.

What remains

Relationships

Trust

Introductions

Opportunities

The question isn’t what else to add. It’s what’s already worth building on.

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02 · Distinguish

Protect the identity. Improve the mechanics. Strengthen the execution.

01

02

03

Identity

Mechanics

Execution

What people come to Dragonfly for. The core promise and experience.

How people stay connected and participate. The systems and touchpoints.

How the system works reliably. Without depending on individuals.

Some of Dragonfly’s value is already institutional. Some of it may still depend on individual relationships and informal knowledge.

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03 · Challenge

Year-round does not mean always-on

Between Summits, Dragonfly should be small, curated and useful — not constant.

01

02

03

04

05

Curated conversations

Monthly note

Selected introductions

Long-life content

Partner activation

Small and high-trust.

One useful reason to stay.

When there is genuine fit.

Extend the Summit’s value.

Meaningful roles beyond the event.

The Summit stays big. Between Summits, keep it small and useful.

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04 · Explore

What the next chapter might include

01

02

03

A clear digital entry point

A monthly editorial touchpoint

Small, high-trust conversations

For members, partners and participants.

A useful rhythm with a defined purpose.

Around specific themes and needs.

04

05

06

A structured introduction process

A content system

Relationship intelligence

Connecting people with genuine fit.

Extending the life of the Summit.

Capturing context, not just contacts.

From event database to relationship intelligence.

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05 · Test

Value first. Revenue where value is proven

Not every relationship needs to become a product. But recurring value can create sustainable revenue where the experience genuinely improves.

Phasing

Phase 1

Summit · Sponsors · Partnerships

Phase 2

Leadership programmes · Retreats

Phase 3

Membership · Private experiences

Phase 4

Learning · Content · Corporate

Test for behaviour, not interest.

Interest is easy to express. Behaviour is what validates the model.

Attendance

Repeat participation

Paid conversion

Partner retention

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05 · Test

What changes with scale

What Dragonfly relies on today

What it has to become

Trust

Credibility beyond individuals

→

Relationships

Relationship knowledge

→

Scarcity

Deliberate rhythm

→

Cultural relevance

Adaptation, not replication

→

Geography comes after repeatability. Only once the Bangkok model is working.

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05 · Test

Dragonfly beyond Bangkok

Only once the Bangkok model is working.

Bangkok

Bali

Singapore

Kyoto

Home base

Vitality · Spirituality Community

Leadership · Business Regional networks

Culture · Craft Thought leadership

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06 · Direction

What could Dragonfly become?

01

02

03

04

Summit

Year-round network

Leadership platform

Institution

The flagship moment remains.

What Dragonfly builds around it can last much longer.

A trusted space for high-value exchange.

The longer-term possibility.

The Summit remains the anchor. The network creates the long-term value.

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07 · Learn

A small core team. Specialist capability when needed.

01

02

03

04

Leadership

Strategy & Operations

Community & Partnerships

Content & Communications

Vision · Relationships · Credibility

Priorities · Budget · Team · Delivery

Relationships · Outreach · CRM · Partners

Editorial · Newsletter · Digital

Specialist support

Production · Design · Video · Web · PR · Specialist programmes

I would help define the system, establish the priorities and hold the build-out together through delivery.

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07 · Learn

One Summit to the next

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Months to build and test

October 2026 → October 2027

Timing

Phase

Focus

Output

Oct 26

Discovery

Meet, listen and observe

Interviews · stakeholder map · success criteria

Nov–Dec

Audit

Understand the system

Audience · content · partners · operations

Jan 27

Prioritise

Choose what matters

5–7 agreed priorities

Feb–Apr

Build

Build pilots

Pilot formats · relationship layer · editorial rhythm

May–Jul

Test

Test and learn

Behaviour · repeat participation · conversion · retention

Aug–Sep

Sharpen

Sharpen and focus

Remove what does not work · strengthen what does

Oct 27

Demonstrate

Bring it together

A validated next-chapter model

One year to find out what is worth building next.

