OSCON 2015 - Introduction to Planning and Running Tech Events

An Introduction to
Planning and Running
Tech Events
Kara Sowles, Puppet Labs
@feynudibranch
Francesca Krihely, MongoDB
@francium

This deck is available with
speaker notes at:
http://bit.ly/OSCON15EVENTSSLIDES

Francesca
● 3 Years MongoDB,
Now Senior Content
Marketing Manager
● 3 Years FinTech
Hackathon
● FOSS Nut

Kara Sowles
Senior Community Manager at Puppet Labs
Planning + Running Tech events for 3 years
@feynudibranch

You
We’ll assume you:
- Want to learn the basics of planning tech events
- Are not a professional event planner...yet

Awesome Events
What comes to mind?

How You Can Do It
● Don’t need a
huge budget
and 3k people
to do it
● Small events
are important

Agenda
● Purpose
● Constraints
● Event Structures
● Working as a Team
● Content
● Venue
● Cost
● Sponsorships
● Socializing
● Food & Drink
● Diversity
● Logistics
● On-Site Items
● The Day-Of the Event
● The Future

3 Take Aways
#1 - what is your mission?
#2 - empathize with your attendees
#3 - power of logistics

We begin...by creating a
document.

Why One Document?
- One source of truth
- Keep it updated
- Don't spread information out
- Link to it in calendar invites & emails
Example: Changes to the event should be
recorded in the Google Doc, not just in your
inbox!

Document
Everything
http://bit.ly/
OSCONEVENTSWORKSHOP

Purpose
What you want to
get out of the
event
What you imagine
attendees want to
get out of the
event

GoalsMission
Statement
Purpose

Mission Statement
External statement posted on your site for
potential attendees to read and understand the
purpose of your event.

"AlterConf is a traveling conference series that provides safe
opportunities for marginalized people and those who support them in
the tech and gaming industries. By highlighting the powerful voices and
positive initiatives of local community members, we build hope and
strengthen the community’s resolve to create safer, healthier spaces for
everyone…"
source: http://www.alterconf.com/

Goals
Internal, concrete goals that you want your
event to accomplish.

Your Event's Goal
● Discover your goal
● Attendees should walk away with...
○ Tactics
○ Strengthened Network
○ A Product
● ...So they will
○ Become a loyal ambassador
○ Attend next year
○ Become a loyal customer

Goals
Purpose: To meet
and connect with
users of our software
Goal: 25 "qualified
leads", users for sales
to follow up with

Goals
Purpose: Teach local
girls about coding
and get them
interested in STEM
Goal: 100 girls in
attendance
Goal: At least 50%
of girls complete
the exercises

Identifying Constraints
Budget

Budget Amount of Space

Planning time

Planning time
Co-located vs.
Independent

STRUCTURE
what type of event to do?

What's Missing?
As you consider event structure, think about
what type of event or experience might be
missing for the community you want to invite.

2x /year
2x /year
(online)
(online)
50x /year130x /year
30x /year
1x /year
User Events Contributor Events

Document
EVERYTHING
http://bit.ly/
OSCONEVENTSWORKSHOP

Building an Organizing team
● Give people an opportunity to get involved!
● Establish clear roles
● WIIFM

Working with your team
● Regular check-ins (Standup!)
● Use your single source of truth
● Don't hog the responsibility - be a leader!

Content can be...
Collaboration Workshops
Speakers Activities

Why Hackathons Are awesome!
● All the Hacks! Great Content
● Recycling amazing Hacks
● Great for sponsors and you!

Inviting Speakers
What do you tell them when you reach out to them?
Things to consider:
● Are you offering to pay for their expertise?
● Are you covering travel + hotel?
● Are you inviting a diverse group of speakers - or did you
accidentally make a list of people who look the same?

CFP: Call for Proposals
● An open CFP ensures a wide variety of folks can
participate
● Be explicit about what types of talks you want to hear.
● Identify restrictions
● Mention the theme, if you have one
● Use the CFP as a place to say “new speakers welcome”

Get the Best Talks POssible
● List suggested general topics
● Link to examples of past talks
● List types of people that should submit i.e. roles and
interests
● Repeat the date/location/purpose of the event
● Offer a way for people to reach out with questions
● Host a video chat where folks can ask questions / get
help brainstorming topics
● Do you own outreach
● Get on the front page of Hacker News

Three Examples
I'll give you 3 content selection examples from my current work.
They vary by the event's size and purpose.
#1 - User Group
#2 - 1-Track Conference
#3 - Multi-Track Conference

Example #1 - User Groups
Local User Group meeting of 20-50 attendees; 2 hour meeting in evening
User Groups are fairly informal
● Organizer asks if anyone wants to present next meeting
● Someone volunteers
● Organizer approves it

Example #2 - 1-Track Conference
Series of 30 separate 100-300 attendee user events around the world.
One track of talks:
- 5 talks from users/community members - though CFP
- 2 talks from employees - same every time
Process:
- Separate CFP for each event
- Talks submitted through CFP
- Chosen by one person
One person organizes & owns the content from start to finish (reaching out for
help or advice when needed).

