How to grow a conference as a side project

Established in 2012 only, push.conference has become one of the most inspiring events in Munich. Connecting creative coders, ux professionals and designers, the event has gained astonishing traction already. This talk will share the story of how we got from idea to this year's large scale event.

Talk from Lean Startup Meetup Munich 28th Aug 2014
http://www.meetup.com/Lean-Startup-Munich/events/200486432

Transcript

1. How to grow a conference as a side project
   Lessons learned from push.conference
   Lean Startup Meetup Munich | 28th of August 2014

   Thomas Gläser | Curator @ push.conference
   

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3. decoded

   23 Oct 2010

   290 Gäste

   80€
   decoded

   15 Oct 2011

   370 Gäste

   80€
   decoded@mcbw

   8-10 Feb 2012

   81 Gäste

   800€
   push.conference
   10-11 Oct 2014

   450 Gäste

   350€

   

   push.workshops
   push.conference

   25-26 Oct 2013

   450 Gäste

   350€

   

   push.workshops
   push.conference

   23-24 Nov 2012

   400 Gäste

   350€
   0
   250
   500 conference timeline
   

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4. Unite artists, designers & developers in order to

   get inspired and build great things for the future.
   Vision 2010
   

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5. Build a conference out of nothing.
   Challenge
   

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6. What do you need

   to start a conference?
   

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7. Speaker

   Location

   Catering

   Visibility

   Ticketing
   What do you need to start a conference?
   

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8. Speaker

   Location

   Catering

   Visibility

   Ticketing
   No Competition in Munich
   State Funding
   Good Network
   Existing Market
   Market-Know-How
   What do you need to start a conference?
   

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10. How to reach our customers?

    

    How to get traffic on website and start selling tickets

    with 0 € marketing budget?
    Challenge
    

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11. Get strong partners – Gain traffic
    

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12. Moment of Truth
    

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15. How to get feedback?

    And how to interpret?
    After the conference is before the conference
    

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19. If things like »quality of the coffee« has been

    discovered as the top issue,

    you probably did a good conference.
    Good sign
    

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20. 1. Switch language from german to english

    2. Online communication is the thing
    Key take-aways – decoded 2010
    

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24. Don’t loose focus.

    Getting high-quality speakers is a key-activity.
    Key take-away – decoded 2011
    

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25. Request from

    Munich Creative Business Week

    Opportunity to Experiment!
    

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26. Topics
    !
    !
    Customers

    !
    Format
    Inspiring projects

    from design & tech

    

    Freelancer, Employees,
    Students

    up to 400 Guests

    1 day @ Freiheiz

    max. 99 €
    Strategy & process

    for application design
    !
    Freelancers, Team

    Leads, CEOs

    

    70 Guests

    3 days @ BMW Welt

    max. 799 €
    decoded decoded@mcbw
    

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30. Almost same revenue of decoded or decoded@mcbw.

    Are there ways to unite?
    key take-away – decoded@mcbw 2012
    

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31. R.I.P.

    decoded conference

    What’s next?
    

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32. Topics
    !
    !
    Customers

    !
    Format
    Inspiring projects

    from design & tech

    

    Freelancer, Employees,
    Students

    up to 400 Guests

    1 day @ Freiheiz

    max. 99 €
    Strategy & process

    for application design
    !
    Freelancers, Team

    Leads, CEOs

    

    70 Guests

    3 days @ BMW Welt

    max. 799 €
    decoded decoded@mcbw
    

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33. What’s next?
    Inspiring projects

    from design & tech

    

    Freelancer, Employees,
    Students

    up to 400 Guests

    1 day @ Freiheiz

    max. 99 €
    Strategy & process

    for application design
    !
    Freelancers, Team

    Leads, CEOs

    

    70 Guests

    3 days @ BMW Welt

    max. 799 €
    Unite Inspiration

    & UX-Business
    !
    Freelancers, Team

    Leads, Employees,

    CEOs, Students

    

    400 Guests

    2 days @ BMW Welt &

    Alte Kongresshalle

    max. 350 €
    

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34. Hello

    push.conference!
    

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35. iCal at website before ticketing launch
    Test it quick
    

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36. Build a new conference out of something.

    Team up!
    Challenge
    

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38. 60% of effort is communication!
    Key-Activity
    

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39. Content is King
    Beware! Buzzword ;)
    

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45. 1. Simplify the conference concept.

    2. Improve to unite people at the conference.

    3. Show more diversity, give talents a chance.

    4. Keep the spirit alive.
    key take-aways – push.conference 2012
    

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47. simplified concept
    

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48. improved networking
    

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49. new lightning talks
    

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50. keep pushing – push.workshops
    

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52. Keep quality and organise as efficient as possible
    key take-aways – push.conference 2013
    

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53. Fr. 10th - Sa. 11th of October 2014

    Alte Kongresshalle Munich
    http://push-conference.com/2014
    Save 15% till end of next week with code: LeanMuc14
    

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