European PKM Summit 2025 (Part 2)
There's no substitute for being physically present in the room full of like-minded folks. To see it is to feel it is to believe it. But I promised you the next best thing. So, let me try.
I don’t even know where to start. I’m biased, but I think you would have loved it.
I noticed the same pattern: before an event, I’d have doubts, not know what to expect, and be scared of wasting precious time, then go there and not regret a single second of it. This was one of these instances.
Before the event, I wrote down a few thoughts about what I wanted to get out of it, whom I’d like to meet, and what could go wrong. Similar to writing an “airtight” business plan, very few thoughts I wrote materialised. Instead, unexpected events occurred, reminding me how improbable ideas can be spurred by interacting with a chaotic notes vault. Serendipity. Very “à propos.”
There are 1001 ways of reviewing an event, but since I’m working against the clock and the episodes are still fresh in my memory, I’ll go with classic Coke: positives vs. negatives. They’re all highly subjective, and I’m sure you might disagree with some or all of them. If you do, I’d be honoured to read your comment.
The Positives
There’s just too much to be given praise for, so I decided to be self-centric and highlight things that resonated with me, though I might have been the only one who thought of it as a positive point.
You Would Have Been Able to Have Breakfast With Your Idols
I’ve been extensively studying the works of many internationally renowned PKM stars for quite a while now. I read their books, articles and posts. I watched them through the narrow YouTube player and became intimate with their voices through podcasts. The European PKM Summit 2025 was the first time I could physically sit down with them and chat as if we had just met at someone’s birthday party. With a plate of zakuski in one hand and a drink in the other, I could witness them do that simple mortals’ “mmm-mmm” as they were swallowing a chicken nugget, preparing to add to the conversation.
One thing worth every penny for me was that, after establishing a rapport of trust, we could secretly exchange opinions and thoughts that could never be published or shared publicly. A face-to-face conversation is the only ephemeral instance when something like this can happen, and there will never be a substitute for this in any other shape or form. No dictaphones, cameras or fleeting notes. Just a talk. Right there and then.
No. As much as I love you, I can’t share those titbits with you. There’s a bro-code one can’t violate. But you can get your zakuski platter next year.
There Would Always Have Been Something Interesting for You to Discover
I was forced to miss many of the sessions I initially set my eyes on to give you more interviews instead, so I can only comment on a few I did manage to step into.
The speakers and, subsequently, their presentations were very eclectic. Some had high-level self-help vibes, while others were very hands-on and geeky.
Being an engineer, I was very biased towards the latter. But, to my surprise, lectures like one of my good friends
, a knowledge engineer with decades of technical experience in the field, was a smashing success among those who admitted to having come over because “they didn’t know what the title meant” or were rocking Leuchtturm 1917 gratitude journals. “Dit was ‘ne goeie,” I heard them say in the background.Although those new to specialised abbreviations and technical lingo of knowledge management, such as JSON-LD, OWL or RDF, were eager to capture them in their literature notes for future discovery, I didn’t quite notice the same trend in the opposite direction. I guess, statistically, a less Cartesian crowd would have benefited slightly more from the event.
In her book Stress-Free Productivity, Dr Alice D. Boyes writes what, in my opinion, summarises the blessing and curse of such diversity: "One person’s lightbulb moment is another person’s eye roll." More on this later.
You Would Have Been Able to Podcast Professionally
This year’s venue blessed us with a spacious, comfortable room with a professional podcasting setup I could use. And so I did, squeezing every kilobyte out of the included microSD card until the indicator started flashing red. The following articles will be products of this generous accommodation in the next few weeks.
You Would Have Been in Gastronomical Heaven
Catering indeed didn’t disappoint. Vegans, gluten-free, and other dietary restrictions were honoured without sacrificing flavour or insulting the taste buds of those on a typical diet. The ingredients were fresh, the dishes well-balanced, and “la mise-en-bouche” spot-on. I’ll let you be the judge of it.
You Would Be Able to Get There Easily
Utrecht is a strategic location that acts as a middle ground for inhabitants of most neighbouring European countries and citizens of other places in the Netherlands. It’s a beautiful, although expensive, hub ideally suited to summits like that.
If you were to travel from Brussels, like myself, you’d have to hit the road at 6 a.m. and make about three overlays in both directions, a minor inconvenience for what you’d get in return.
It Wouldn’t Break Your Bank
I’m not trying to speak to anyone’s financial situation. When I say “the event is affordable”, I mean it comparatively to analogous European summits. Though, as you’ll soon discover from the interview with
, this is not a “suits-friendly” gig; therefore, comparing it to this de facto standard would be unfair.The ticket price for the upcoming edition was announced to increase, but the organisers admit the bump will simply represent an adjustment for inflation. Additionally, the first 100 seats will be sold to early birds for the price of this year’s edition. It’s a generous offer. I wouldn’t procrastinate to get your ticket.
The Negatives
I can’t disclose other people’s thoughts, but I can share mine. This is an independent review, and as much as I respect the entire Digital Fitness team, the speakers, and the attendants, I owe it to you to say things as they are. The following are a handful of observations that have upset me to various degrees of severity.