Example #3 - Multi-Track Conference
1,500 attendee conference
60+ speakers over many tracks and multiple days
Process:
- CFP committee formed (with a lead member owning progress)
representing many roles & opinions, define what they're looking for
- All talks submitted through CFP
- CFP committee votes (thus narrows down list)
- CFP committee discusses (narrows down list further until almost
complete)
- Lead member and small sub-committee makes final decisions

Content - Choosing Speakers
- Think about the purpose of your event
- What sort of attendees do you expect? What do you
want them to get out of this?
- Set up a structure that gives you the ability to say 'no'
gracefully
- You can point to your criteria or wish list
- Who will you go to for a second opinion?

Your Content is the Face of your Conference
Consider what that face looks like before you present it to
the public. Tech event speakers tend to be overwhelmingly
white + male.
● Set goals for yourself
● Reach out and encourage people to submit talks
● Can you pay travel/hotel for speakers who are
underrepresented in tech?
● Keynotes are your most visible speakers

Speaker Handling
Speaker handling is very important. Many speakers are busy, have overflowing
inboxes and overloaded calendars. Like you. They need reminders and clear
info.
- Include all relevant details (date, location, time slot) in the acceptance
email
- Include the code of conduct in the acceptance email.
- Make sure speakers actually accept
- Remind them as the conference approaches
- At the event, know who will greet / seek out speakers and who will help get
them on stage
- Learn to pronounce their personal name & company name before you
introduce them

Recording Talks
You had great content at your event! Is this a moment only appreciable live - or
does the content live on somewhere else?
● Website
● Blog
● Github repos
● Content Recycling
● Promotions for next event

Facilitation as Content
Your facilitators or MCs are part of your
content, especially at cooperative or
activity-based events.

Searching for a Venue
Really has a lot to do with your constraints…
- # of attendees
- # of tracks
- budget
Let's look at some suggestions based on size,
which is often the biggest limiting factor

20-80 person event
Often a meetup, user group, small hack day...
- Tech company offices - often have a space this size
they lend out for free. Check where local meetups are
being held, contact those places.
- Universities - sometimes you can rent a classroom for a
low fee, or with a faculty member supporting you
potentially get one for free
- Libraries - some libraries like having tech meetups
hosted there

80-150 person event
You're too big fit neatly into most offices. What now?
- Tech Offices: There are still some tech companies that
can fit events this size. They're rare but real!
- Universities: At this size, you'll be asking to pay to rent
an auditorium
- Co-working Spaces: Is there a local co-working space
that rents out its main room for events?

150-250 person event
You keep contacting spaces that can fit up to 150, but not
more. What next?
- Universities: Still a good bet, since their auditorium rental
rates are often comparatively cheap
- Fun local spaces like movie theaters, art galleries & more:
This can be a memorable option
- Professional Venues: Permanent event spaces w/ polish
- Hotels: Your last resort unless you have a large budget -
hotels are expensive

50-100 Person Hackathon
You keep contacting spaces that can fit up to 150, but not
more. What next?
- Universities: Still a good bet, since their auditorium rental
rates are often comparatively cheap
- Tech Offices: Hackathons give them recruiting cache
- Coworking Spaces: Often expensive but a worthwhile
option

Let's talk about Hotels
- Easy to find
- Prepared & professional
- Similar / boring
- VERY expensive
- Food / AV in-house
...Negotiating with hotels is a real skill.

Hilton, New York City, 2013
Continental Breakfast - $49/person
Breakfast Buffet - $65/person
Lunch Buffet - $95/person
Coke soda/Bottled water - $6.75/each
Not listed on catering menu…
Box Lunches - $55/person

Plus, the fine print…!
- Upon request the Banquet Team will retray leftover
breakfast pastries for your break. A fee of $275.00 per
buffet will apply.
- Prices Do Not Include 8.875% sales Tax or 23%
Service/Administration Charge
- Note: Labor and Overtime Fees as Applicable Outlined
on Extra Items and Arrangements Pages
- Especially prepared Kosher meals available...a
surcharge of $50.00 per meal will apply.

