Atlanta, I Had You Wrong

April 12 – April 16, 2026

🇺🇸: Atlanta, GA

Full transparency and honesty… I was particularly excited about going to Atlanta, especially two days removed from an amazing trip to Asia. You hear things. Crime, traffic, rough around the edges. A reputation repeated enough that you stop questioning its validity. I went in with low expectations and an open mind, which turned out to be the right combination.

Most of my time was spent downtown around the Georgia World Congress Center, so I can’t speak to the whole city. What I can speak to is what I actually saw — clean streets, friendly people, a thriving food scene, and a city that deserves more credit than it gets. Maybe I got a curated slice of it. But first impressions matter, and Atlanta left a good one.

The Show

The Georgia World Congress Center is enormous. Honestly, it’s too large for the event. Of course we were in the hall furthest from the entrance, too. It was only a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the venue, but then there was an additional 15 to 20 minutes of walking through the Center itself! The show ran for four days, and it was one of the busier shows I’ve worked. Great energy on the floor, real conversations, and genuine leads that make it all worthwhile.

I used to loathe tradeshows. That’s the honest version. There was a time when working a booth felt uncomfortable in a way I couldn’t quite put into words. Public speaking was never the issue. But industry people are different. They know the space, know the players, and they know immediately when you don’t. That specific type of credibility isn’t something you fake. You build it through repetition and the occasional conversation that doesn’t go well. I put in that work. Years of shows, hundreds of interactions, learning how to read a prospect in the first thirty seconds, how to ask the right question instead of diving headfirst into a pitch, how to make someone feel like the conversation was worth their time on a floor full of people competing for that same attention. At some point it stopped feeling like something I had to push through and started feeling like something I was actually good at. This show confirmed that. It was one of the busiest floors I’ve worked, and I left with leads worth following.

Waffle House

I had to. It’s practically a legal requirement when you’re in the South for the first time.
If you’ve spent any time online you know the Waffle House mythology. I won’t get into that here, but I went in half expecting to witness something. I did not. What I got was a clean diner, fast service, and a tasty breakfast. I also learned that in the South, people put jelly on a bacon egg and cheese biscuit. It struck me as weird, but I tried it, and now I love it.

One thing nobody warned me about: Waymos are everywhere in Atlanta. In Atlanta, its completely normal for driverless cars  to move through traffic. I’d never seen one in person before. Thankfully, I did not need to take one.

The Food

Three nights and three good calls. First night was Hsu Gourmet Chinese. Solid, well-executed, exactly what I needed after a long day of setting up our company booth. Second night after the show floor closed, tacos at Tin Lizzy’s. Get the lobster taco, thank me later. Third night was Alma Cocina, which has a fantastic atmosphere and ever better food. The funghi pizza was outstanding. 

Centennial Olympic Park

I loved this place more than I expected to. The park was built for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the first Games held in the American South, and it still carries that energy today. It sits right in the middle of downtown, open and well kept, with the Olympic rings fountain as the centerpiece. It was my quiet little piece of peace to visit during the busyness of a tradeshow.

It’s also right next to the College Football Hall of Fame. I am not a college football person. I know enough to know I don’t know enough, and I moved on without guilt.

The Soul of the City

If there’s one thing Atlanta makes sure you don’t forget, it’s where it stands. The city wears its civil rights history openly, as seen in murals, statues, markers, and public art. 

There’s a mural with a Dr. King quote that I particularly liked. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving forward.” Simple words that have outlasted every attempt to slow the movement down. What strikes me about that quote is it’s practicality. It doesn’t ask everyone to be exceptional. It asks everyone to contribute what they can, at whatever level they can. That’s a philosophy I can get behind.

Atlanta was the birthplace of the civil rights movement in many ways (literally MLK’s). This was the city that produced organizers, preachers, lawyers, and everyday people who decided that dignity belongs to all. The movement here was built on collective action, on communities showing up for each others wouldn’t. That history is still present here. You feel it.

What I admire most is that Atlanta doesn’t tuck this away in a museum and call it settled. It lives in the streets. It’s painted on walls and buildings, placed in parks, woven into the identity of the city. 

Reuben’s Deli

On the last day my Korean colleague made the lunch call. He chose Reuben’s Deli, a New York style deli operating out of Atlanta. He made the right call. They do the whole New York “thing” like shouting orders, having that no-nonsense counter energy, and NYC related signage like the restaurant grades. Whether it fully lands or not is debatable, especially for those that go to NYC a lot. What’s not debatable is the sandwich. I had the Cuban. It was good. Sometimes that’s the whole review.

World of Coca-Cola

The show wrapped up a little after noon on the last day. My flight wasn’t until 9pm. I wasn’t going to waste my time in the hotel.

World of Coca-Cola was the call. And honestly, I wasn’t there for the history or the memorabilia. I was there for the global flavors room — a self-serve tasting setup with Coca-Cola products from around the world, including regional Fanta variants you’ll never find on a shelf here. That part alone is worth the price of admission.

The regional Fantas were genuinely the best thing in there. Then there’s Beverly, an Italian aperitif that Coke produced for decades and apparently discontinued everywhere except this room, where they keep it as a cautionary tale. It’s grapefruit flavored with all the bitterness of the fruit and none of the sweetness. I don’t know who Beverly was made for, but I hope they found what they were looking for.

The discontinued flavors section was fun in the way that archaeology is fun — interesting to uncover, easy to understand why things got buried. New Coke was genuinely bad. Tab tasted like someone described diet soda to a chemist who had never actually tried soda. Both deserved their fates.

The show was great, the city surprised me, and I tasted Beverly so you don’t have to. Atlanta, I’ll be back.