I got out of the habit of writing about the events I attended, but I should go back at doing that so event organizers can learn from my honest (at times hurtful) feedback. So, yesterday I attended Small & Special, the conference put together by Jackson Fish Market (Hillel Cooperman, Jenny Lam, Walter Smith, Donald DeSantis et al). The one-word review is: extraordinary!
And when I saw “extraordinary” I mean “extra”-“ordinary” as in different, as in good different. I don’t want to bring back the success of the Seattle 2.0 Awards every time I write about an event, but there was a lot similarities why the Awards was successful and why Small & Special was as well. Hillel opening speech said it all: “We wanted a conference for ourselves”. When you do something thinking “I’d like this” or “I don’t like that” you are building it for you. If people are like you, they will enjoy it. If they are not, they won’t. Simple and obvious, I know. And the people on the audience were more like them, than not.
Small & Special was intense, as in just one-break of 15 minutes and non-stop talking for 4+ hours. Primarily, it was like watching an “E! True Hollywood Story” of entrepreneurs. One after the other telling how they got into business, how they funded it, why they love it, how they make a living, etc. I just love to hear entrepreneurs tell their stories. Success stories, failure stories, good stories, bad stories.
And since we are talking about stories… As I got in, I went to register at the front-desk and a person I knew was there and they couldn’t find my name on the list for a few seconds. Then he asked, “Did you pay?”, and I said yes. He thought I’d be on the “special list” for press and “VIPs”. I would never go to a conference put up by a friend (or not) that’s bootstrapping and ask for a free ticket. For me it was only $25, but for them it could mean thousands of dollars if everyone they know and feel are their friends ask for a free pass. It comes out of their pocket, directly.
What worked well on Small & Special:
· The diversity of speakers was critical. I usually learn a lot from people that are on completely different line of business than I am. I guess others do to.
· Hillel did a tremendous job of MC’ing it. Kept it on pace, making jokes, asking questions, etc.
· Food was great.
· I could hear the presenters! Seriously, I’ve been to some many conferences that you can’t hear people on stage, either because the audio was bad or because of the chatter on the room.
· Sponsors were given 2 minutes and they did just two minutes of talking. Yep, I get it, we need the sponsors to pay for the event and they expect some level of exposure, but I also seen people overdoing and presenters just babbling for 5 or 10 minutes on something no one there cared about. Not at S&S.
· Venue was great, but far.
What didn’t work so well:
· I think the conference was underpriced. Ticket was $25. It should have been at least $50 or more (I’d be happy at $75). I actually think the $25 made it look a “cheap” and “low value” event. Yes, people associate price with value, go figure. I honestly believe if it was $50 it would have sold out faster. The biggest problem with under-pricing (or over-pricing) an event is attracting the wrong kind of people. They didn’t have a problem this year, since I think 80% of the attendees were on target, but might next year.
· The website didn’t have enough info. This one is from a person I was talking to, but it’s also something I felt to be true. There was no mention of this being the first instance of this conference. There was very little information why this conference exist or who the organizers were. It’s too easy to assume people are reading our blogs, seeing our tweets or reading our direct messages.
· The food was good, but they didn’t serve anything before the event started, so I was very thirsty and no coffee was served before 4pm (break time) and then on the break there were about 200 people rushing to 3 tables with foods and drinks and you had only 15 minutes to grab something, eat it, drink it, talk with a few people and go to the restroom and back to your chair. I know this kind of feedback might be just picky, but it’s part of the experience. It didn’t work.
· The after-party was an after-thought. Although I met a few interesting folks at the bar next door, there were only about 12 people there. No sign of the organizers and I think just about 3 of the presenters and one sponsor.
About the presentations themselves… Two stories didn’t work for me: Nisha Kelen, a florist and Oliver Chin, a children’s book publisher. Yes, they were passionate and very good people, but I didn’t feel their stories were inspiring to me. Not as much as Rachel Venning from Babeland, Eric Levine from Cellar Tracker, or the awesome story of Jon Rimmerman from Garagiste. These are people not only doing something they love, but being very successful and changing the world. That’s inspiring to me.
No question in my mind I’ll be there next year and recommend to all my entrepreneur friends.