In this particular example...
NYC hotel, 2013, 250 people...
Room rental - $2,500
Box lunches - $15,500
Together - $23,750 with tax and service charge
...and wifi and A/V haven't been added in yet.

Sample 1500+ person event
- $85,000 Room Rental
- $500,000 Food & Beverage Minimum (est. $622,400 spend)
- 10% off Catering
- 10% off A/V
- Complimentary Guest Room Internet
- $309 sleeping room/$299 sleeping room (3 night stay)
- 1 complimentary room per 40 occupied
- $2 rebate on each occupied sleeping room
- 15% off 25 staff rooms
- 5 premier level upgrades
- Complimentary Fitness Center

Audio/Visual
● Make a wish list of all your A/V Needs
● Hire contractors if necessary
● You can rent A/V equipment
● Discuss when choosing venue
● For Meetups, give a checklist to presenters
● Beware crossing in front of mics / speakers
● How can you adjust volume?

Audio, 150 person event w/ speakers
● 1 lavalier/wireless mic, for speakers,
enabling them to be hands-free for demos
● 1 hand-held mic, for the MC
● 1 hand-held mic, for audience questions

- Link to event page
- Purpose of event
- Est. # of attendees
- Date & time options
- Entrance fee / free
- How long event will be
- Food / drinks?
- If employees would be welcome
- A/V needs
If you're asking to use a company's office space, include:

Venue Tours
● Have a wish list
● Use floor plans
● Understanding minimums
● Negotiate!

Boston, MA
175 attendees
Revenue
1 day
total:

Boston, MA
Sponsorship revenue - $5,000
175 attendees
Revenue
1 day
total: $5,000

Boston, MA
Admission cost - $50/person
175 attendees
Revenue
1 day
Admission revenue - $6,563
total: $11,563

Boston, MA
Total Revenue - $11,563
175 attendees
Revenue
1 day
total: $11,563

Boston, MA
175 attendees
Revenue Costs
1 day
total: $11,563

Boston, MA
T-shirts - $2,503
175 attendees
Revenue Costs
1 day
total: $9,060

Boston, MA
T-shirts - $2,503
Venue + Catering - $15,000
175 attendees
Revenue Costs
1 day
total: - $5,940

Boston, MA
T-shirts - $2,503
175 attendees
Staff travel - $3,120
Revenue Costs
1 day
total: - $9,060

Boston, MA
total: - $9,060
T-shirts - $2,503
175 attendees
Total expenses - $20,623
Revenue Costs
1 day

Boston, MA
total: - $3,437
T-shirts - $2,503
175 attendees
Revenue Costs
1 day

Boston, MA
total: $3,126
T-shirts - $2,503
175 attendees
Revenue Costs
1 day

Portland, OR
total: - $3,145
Admission revenue - $0
T-shirts - $2,145
150 attendees
Staff travel - $0
Revenue Costs
1 day

London, UK
total: - $1,246
T-shirts - $3,146
220 attendees
Revenue Costs
1 day

1 day events, same structure, worldwide

Community Leadership Summit
Admission price - $0/person
Admission revenue - $0
Sponsorship revenue
Fri night at bar - $500
Sat night party - $2,000
Venue - $0
Coffee - $3,500
Equipment (past) - $2,000
Shipping - $500
Stickers - $100
Printing - $50
Incidentals - $50

Sponsors
● Sponsors can be a positive part of your event, bringing
in money to improve the attendee experience, and
adding value at the event itself
● Lots of of work - finding them, and making sure to
follow through on your promises
● For some audiences, over-exposure to sponsors can
also lessen the event experience. A thoughtful balance
is key

why sponsors will like your event
● Recruiting and Hiring
● Branding
● Lead Generation
● Community Building
● The believe in your Mission!

Sponsorships
● Make a 'sponsorship prospectus' with all the info a
potential sponsor would be interested in
● Getting sponsors is tough, and takes a lot of legwork, so
don't assume you'll be pulling money out of the air
● Determine beforehand what sponsors can or can't buy
(for example, talk slots, email to attendees, etc)
● Sponsors will need details like where to mail boxes, etc.

