Conferencing in the Ideal Way: From an Event Organizer's POV | Erica Kang - KryptoPlanet

[Music] [Music] oh hello oh can you hear me hi uh my name is Erica King I'm the founder of crypto Planet thank you for being here I know there's not all time so I'll just go in straight ahead um this title is very rare I don't think there many talks on conferencing and this is a massive conference so I really um as a newb especially I really highly recommend that you listen to my talk and just see how you want to navigate conferencing in the right way from a event organizer perspective so a little intro about myself um I worked in crypto since 2018 I plan a ton of events um starting in Korea uh about uh 2018 started over I think a t total of 80 events uh started a conference brand called B Asia in Korea um ongoing and started to eat Soul hack at him um and all sorts of uh new events series um in Korea also Lisbon um and everywhere else so I'm kind of all here and there all over the world doing my own brand um having connecting a allot the founders uh and builders in the space amazing people and amazing Vibes so it kind of equals to like 7y year PhD in events I think I kind of mastered in like um I have a degree in events I would say and I know a lot of you know I have done a lot of field studies especially in uh event planning coordinating and so I want to kind of share this is what I've done in the past uh eat soul and this is like literally this year two months ago I hosted a for my first Biddle Europe in Lisbon um which was my first conference outside of South Korea which was very mindboggling but I think it was a great hit um I would love you know for you guys to come at one point it's a very like curated um like cozy size of Founders Builders connecting and I think created amazing Vibes I think if You' been there you would have felt it yourself as well um and so I would like to kind of talk about how to navigate conferences from two perspectives from an organized perspective who organizes events and also from attending perspective first of all so as a as a organizer I don't know if there's any organizers or organizer wnab bees ah hey but um event organizing is hard uh especially like not like it's very underrated a lot of people you know think it's easy but it's really not and it's a lot of competition as well um but I would like to say that I since I created my own brand from scratch um I try to think what is original uh meaning what can I add value to uh not like copy catting like you know not copying and pasting what others are doing I it could be a good start but I think you really have to find out what you're good at and what you can add value in creating a event series or something doesn't need to be small doesn't need to be big it could be small and I you know did small study groups I did small like um you know meetups from like 20 people 30 people and it was still good quality and I think people had a good Vision okay this is a really good value adding event and it starts from there it doesn't need to be humongous I mean this is like huge but I think you know to be a successful event organizer I think side doesn't matter and so you need a really Clear Vision on what you want to create you have to visualize it in your head and then execute you just don't like you don't just you know create an event without any type of a clear picture what you want to do who you want to invite who you want which narrative you want to have and also I would like to say that many people assume that when you start event organizing you should earn a lot of money in the beginning it rarely happens you it's actually a good it's a plus if you don't if you break even it's actually a good outcome in the first one um I almost lost money in the first big conference and I was scared to death but I kept at it because it was a very good outcome it was very good content people loved it so I was like okay I'll do the next one I'll be courageous I'll start with the next one and I took leverage of the first good sample and then took it back to next year and as a result honestly it was a very massive success not that I earned ton of money back in a next year but still it was a gradual uh Improvement and I think keeping consistency also also making it better each time it really makes a huge difference in the longer run and I kept at it for seven straight years and even now I'm still um trying to find ways to improve it year by year uh and not really obsessing about how much money I'm making uh per time and so I would consider the first few events at least as an investment uh as like in terms of my time my effort it's a portfolio to what I'm going to what I'm going to be good at in the future years so I mean you can invest I think it's worth an investment for sure and I think it's a it's my asset for example not financial asset but it's a it's a good portfolio to have um so what works is that curation is everything right I mean curating everything not only speakers sponsors that's that's a you know that's a norm but also attendees I create attendees as well believe it or not but I think it's really important because attendees add value by networking with each other by like looking around the room and saying oh you know this person around and you talk to the person and if you add value if you have like amazing things that going on you think like hey this event actually added value to my my my day you know and I think it creates a good memory in the tendy's head and so they keep coming back to your event uh so I have a solid number of people that keeps coming back that keeps sponsoring that keeps speaking because they trust in my events and they know that my curation is pretty good and so um yeah I'm pretty uh I'm pretty I'm very sure that this will um as a result be a value add to your event curation also content is of course the most important thing as well um I create all my agenda uh I took care of all the talk topics who's going to be on the fireside chat who's going to be moderating I choose everything and it's very small details but it really matters you have to find the right fit and you have to find who's Mo who's good at moderating so it's a lot of work um but I think delegation to another person is limited I think for the first time you to really really like hone down find the people you really want to like speak at the event and really um uh focus on the to topics as well and yeah the whole experience The Vibes you know the events not just about the talks it's about like who's around you what's going on who's singing you know who's you know eating what right and it's all about the experience the holistic experience and my job as an organizer is to curate everything like the whole experience so for example I'll tell you later the venue choice so this is an example the venue Choice um um I mean this is a massive venue so I wouldn't say this