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LDT Inc. · Credentials

Where strategy meets delivery.

Strategy · Operations · Transformation

Turning ambition into operating reality since 2001.

Strategy

Growth · business models · market expansion

Commercial

Pricing · revenue models · margin · partnerships

Organisation

Operating models · structures · processes · KPIs

Delivery

Programming · production · resources · on-site execution

People

Team building · leadership · cross-functional coordination

Transformation

Operational build-out · change · scale

Selected experience

MaHalla

The Marketing Atelier

Purple Fashion Magazine

Rick Owens

Nina Ricci

lala Berlin

LDT Inc.

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Credentials

Defined the model. Then ran it.

MaHalla · Chief Operational Officer · 2022 to 2025

Industrial premises turned into a cultural and commercial operation.

9,000

Sqm · Total premises

110+

Artists · At MaHalla during Berlin Art Week

3

Years

Defined

The business model, the operating structure and the commercial architecture.

Built

Strategic partnerships. Programming and positioning.

Ran

Responsibilities, workflows and ways of working.

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Credentials

Commercial responsibility, not commercial advice

Nina Ricci · Paris · 2006 to 2008

European and Eastern European Sales Manager

37

Countries

€8–12M

Revenue generated across the remit

LDT Inc. · 2012 to present

Commercial architecture and revenue logic.

Operating models and structural clarity.

Pricing strategy and margin architecture.

Brand positioning and market expansion.

Current practice, not career history.

A build carries cost before it carries return. Someone should have been accountable for a number before.

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Credentials

Selected work

LDT Inc.

Fractional COO · 2012 to present

Operations and transformation. Commercial strategy. Pricing and scaling.

MaHalla

Chief Operational Officer · 2022 to 2025 · Berlin

Business model, operating structure and commercial architecture. 9,000 sqm.

The Marketing Atelier

Interim CMO · 2016 to 2023

Brand positioning and commercial strategy. Founder and leadership advisory.

lala Berlin

Senior Manager International Sales and Marketing · 2014 to 2016

Market development, wholesale growth and partnerships.

Purple Fashion Magazine

Advertising Director · 2011 to 2012

International advertising partnerships and luxury brand relationships.

Nina Ricci

European and Eastern European Sales Manager · 2006 to 2008 · Paris

37 countries. €8–12M revenue generated.

Rick Owens

Sales · 2001 to 2004 · Paris

Showroom strategy and account development across Paris, Milan and London.

Different industries. The same point in a business: where ambition has to become something that runs.

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Credentials

Why this, rather than the alternatives

01

02

03

A consultant

An agency

A specialist

Defines the strategy and hands it over.

Executes a brief someone else has defined.

Delivers one function, well.

One person across concept, strategy, operating model, team, implementation and execution.

At MaHalla, that was one role, for three years.

The work does not change hands between the thinking and the doing.

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Credentials

The same problem, in a different industry

What this deck proposed

Where that has been built before

A programme rhythm held across a year

Cultural programming inside a commercial operation, for three years

Small rooms and curated conversations

Cultural programming and an institutional partnership, with 110+ artists during Berlin Art Week

A relationship system, not a mailing list

Responsibilities, workflows and ways of working, defined and run

Partner activation beyond the Summit

Strategic partnerships built and executed. Commercial responsibility across 37 countries

Core functions, with specialists around them

Internal teams coordinated with external specialists, partners and suppliers

A Summit is a fixed date that does not move, with a year of work behind it.

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The next step

Before defining the strategy, we should answer three questions.

01

What value does Dragonfly already create that must be protected?

02

Which relationships and behaviours are worth building between Summits?

03

What can we test before October 2027?

What would shape it

What Dragonfly needs

What the team already does well

What implementation actually requires

Where the work would start

Fit and availability, on both sides

That is a conversation to have, not a proposal to accept.

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Contact

Lena Daniela Thomas

Strategy · Operations · Transformation

I work where ambitious ideas need to become operating reality.

lena@ldt-inc.com

+49 171 981 0304

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