Sponsorship Prospectus
● Attendee Demographics
● Event metrics (past and/or future)
● Who is the target attendee?
● Purpose/mission of the event
● Why would sponsors be interested?
● Format of the event (1 day? Talks, workshops?)
● What sponsors get:
○ Levels with cost and what sponsors get for their
money (be specific)

More Examples
Here's a sample sheet you can use as you start to create yours:
https://docs.google.
com/document/d/1LXrwygRf6FJwUjE96Vs_sKobyQ2QP2GwH3V8SOX0CA4/edit#
Here's an example from Puppet Labs, for a 100-300 person event series
https://puppetlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/PuppetCampSponsorshipProspectus.pdf
Here's a lengthy example from PyCon (2500 attendees) with many examples of what a sponsorship
can buy:
https://us.pycon.org/2015/sponsors/prospectus/
Agile and Beyond example:
http://www.agileandbeyond.com/2015/sponsors/prospectus/prospectus.pdf

Booths / Vendor Tables
● Should you have them?
● Option: Fold-out tables (rented from your venue) give
you the opportunity to sell those spots to vendors
looking to bring swag and talk to attendees
● Sponsors love these!

venue is a company office, ~100 attendees, table at back of room

professional venue, ~200 attendees, table in reception/meal area

co-working space, ~150 attendees, table at side of main room

Document
Sponsors
http://bit.ly/
OSCONEVENTSWORKSHOP

Who is Your Audience?
How can you offer them the right space &
experience to engage with you, the community
leadership and others?
Create places for people to charge up, relax and
work during the day.

Positive After Parties
● Where do you hold it? will you have attendees under 21?
will you want to encourage those w families to attend?
● Choosing an activity
● Alcohol & non-alcoholic drinks
● Simultaneous options (not having the bar be the only
place to go)

Mapping the
Flow
Use your venue map
(and ideally a tour) to
map how attendees
will "flow" during the
event. How can you
improve it?

Food is important
Food is love, culture and biology!
● What’s cool? Texas BBQ!
● What’s in line with your beliefs? No Pork on my Fork!
Think about
● The mess
● Speed (box meals are fastest)
● Veggie/Vegan/GF options

Setting Expectations
On your event page:
● Code of Conduct
● Accessibility info
● Parking/transit
● Food info

Code of Conduct
You need one, and you need a good one.
● Train all staff on handling CoC violation reports
● Include CoC in speaker confirmations
● List is clearly & publically for example: on site,
handbook, announcement on stage, link on badge,
printout at reg desk…
More info + links to sample policies at: http://www.ashedryden.
com/blog/codes-of-conduct-101-faq

Family-friendly events
● Childcare
● Nursing
● Children's Activities
● Parties that include children

Go where your attendees go
● User Groups
● Newsletters
● Local Websites
● Social Media (Yeah, we said it)

Activity: Offer incentives
How can you make more people come to your
event through incentives?

Document
Incentives
http://bit.ly/
OSCONEVENTSWORKSHOP

planning
on-site problem solving

Remember: Don’t
Overlook Logistics

GoalS + Constraints =
Logistics

How do you tackle logistics?
● Stay organized from start to finish
● Use calendars
● Delegate responsibility

Logistics as a Product Launch
● Pretend like your event is a product launch
○ Project Manager
○ Milestones
○ Deadlines
○ Tasks

Milestones
● Major dates for smaller achievements
● Milestones rely on each other
● Milestones are helpful for transparency

Milestones spreadsheet
http://bit.ly/OSCON15Events

Standing Banners
Versatile:
registration, stage,
entrance, booth
$150-200 each

Schedule Printout
Don't assume
attendees will have
smartphones / wifi
Simple printouts

Signage
Where will attendees
want to go?
Consider your event's
"flow"
Don't rely on only
maps or signs
Wall vs. standing
signs

Stickers
The least
expensive swag
StickerMule.com
is your friend
Circle - 200 for $61
Die Cut - 200 for $89

Swag
Varied purposes & goals
Attendees - to remember the event by
Speakers - a thank-you gift
Staff - identifying shirts / thank-you
Consider Goal, Audience, and Cost

Build your own "Events Kit" !
● Dongles / adapters
● Pens
● Energy bars
● Sharpies
● Batteries (AA, AAA, D)
● Sticky notes
● Chapstick
● Aspirin / Ibuprofin
● Rubber bands / clips
● Tape
● Scissors / boxcutter
● You choose!
A ziplock bag filled with low-value, useful emergency items

How to Prepare
● Delegate responsibility
● Get phone numbers
● Distribute Task Lists and Phone Numbers
● Meet the day before

No event is perfect
● Things will go wrong. Something goes wrong every
event! It's normal.
● Go into the event knowing that at least one thing will go
wrong - and be excited to tackle it when it appears.
● This will help you not panic when something inevitably
goes amiss!

