This is What Attendees of Crowdopolis Thought of Our Conference
On July 19th, the hottest conference on the future of crowdsourcing took place in LA - Crowdopolis. This is the story of what went right & what went wrong.
This was the first major conference produced by Daily Crowdsource so we anticipated a few bumps. Waiting until we could roll out a polished off agenda would've taken 12 months of studying other conferences while planning, polishing, test-running, & polishing Crowdopolis off some more. That's not a very flawesome approach to innovation - one we closely follow & highly encourage. Since our audience has been asking for us to do this for a while, we set out to bring it to you.
According to the popular majority, Crowdopolis was a huge success. So much so that we're doing it again. There were a few hiccups along the way, but at the end of the day, people learned about crowdsourcing, vendors landed clients (a lot of clients), and lots of great connections were made.
In an effort to continually improve everything we do, I personally called about half of Crowdopolis' attendees to get honest feedback. I wanted to hear firsthand what was amazing & what went wrong. Here's what I heard.
- We brought in great speakers - I worked hard to make this so by hand-picking who would be up on stage. I only invited speakers that I've known & have heard present. This was to ensure there were no sales pitches.
- Crowdopolis was not too small, not too large. People liked the intimacy. It was easier to start a conversation.
- People learned how crowdsourcing can help them solve their business problems.
- There were some A/V glitches & some had trouble finding the place (isn't that always the case on your first day at college?) & we'll be sure to provide plenty of coffee at Crowdopolis: Big Apple. But overall, nearly everyone was glad they went.
- Vendors were able to find customers. In fact, one vendor (who I'll leave confidential) generated $200k in revenue as a direct result of attending Crowdopolis. That gives me a smile of satisfaction that I could help make that happen.
- Everyone walked away with a much, much, better understanding of crowdsourcing. A lot of attendees had the wrong impression of what crowdsourcing was before Crowdopolis, and indicated they had a solid understanding of the many "angles" of crowdsourcing afterwards.
The Stats
At Daily Crowdsource we take transparency to a whole new level. We're built on unbiased representation & believe honesty & opennes will only improve our field. This distinguishes our event because we collect wrapup feedback & present it publicly as a way to showcase what was hot & who needs to hone their presentation.
Numbers about Daily Crowdsource
- 84% of attendees rated Crowdopolis a 7 or higher (out of 10). We did receive a couple 6's - opportunities to improve.
- 96.7% of attendees indicated they will be attending our next conference (woohoo)
- 94% of attendees liked the overall speakers & presentations
Attendees rated each speaker they heard as "liked" or "didn't care for." The following numbers indicate each speakers' percentage of "liked" votes.
- Stephen Shapiro - 89% liked
- Stephen Paljieg - 96%
- Lisa Kennedy - 93%
- James Rubinstein - 85%
- Kirsten Kuehl - 77%
- David Alan Grier - 85%
- Sharon Chiarella - 81%
- Peter LaMotte - 95%
- Gio La Vecchia - 53%
- Alexander Torrenegra - 88%
- Jordan Ritter - 80%
- Jack Welde - 87%
- Michael Morris - 93%
- Matt Johnston - 78%
- Ville Miettinen - 100%
- Max Yankelevich - 82%
Our big winner was Crowd Leader, Ville Miettinen, with a 0% disapproval rating. What I learned from my lengthy phone calls with the attendees was that everyone had a different set of speakers they liked & disliked. For example, someone from the tech field liked Matt Johnston & Jordan Ritter, but didn't care for Peter LaMotte. While the inverse is true: someone from the marketing field loved LaMotte, but didn't care for Johnston or Ritter.
I have a dozen other stats, with lots of great feedback. I won't bore you with it though. The overarching theme is that it was a great success. It was clear that it was our first conference, but even with the improvements we could make, most people are very glad we did this. And since we just announced our next conference will be held Feb 27 - 28, 2013 in New York, you should come. It'll be an exciting few days to learn how Fortune 500's are using crowdsourcing.
We've already got speakers & exhibitors lined up, & we'll be selling tickets in October. If you're thinking about joining us at Crowdopolis: Big Apple, I encourage you to get on our interest list.