You Would Have Missed Cool Sessions
One of the inevitable downsides I highlighted in my pre-mortem notes was that I’d have to make serious sacrifices regarding which sessions to attend, a sentiment, as it unsurprisingly turned out, shared by the vast majority of participants. In my case, the sacrifice was much more significant than I anticipated because I couldn’t miss the opportunity to do four incredibly enriching interviews with my heroes.
Another significant sacrifice had to be made regarding whom to interview in the limited allotted time. You can’t always get what you want. I appreciate that, though. Next time, I’ll do my best to eat and have the cake, too.
You Would Have Disliked Some Presentations
In the first part of this series, I highlighted a common issue with summits like these, where you have to delight a very eclectic crowd where everybody’s at different points of their PKM journey. It’s an uphill battle you’re almost guaranteed to lose. Organisers and speakers strive to “please” the largest possible audience and, consequently, position themselves in that “no man’s land” where it’s not quite there for any attendant.
In the abovementioned issue, I noted the typical solution other summits adopt: dividing the programme into interest-specific paths. Therefore, this suggestion naturally popped up at the lunch table where I happened to be. I was pleasantly surprised when the delay between this suggestion and the decision to implement it for the 2026 edition took all of two minutes.
simply stood up, walked over to , and a few seconds later, the blessing was granted.Although this is a step in the right direction, I felt this may not be sufficient when observing the crowd.
On one hand, there’s an additional dimension of experience: the sheer number of hours invested into PKM. Some came as total rookies; some had over 30 years of information/knowledge management on their CVs. Should there be another attribute to consider when recommending a selection of speeches? It’s a major differentiating factor, after all.
On the other hand, I’m almost tempted to suggest every participant goes through a compulsory Myer-Briggs grinder before attending specific sessions. Some talks were God-sent for those into self-improvement and gratitude journaling, for others this was an eye-rolling agony. Similarly, the depth of technicality of particular sessions left accidental gardener archetypes with more questions than what they came with, while those who raised their hands to proudly say “I’m a computer scientist”, were applauding louder than usual by the end of the presentation.
Some birds fly high; others prefer to keep their feet on the ground. They can try, but they rarely flock together.
You Would Have Been Pitched
That’s just the nature of events like these. They won’t be shoved down your throat, but they’ll be there in the form of “coined/branded” terms for things that have existed for centuries under different names and QR codes at the end of the slide deck.
There’s nothing wrong with highly targeted marketing and strongly lubricated sales funnels down which to slide. After all, you’re being gently pitched things you might need, not a laxative.
I, for one, strongly consider joining
’s writing cohort. This publication could benefit from some professional grooming. And Bob certainly knows a thing or two about it.However, I have a bigger problem with ideas resembling WeightWatchers’ business models, where you would be charged for three-digit-long calories converted to copyright-protected one-digit-long points.
Fortunately, many participants had sufficiently trained eyes to read between the lines and correlate “new” acronyms to century-old truisms, even if they politely decided not to bring it up publicly.
You Would Have Spent a Chunk on Accommodation
As a scrappy, spartan minimalist, I stayed at the recommended Bunk hotel/hostel’s pod, a Utrecht equivalent of those claustrophobic Japanese capsule hotels. Think of them as mattress-sized holes in an oversized Ikea’s Billy rack. It was quite an experience.
Although very well executed, there was nothing minimalistic about this place. It is a big, old Church repurposed as a hostel, bar, and restaurant, with the majestic pipe organ acting as a focal point, reminding us of its grandeur. My one-night stay cost 107.53€, which would have been considered borderline illegal in Belgium, where I come from. French call places like that “sleep merchants.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom. I’d like to take a moment to thank one of the speakers who stayed in the adjacent pod for sharing some organic toothpaste with me that morning.
You Would Have Been Outnumbered by the Mac + Obsidian Crowd
Many speakers asked participants to raise their hands if they used Obsidian as their primary Tool for Thought. The results were clear: Obsidian is the TfT king. Although all sessions were presumably tool-agnostic, Obsidian users had a slight headstart when mapping what’s on the presenter’s screen to what’s on theirs.
’s second session dedicated to “The Rollup Method” emphasized the importance of following along digitally, with his instance of Obsidian acting as a guide.Perhaps this could have been one layer of friction too much for some. But probably not. I certainly didn’t feel handicapped with my old-fashioned fountain pen.
Should You Attend the Next Edition?
Don’t be misguided by the previous paragraphs. To the question above, my answer is a resounding yes. I hope this honest review will help you better plan your trip and session attendance.
I’m honoured to announce that I’ll be part of the speaker's curation team for the next edition. My word won’t be the Gospel, but at least I’ll do my best to ensure decent match-making to the best of my abilities.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing lengthy interviews with the brilliant people I had a chance to sit down tête-à-tête in the same order I recorded them in:
, Nicole van der Hoven, and . I hope you’ll tune in. There will be a lot of insights you won’t find elsewhere.
Glad to have shared that lunch with you! Curious to learn what you glanced from the interviews with then and the critique that you might have.