A Season of Encounters Begins in South Florida

Experience Club’s 2026 Kick-Off gathers members to open a year shaped by business, culture, and shared experiences across the region

In every community that endures over time, the year tends to begin not with plans, but with people coming back together. There is a particular energy in that first gathering — conversations resuming where they left off, new connections forming almost effortlessly, and a shared sense of anticipation about what lies ahead.

This is precisely the spirit that surrounds Experience Club US as members come together on February 26 for the annual Kick-Off. The moment sets the tone for another season of encounters, ideas and shared experiences across South Florida. Individual trajectories briefly converge again, reaffirming that the Club is not simply a sequence of events, but an evolving community moving through time together.

From this opening encounter, the rhythm of the year begins to unfold. In March, part of our community travels to Austin for SXSW, returning with fresh perspectives from one of the world’s most influential environments of innovation and creativity. Later that same month, members reconnect around the Miami Open finals, where sport and hospitality create a different setting for executive interaction.

As spring advances, the calendar continues to expand across themes and contexts. Miami Tech Week brings the region’s innovation ecosystem into focus, followed by the New York Lunch Person of the Year, connecting our South Florida community with leaders at the center of global finance. By early summer, the energy shifts toward sport and large-scale gatherings as the FIFA World Cup reaches the region, with Experience Club’s Club 90 hosting encounters at the intersection of business, sport and international networks.

The second half of the year carries this momentum into deeper and more specialized conversations. The Wealth & Luxury Summit and the Longevity Forum explore long-term value, wellbeing and future lifestyles, while the intimate Members & Wine gathering returns to the essence of close relationships within the community. In November, the Miami 2030 Leaders Forum looks ahead to the region’s strategic future, before the year closes with the Art Week Dinner, where culture, creativity and relationships converge once again in Miami.

Taken together, these moments form more than a sequence of events; they create a continuous cycle of encounters that moves between cities, industries and shared interests — mirroring both the evolution of our community and the expanding role of South Florida as a year-round platform for business, culture and experience.

This annual progression also reflects a broader regional transformation. What was once perceived largely as a seasonal destination has become a year-round environment where entrepreneurship, investment, culture and lifestyle intersect.

The arrival of companies and investors, the expansion of innovation and finance communities, and the global visibility brought by major sports and cultural events have repositioned South Florida on the map of opportunity. Increasingly, leaders do not simply visit the region — they build relationships, ventures and long-term presence within it.

Experience Club’s encounters unfold within this dynamic landscape. Our gatherings mirror the way connections now form in South Florida: fluidly moving between local intimacy and wider horizons, between structured dialogue and shared experience. The progression from the Kick-Off to SXSW, from Miami Open to the World Cup, and onward through forums, summits and cultural moments expresses not only a calendar, but a pattern of how community takes shape in this environment.

Seen in this light, the Kick-Off is less a starting point than a renewal — a reminder that the strength of Experience Club lies in continuity. Members do not simply attend moments; they participate in an ongoing cycle of encounters that accumulates meaning over time. Each year adds new layers while preserving the familiarity that makes reconnection immediate.

As we gather again on February 26, what begins is not just another season of programming. It is the reopening of a shared journey — one that will unfold across South Florida’s evolving landscape and through the relationships that continue to define both our community and the region we are part of.