is a wrong venue but I mean it's a lot of things going on so I wouldn't say anything bad or anything but noise you know separation is very important I'm like literally yelling right now to the crowd but still it's pretty small right um and it's not a good it's not good for the speaker and it's not for the audience as well I would highly recommend to separate networking area and the talk area that's like a must 10one to do but not many events do that to be honest um and so I would highly recommend that you do that if you organize anything um and also feeding people very important and people get hangry you know it's not very good um even though talk is good they'll get hangry I mean they've dehydrated so it's not a good sign so especially strong Wi-Fi as well I mean there's Wi-Fi here but it could be a little weak so you know I think reinforcing the Wi-Fi network is also prerequisite as well also um act like the host so I'm host most of the time so usually like even though I'm not the organizer at this event I'm usually very accommodating and I'm I I'm I act like a host every single time and it shows so when they enter my event for example I'm very welcoming so I I like I smile until like my mouth I smile really you know fully and everyone really enjoys that I talk to them in person one onone and the little connections that really matter right and it really leaves a strong impression on the attendees they want to keep coming back because they're welcomed um and so I try my best to make sure that they're welcome in my own event so what doesn't work um it could be a not popular opinion but I'm just going to say it uh quality over quantity um I know like a lot of event or like assessment of an event successful event is number of attendees who how many attended the event you know thousand people 10,000 people I mean it's important yes it's very important but I kind of disagree um it doesn't really guarantee the quality of an event it doesn't guarantee the pleasant experience of an event um and I think it's a good metric it's oneof a metric but it cannot be the absolute metric so instead I would highly recommend that you focus on the quality and you assess that everything is good quality so I never obsess on the size or number uh I just more like obsess about The Vibes the whole holistic experience um so sponsorship so I know like money is also like a lot of money goes into events um it's a lot of production it's a lot uh and sponsorship could be a very very tricky like very sensitive uh issue it doesn't make me go to sleep at night you know it's like it's really hard to sell sponsorships and to the right people too and I think it's very care you should be very careful in selling sponsorships to projects uh I really curate my sponsors as well I make sure that I trust my sponsors that I respect my sponsors uh because otherwise it may lead to some unpredicted you know unpredictable consequences for example like Shilling the project at the event which I don't want which I hate and so uh I make sure that we're aligned the sponsors and I are aligned and they're good quality so that they can deliver good content as well not just chill or hype or which is not bad but you know um and also uh be careful I also um I'm very careful who I share the event to as well so I I said i i c the attendees as well and because it has to be uh targeted to the Right audience the who I want to be who I want to Target for example developers students you know women you know like a lot of groups that are really value adding or um that are underrated or that are um you know just really meaningful I really tend to just like focus on those groups as well uh make sure that they're included um and so I just I mean it's a I usually don't might put I don't put my side of on like the massive spreadsheet usually which is like a I don't know not may people do it but I sometimes do because I want like to create one every one of my attendees sometimes um which is not popular but still it's a it's what I do U and it usually works really well um as a result and next uh shortly this uh from an attendance perspective you're all here to attend maybe to talk or to sponsor uh but everyone's here to like enjoy right um and just for newbies it could be for non- newbies it could be for experts or uh anybody who's here for like a year five right um but just you know few reminders uh is that uh so one so crypto is full of conferences as you have all experienced and are sick of or whatever it's like it's a lot and even for myself I do a full analysis of what's going on in the entire year so I can plan my also all own own events and you have to be careful how to like know strategically divide your your plan your year because it's a lot if you follow everything that everyone's going to you're going to be exhausted and so um I would highly recommend that you like focus on the topics or regions that you really want to focus on because there's too many going on you can't do everything so just give it up and just focus on the ones that really want to like go for so for example if it's like a salana conference ethereum conference like really kind of go for that as well also specific speakers um or sponsors or even topics right if it's an AI conference right AI crypto conference um yeah so kind of developer conference uh I would like go like hone down on that rather than just trying to do everything it's a lot so and yeah and like also for E Denver as well it's my fifth year this year so it's it's been always good to come back but it's a lot to handle right so but I think for newbi it's really good to look at the booth area because the booth area is filled with like sponsors that are willing to talk talk to you that want to explain to you about their protocol really nicely and so I think it's a good way to learn about the industry really well as well if you go around and side events could be distracting but it could be a value adding thing I know there's many good side events around here like hundreds um it's hard to choose them but also make sure that you're focused here on the main event as well and divide your time wisely so you don't wear out basically and like plan your day accordingly so that you only do one or two side events a day or something like that um so you don't get sick throughout the week it's a bit you know people get sick throughout the week so it's it's it's a lot and uh much time uh and yeah sharing tweets feedbacks about the event I will be very helpful to get like more awareness more engagement with the organizers and sponsors so that'll be helpful but yeah just um feel free to enjoy I'm kind of done right now but the theory of conferencing is underrated but is very important so hope you enjoy e Denver and the rest of the year conference and and yeah thank you for thankk you for listening and let's connect on Twitter or email thank you so much [Applause]