The best moment of the night wasn’t the sunset over Bratislava Castle. It was another speed boat pulling back in and the Slovaks climbing out of it saying that was their first time ever out on the Danube. Their river. And a bunch of us from Prague had to be the ones to get them onto it.

That was Meet&Deal vol12 Summer Edition. August 27, the SunDeck, 150 people from Czech and Slovak business.

Why a boat

Every Meet&Deal happens somewhere you’ll remember. Kaiserštejn Palace, the Město Moře courtyard, the rooftop at J&T Banka, the SPACE by HAAS gallery in Bratislava. The bar is high, and every time I’m sitting there with the same question: what tops that?

The SunDeck is a converted tanker permanently moored on the Danube. Open deck, castle view, sunset. But the real reason it works has nothing to do with the view. A boat has one gangway out.

That sounds trivial. For networking it’s the single best property a venue can have. When there’s no way to quietly slip out, people stop keeping one foot out the door and actually start talking.

The risk was weather. Rain would have left me with 150 people on an open deck and no plan B that wasn’t embarrassing. It held. Sometimes luck beats planning.

What happened on deck

The panel is back. We’d dropped the format for a while and I wasn’t sure we should return to it. The topic settled it: whether and, more importantly, how to actually get AI into a company. Ondřej Hlaváč, Miroslava Šáchová and Matouš Králík on stage, Petr Vojnar of SEBA Academy moderating. Zero theory, all field experience, including a frank stretch on where companies are burning money for nothing. Petr ran it the way only he can. The best bits are going out on our social channels over the coming weeks.

Networking bingo by Boost.space. Our general partner brought an activation that outperformed most things we’ve tried. Simple mechanic, and it pushes you to approach the people you’d otherwise walk past. This one I’m keeping.

Connectors. Our people whose only job is to find the right two guests and put them together. I wouldn’t run an event without them.

The 1to1 rock paper scissors tournament has a new champion. Ondra Marek, founder of office to go and a KOMUNITA member. Anyone who says it’s a game of luck clearly hasn’t played him.

Speed boats. Around thirty people got out onto the Danube over the course of the night, a fifth of everyone aboard. The envy from the ones still waiting their turn was visible, which is exactly the point.

Plus catering, proper drinks, and a DJ who kept the deck moving until the end.

KOMUNITA is opening up in Slovakia

This matters more to me long term than any single event. Imrich Kovaľ is taking over the Slovak side of KOMUNITA, our closed membership group. Bratislava sessions are already scheduled, and some sessions are moving online, so it stops mattering which side of the border you’re on.

What didn’t work

Patting yourself on the back is cheap, so here’s the uncomfortable part first.

Eliška Gunišová from team.blue gave us five stars and one honest note: everything great, not enough food. Fair. If you dive straight into networking, the catering passes you by. But that’s my problem to solve, not yours. Fixing it for vol13.

The music drowned out conversation in places. A recurring issue I still haven’t fully dialled in.

And Peter Vidovič floated an idea I’ve been chewing on since we got back: let guests book meetings in advance, with a set time and a numbered table. Half brilliant, half a risk that you turn a free-flowing evening into a timetable. We’ll see.

The rest of the feedback gave me a real lift. Kristína Chovancová called out the relaxed, non-corporate mood and said it made approaching people far easier (translated from Slovak). Peter Vidovič of Modrý koník put it simply: a very pleasant event where he met a pile of interesting people with a similar mindset. And Petr Miklík from Goldea said the boat was a smart move, the kind of thing that makes an event stick in your memory.

Thank you

To Boost.space as general partner. A large share of the connections made that night happened because their bingo stacked them up for us.

To the SunDeck for letting us drop anchor. To Shoptet Premium and RTB House, who keep pushing Meet&Deal further. To Fremlos Media for the video you’ll be seeing soon.

And a special one to Radovan Grežo of Somebody&Somebody, a KOMUNITA member who lent us his car. Without him we don’t get to Bratislava with the gear. That’s KOMUNITA working in practice, and it’s the reason I built it.

Thanks also to the panellists, to Petr for moderating, and to the whole crew on deck.

Merch

If you were on the boat, you saw it. The “Nemluv. Naslouchej.” hoodie, the “Jsem dealer networkingu” tee, the “Meet. Deal. Repeat.” snapback. Drop two is available until September 30, 2026, then it’s gone. Pick it up at the next event, at a KOMUNITA session, or we’ll courier it to you.

What’s next

Meet&Deal vol13 Lucky 13 Edition, November 5, Prague, WorkLounge Karlín. Back on solid ground, same energy.

Packing 150 business people onto a moored tanker on the Danube sounds like a bad idea. It was one of the best nights we’ve ever run. And Slovakia is ours. Twice now.

See you in November in Karlín.