CongRegation

What CongRegation does

CongRegation is an Irish private for-profit company that operates a single annual three-day "mind mesh" unconference festival built around thinking, sharing, and connecting among cross-disciplinary professionals. Founded in 2013, the event is held each year in Cong Village, County Mayo, Ireland, with hybrid remote participation via Zoom. The festival format consists of rotating small-group "huddles" of 10–12 attendees across multiple village venues (cafes, bookshop, creative spaces, restaurants, and Danagher's Hotel), supplemented by workshops, an Open Mic, a book club, and a Friday evening opening reception hosted at Ashford Castle. The company is preparing its 14th annual edition (#cong26) on the theme 'Trust' for November 27–29, 2026.

The company's core product is the annual unconference, in which tickets are not sold but earned through acceptance of a 600-word minimum original article on that year's theme. Supporting products include an online submission web application (which functions as the ticketing system), downloadable eBooks compiling each year's accepted submissions, themed adult workshops, and a theme-related book lending club. There is no proprietary technology platform; the event relies on a standard web submission form and Zoom for hybrid delivery. The company holds a registered trademark on the CongRegation™ brand identity and holds no disclosed AI, ML, or advanced data capabilities.

CongRegation's revenue mechanics are not explicitly disclosed, but the underlying revenue model is submission-based ('freemium'), with no direct ticket sales by design. Operating economics appear to rest on event sponsorships (Blacknight, MKC Communications, ICBE Advanced Productivity Skillnet, Informed Decisions, SNI IRDG Innovation Skillnet, Grow Remote) and a core venue partnership with Ashford Castle, supplemented by ancillary merchandise and eBook distribution. The company is led by founder and event organizer Eoin Kennedy via Congregation Media Limited, operates with 11–50 employees, has no disclosed institutional funding, and is privately held.

Name

CongRegation

Legal name

CongRegation

Website

https://congregation.ie

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CongRegation is an Irish private company operating an annual three-day unconference festival in Cong Village, County Mayo, blending in-person and Zoom attendance. Tickets are earned via original article submissions on a yearly theme, serving cross-disciplinary professionals seeking non-transactional networking.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Conference and Event Services

NAICS

Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Unconference events
• Community gatherings
• Submission-based events
• Networking festivals
• Mind mesh conferences

Headquarters

HQ city

Cong

HQ country

Ireland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Attendance (Submission-Based): Tickets are earned through acceptance of a 600-word minimum original article on the annual theme. This unique model creates a curated, high-quality attendee base and generates content for their website and eBook publications.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CongRegation operates an annual three-day mind mesh unconference festival held in Cong Village, County Mayo, Ireland, centered on a yearly theme (2026: 'Trust'). Tickets are earned by submitting a 600-word minimum original article on the theme rather than purchased. The unconference features rotating small 'huddle' sessions of 10-12 people across multiple village venues, workshops, an Ashford Castle evening event, open mic, music, and poetry, with supporting offerings including downloadable eBooks of submissions, workshops, and a book club lending program.

Product overview

CongRegation is an annual unconference event company operating a single core product—the three-day CongRegation unconference festival held in Cong Village, Ireland. The event combines face-to-face networking with virtual participation via Zoom, organized around rotating 'huddle' sessions where attendees present submissions on an annual theme. Supporting offerings include an online submission web application (the ticket system), downloadable eBooks compiled from submissions, themed workshops, and a book club lending program.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CongRegation Unconference Annual three-day unconference festival held in Cong Village, County Mayo, Ireland, with hybrid in-person and Zoom attendance. Features rotating huddle sessions of 10-12 people, workshops, an Ashford Castle opening reception, open mic, music, poetry, and a Sunday Trusted Tour, all organized around an annually changing theme.
• Online Submission System Web-based submission form that accepts and processes 600-word minimum original articles on the annual theme. Accepted submissions serve as the ticket of entry to the unconference and qualify the author for inclusion on the website and in the event eBook.
• eBooks

Quantifiable outcome

• 579,306 views on single submission post (Global Population Decline: Good or Bad? #cong20)

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• BlacknightminorOthersSponsor of CongRegation event. Blacknight is an Irish domain registrar and web hosting company.
• MKC CommunicationsminorOthersPR and communications sponsor supporting the CongRegation event.
• ICBE Advanced Productivity SkillnetminorOthersIrish business excellence skillnet providing sponsorship support.
• Informed DecisionsminorOthersData and analytics firm sponsoring the event.
• SNI IRDG Innovation SkillnetminorOthersInnovation skillnet focused on research and development supporting the unconference.
• Grow RemoteminorOthersRemote work organization co-presenting sessions and supporting community building.
• Ashford CastlecoreOthersLuxury castle hotel venue hosting the Friday evening opening event and reception. Limited to 32 attendees for the private cinema session with expert panel.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BarCamp: BarCamp is the original community-organized unconference, with ad-hoc scheduling and self-organized sessions. Like CongRegation, it relies on participant-driven content and small-group formats rather than paid ticketing, making it the closest direct peer in unconference model.
• Foo Camp (O'Reilly): Foo Camp is O'Reilly's invite-based unconference for tech and innovation leaders, with attendee-proposed sessions in small groups. It shares CongRegation's small-huddle, participant-curated format and cross-disciplinary speaker mix, though it is invite-only rather than submission-based.
• TEDx: TEDx is a global network of community-organized events licensed by TED, with curated speakers and an annual thematic focus. While it has a paid ticketing model, it mirrors CongRegation's annual-theme, cross-disciplinary speaker curation and strong content-archive model.

Broad incumbents

• Web Summit: Web Summit is one of the largest tech conferences in the world, founded and headquartered in Ireland. As a much larger Dublin-rooted community-and-tech event operator, it represents the scaled commercial version of what an Ireland-based community-tech event could become.
• SXSW: SXSW is a large-scale annual festival combining conferences, film, music, and interactive media. It shares CongRegation's annual, themed, cross-disciplinary community format but operates at vastly greater scale and as a paid, multi-track event.
• Dreamforce (Salesforce): Dreamforce is Salesforce's annual community conference combining keynotes, breakout huddles, and curated networking. The 'huddle' small-group concept at CongRegation mirrors Dreamforce's signature small-group format, though at vastly different scale.
• Open Source Summit (Linux Foundation): Open Source Summit is a large annual community-led event combining keynotes, breakout sessions, and small-group collaboration tracks. It shares CongRegation's cross-disciplinary community-tech speaker mix and theme-driven annual structure, but at much larger scale with paid ticketing.

Emerging players

• IndieWebCamp: IndieWebCamp is a community-organized unconference for independent web builders, with attendee-proposed sessions and small working groups. It overlaps with CongRegation's unconference model and submission-driven content culture, but focuses on a niche technical community.
• BIL Conference: BIL is a long-running, community-run 'unconference' with a focus on longevity and futurism, organized by volunteers. It mirrors CongRegation's unconference format and community-first ethos, with similar submission-led and small-session design.

Regional players

• Dublin Tech Summit: Dublin Tech Summit is an annual paid technology conference held in Dublin, Ireland. As another Ireland-rooted community-tech event, it represents a regional peer that competes for similar sponsors and speaker mindshare.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/congregation13
• Facebookfacebook.com/congregation2013

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CongRegation