2 builders who never spoke to each other

Run the event for the relationships, then leave an artifact

Events have poor economics next to software, so justify them by what they create between people: introduce every attendee to someone impressive before the doors open, build the programme around the thing nobody can get free elsewhere, and rehire whoever ran the last one instead of relearning the logistics. Publish the session videos within days, which does not cannibalise tickets, and cut a highlights reel that sells the next date.

The method

1. 01

   Accept that running an event has terrible economics compared with software and do it for the relationships it creates.

2. 02

   Engineer the introductions for attendees: make sure every person has met at least one impressive fellow attendee before the event begins so nobody arrives as an outsider.

3. 03

   Release your event's session videos free within days of the event: the fear that it cannibalises ticket sales is not borne out.

4. 04

   Build the event around the one thing nobody can get free elsewhere, and cut the parts that YouTube already does better.

5. 05

   Bring back the person who built your last successful event rather than learning the logistics again.

What it returned

• 22,000

  HubSpot publishes INBOUND videos a couple of days after the talks and reached over 22,000 attendees within five years. MozCon needed 4 to 12 weeks to edit, charged for access and withheld free video for two years, and reached roughly 1,500 attendees in ten years.

• 2022

  SparkTogether deliberately invites no best-practice or how-to talks, turns the cameras off and asks attendees to put their phones down, in exchange for speakers telling vulnerable stories about what worked and what failed with real numbers; Rand Fishkin had run the format online in 2022 and 2023 to strong reviews.

• High expenses, a fixed date and location, and no margins, against a subscription software business

• Charlene Ditch, who had helped Rand Fishkin turn Mozcon into a leading event of its day, runs the coordination for SparkTogether.

Sources

• Building Profitable Audiences — Live in LondonNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · One more thing · 2013-10-14
• Why I started a conferenceNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Why start a conference? · 2017-05-02
• How Cultural Conditioning Biases Us to Make Bad Decisions in Our Lives, Our Work, & Our Marketing (my talk from INBOUND 2017)Rand Fishkin · sparktoro.com · 2017-09-30
• Why Are Marketing Conferences Shrinking? And What Do Attendees Say They Want? - SparkToroRand Fishkin · sparktoro.com · 2024-05-16
• The Bootstrapped Founder Newsletter Episode 12 – January 31st 2020 – The Bootstrapped FounderArvid Kahl · thebootstrappedfounder.com · Bootstrapping in Practice · 2020-01-31