Document
Everything
do it for the
future

You’re Done
● Give yourself time to relax!
● Plan ahead for how you spend the
day after - you may be drained
● Reward yourself

Post-Event Survey
● Set selected answers vs. text fields
● Were they the intended audience?
● Improvements for the future
● Prize at the end

Post-Mortem
● Sit down and talk with your team
● Be honest, but not too hard on
yourself
● Review everything
● Record in original planning
document
● Did you meet your goals?

FIN
francesca@mongodb.com
kara@puppetlabs.com

Photographer
Consider hiring a professional photographer
This is obvious for large conferences, but you don't need a 1,000 person conference to
want quality photos of your event
You still need to:
- Prepare. Is there writing in your event signup that says attendees may be in
photographs? Can you legally use those photos?
- Some conferences use name badge lanyards that consent/decline photography.
Maybe you have attendees who have stalkers, are under witness protection, etc
- If you want to make sure diversity is represented in the photos, tell the
photographer. But if he's a creepy dude, he will make it creepy, trust me. Make sure
you're hiring a person who can take photos of women without making attendees
uncomfortable.

Fun activities - Caveats
Note that you can pay for fun activities, but you really have to check them over
and be involved.
Examples:
- Picking an arcade game to rent - I had to google every potential game's
look (many were racist/sexist) before choosing one.
- Photo Booths come with props - you have to hand check every prop and
anticipate what attendees will do with them.
- Contractors (like entertainment, people operating photo booths, etc) - have
an effect on your event, but may not know your audience. Help make sure
it's a positive effect.

Most important tool
in my Events kit
Saying NO.
I'm sorry, the CFP is closed. We can't just add a talk.
No thanks, a [ ] is not a good fit for our event.
That's not a good match for our attendees.
No, that party theme is going to be uncomfortable.

Volunteers
Volunteers are great! But sometimes flaky
Make sure you train them before they start
working
Give them something in return

Self Care
Taking care of yourself is key!
- Work with co-organizers
- Get rest
- Have volunteers, friends, staff, or employees specifically
scheduled to help set up and clean up afterwards

Choosing a Date
● Holidays
● Before/after a holiday weekend
● Large sporting events
● Weekday vs. Weekend

6/10 - Press Release CLOSES for edits by EOD today, 6/10 (Starfire / Team)
6/10 - Cyborg to share sponsor logos w/ Robin and Raven (Cyborg)
6/10 - Cyborg follow up with unfulfilled speakers (Cyborg)
6/10 - Determine out of the declined speakers who we'd like to offer a webinar, blog or potential
back-up talking slot to (Starfire and Team)
6/11 - Blog ready for review (Painbot and Team)
6/11 - Email ready for review (Silkie)
6/11 - Homepage Design Due at 12pm (Robin, Dave)
6/11 - Sponsor PDF designed and shared w/ Beast Boy (Robin)
6/11 - Speaker decline emails go out (Raven)
6/11 - Finish schedule build (Raven)
6/12 - Beast Boy and Dave's team to finalize all website content and design (Beast Boy / Dave)
6/12 - Final Schedule Content Review & Handover to Web Team (Raven)
6/15 - Website testing day
6/16 - Website changes goes live (schedule page, homepage, other content and bars, sponsor
logos, call to action to register by 6/30) (Beast Boy)
6/16 - Press Release goes live (Starfire)
6/16 - Email sent to company about launch (Raven)
6/16 - Blog goes live (Painbot)
6/17 - Email sent to mailing list (Silkie)
6/30 - Early Adopter discount expires

Events w/ open planning materials
Wordcamps - Casual, locally-organized conferences that focus on everything
WordPress. Because they're community-organised, their planning kit is
available to all: https://plan.wordcamp.org/
AdaCamps - Two-day unconferences dedicated to increasing women’s
participation in open technology and culture. When the program closed, they
released their event-planning toolkit: https://adacamp.org/
Consider releasing or open sourcing your event planning kit, or writing about
what you learned, what went well, what didn't, and what you'll change next year.

Learning More...
- Co-organize with others who have event
planning experience
- Volunteer to help with other events, and
watch what they do
- There are plenty of professionals you can
pay to help put on your event

bowl of "make your own trail mix" from a 200-person event, Boston

OSCON 2015 - Introduction to Planning and Running Tech Events

OSCON 2015 - Introduction to Planning and Running Tech Events

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