Author: Patrick de Laive / Source: The Next Web
Here’s a challenge: you’ve won awards for the best conference in Europe, CNBC named you “the best technology festival on the planet”, and now you have to organize another edition that’s even better. Good luck.
Let’s start with some background. Our very first event was in a church in Amsterdam back in 2006.
It was a successful event, it drew in an international crowd of 280 delegates, had a catchy name (The Next Web) and everybody was excited (or at least that’s how I remember it). Thirteen years later, we’re one of the most experienced parties in the industry as we managed to grow the event bigger and better with each edition. From 280 delegates in 2006 to 15,000 delegates in 2018 – it has been quite a ride.Over the years, a lot of new tech conferences sprung up. Almost every country has a big tech event now (often heavily supported by the local government) and in times like these you have to improve, reinvent yourself, stay relevant, and thrive. The competition is fierce, but on the other hand, the appetite for digital technologies is bigger than ever. We improved and grew our event thirteen years in a row, so the pressure to deliver a better version is high — but we’re dedicated and energized.
Here’s our plan to make the 14th edition of TNW the best one yet. And here’s to the next decade of TNW.
Change of scenery: Every now and then, it’s good to change venues and start with a blank canvas. This allows us to do things differently, rethink delegate flows, stage sizes, etc. This year, we moved to Amsterdam’s waterfront NDSM, a raw but beautiful space where we can go totally crazy when it comes to building the venue, the business floors, meeting rooms, the stages, the scenery, and the experience. This alone is so exiting, that it would already be enough to improve on our previous edition.
Repositioning the business floor: Doing business and finding new technologies and tools to improve your business is the most important reason our delegates come from over 100 countries to TNW. With our new venue, we grabbed the chance to make the business floors bigger and better positioned. This way, we’re creating more interaction between our exhibitors, partners, and delegates in a very natural way.
Increase meeting space: What’s the best way to do business? The best way to talk to current clients? To find new partnerships and prospects? To get feedback? To raise funding? In-person meetings. The number one reason for our exhibitors and partners to be at TNW is so they can organize tons of meetings with current clients, prospects, and partners at one location (saving a lot of flights and travel time).
So this edition, we’re doubling the amount of space dedicated to face-to-face meetings.
The new and improved tracks: We know a two-day schedule packed with content can be overwhelming when you’re trying to decide what to focus on and how to best manage your time. That’s why we divide our content into tracks. We categorise a range of different formats (keynotes, fire side chats, panels, workshops, round table settings) by overarching topics to ensure you can easily follow what’s most valuable to you. We have everything from marketing and product design to AI, Blockchain, sustainability and company growth.
Our 11 tracks mean there’s literally something for everyone, which is why so many companies choose to bring entire teams to TNW Conference. Where else would you get this many learning and networking opportunities in one place? It’s basically an investment in the knowledge of your team and in the future of your business.
Find the right people: When events grow bigger, it gets harder to connect with the people you want to meet. TNW hosts 17,500 bright minds with decision power — way too many to leave encounters to luck. The obvious answer here is to offer a networking app. But having an app is not enough. The adoption rate (the percentage of delegates that sign up for the networking app) is crucial for success, as well as the functionality.
In my experience, the biggest problem with most networking apps at events is the adoption rate. Especially now that the stricter privacy laws in Europe…
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