On the morning of October 2, Skate Time in Accord will undergo a temporary transformation. A stage, rows of chairs, and an enormous projection screen will cover the roller rink as speakers discuss community radio, repair cafes, alternative technologies, locally rooted businesses, and the possibility of living well in an age increasingly governed by algorithms. That evening, the chairs will give way to skaters circling the rink as Mohonk Mountain House president Eric Gullickson performs with his band, the Dirt Surfers.
Behind this exercise in experiential whiplash lies a wonderfully disproportionate ambition: Mark Hurst believes a small gathering in a Hudson Valley roller rink can take on Silicon Valley. “I love that a little conference at a roller-skating rink can defeat Silicon Valley in that very meaningful way,” says Hurst, founder of GEL, the multidisciplinary conference returning October 2–3 after a decade-long hiatus.
GEL—originally Good Experience Live—began in 2003 as an extension of Creative Good, the customer-experience consultancy Hurst founded in 1997. The early conferences explored a broad question: What makes an experience good, authentic, or meaningful? Hurst assembled speakers from technology, education, hospitality, science, activism, and the arts, often catching people and projects before they entered the wider culture. Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Slack) and Marissa Mayer (Google, Yahoo) appeared at the inaugural conference; Jimmy Wales presented Wikipedia in 2005; Sal Khan discussed Khan Academy in 2010. Speakers over the years also included Ira Glass, Craig Newmark, Seth Godin, Danny Meyer, Geoffrey Canada, Marion Nestle, and Douglas Rushkoff.
GEL ran in New York City through 2016, when Hurst placed it on hiatus as his outlook on technology darkened. In 2017, he launched the WFMU radio program “Techtonic,” using the show to warn about surveillance, manipulative interfaces, political polarization, algorithmic radicalization, and the growing power of tech monopolies.
“The world’s largest and most powerful companies spend their time trying to exploit and manipulate people and get them addicted—and worse,” he says. “It’s so disappointing to me.”
After nine years of cataloguing the damage, Hurst wanted to create something hopeful again. He kept encountering Hudson Valley organizations that seemed to offer alternatives: community institutions, artists, craftspeople, nonprofits, and businesses working at a human scale. The catalyst came during a conversation with longtime friends Stephanie Bauman and Bjorn Quenemoen of BjornQorn, who had attended previous GEL conferences. They suggested reviving GEL at Skate Time, the Accord roller rink they helped revitalize.
The new GEL preserves the earlier conference’s multidisciplinary curiosity, though its optimism has been tempered by the intervening decade. Speakers include Rocio Salceda of Repair Cafe El Barrio; Princeton sociologist Janet Vertesi, founder of the Opt Out Project; Meredith Kooi of Wave Farm; K Greene of Hudson Valley Seed Company; Paul Sturtz of Upstate Films; Jessica Elefante, author of Raising Hell, Living Well; Micah of the Good Work Institute; and the BjornQorn team.
Hurst still believes technology can serve people. His objection centers on the economic model and leadership controlling much of it. Vertesi, for instance, helps people replace dominant operating systems and platforms with alternatives, while Wave Farm demonstrates the durability and civic value of radio.
“When we say technology, it doesn’t have to mean ecosystem-destroying AI data centers,” Hurst says. “Community radio is one of the greatest technological innovations that this country has.”
The conference itself is designed as a progression. Friday begins with individual presentations; Hurst has little use for panels or heavily rehearsed talks. He wants speakers to discuss what genuinely excites them and perhaps say something they have never been invited to say before. After lunch, attendees will break into groups for experiences at Ravenwood, Lite Brite Neon, Good Work Institute, and Mohonk Mountain House, where one group will take a mindfulness walk. The skate party follows that evening. On Saturday morning, Micah will lead a session devoted to reflection, next steps, and community-building.
Hurst calls his production philosophy “loose-tight”: the schedule and logistics are rigorously controlled, creating space for unrehearsed moments. If the disparate speakers, activities, and attendees connect, he says, an energy emerges that can be “electrifying.”
Community has become the conference’s underlying subject. Hurst points to Salceda’s East Harlem repair cafe, where neighbors mend appliances and clothing for one another at no charge. The encounter produces something he believes corporate platforms are structurally incapable of creating.
“The tech companies want us stuck behind our screens, only communicating through their mediating filters,” he says. “I want to break that.”
Hurst hopes GEL sends attendees home with renewed energy, a useful idea, or a relationship that develops into something larger. He also hopes this year’s gathering attracts 100 to 150 people and becomes the beginning of an expanded annual Hudson Valley event. “We’re all humans,” he says. “We have the capacity to create good things in the world. Let’s work together and learn from each other.”
GEL takes place October 2–3 at Skate Time in Accord. Tickets are $350, with $75 tickets available to qualifying students and artists, as well as a limited number of scholarships. For registration and the complete program, visit Gelconference.com.
