If you’re looking for the short answer, then obviously it’s a no.
I think about titles a lot that’s all. Possibly so I can get your click, and increase our re-marketing audiences.
Just kidding, but Techila Con did come out of the mindset of experimentation loving, and it was just a Trello card in “Ideas Bank” one day. I’ll tell you about 6 points why Techila Con can be legitimately defined as an experiment. A handful of the organizers were exposed or are already working in growth teams. (FYI, ex and current Instabug, so if you want to do growth, join Instabug.)
Wait, what is Techila Con?
Techila Con is a series of tech events that started to take place in 2020, powered by a collaboration between Startups Galaxy and Code Geist. The first kick off was Techila Con Online, which took place in 12-13 June. Multiple partners then joined, like EGDroid, Swift Camp, Ministry of Testing, The Product Guys, Startups Without Borders and more. We had speakers from all around the world, and sponsors who made sure they also provided discounts to all the participants. Everyone engaged in a great way. We got lots of positive feedback throughout the event from corporate and startups alike. No event is perfect though, and we collected more insights on what every sponsor, partner, speaker, attendee and moderator had to say. That will surely make the next Techila Con experiment better!
Since I do love testing, experimenting and analyzing, I decided to look back at Techila Con and see what could qualify it as a growth experiment.
1. It was based on data
Techila Con didn’t come out of the blue. We spent weeks making surveys, doing interviews and collecting all this data to come up with the event direction. We had qualitative and quantitative outputs come out of the this research phase. We learned where the gap is, and what needs to be done, and then we went and did that.
2. It was an MVP
Techila Con Online was a great Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for a potential bigger and large scale event. We have to thank COVID-19 for teaching us this adapting lesson which turned to be much more beneficial than we thought. Taking the conference online meant we could work on the content we provide, the engagement levels, analysis and much more without worrying about the beating hassle of operations in an offline event. Thanks to Eventtus, we were able to have a full virtual event. Learning about preferences, habits and opening up discussions means we can have another online, or our first offline event with much better thinking and numbers to start.
3. It had one metric
Registrations. That was our main metric, for the whole event and definitely they will remember this, the marketing team. We wanted to see how relevant this event is and rate our reach and content. So therefore, our work would be defined by how many people would register and attend such an event. The output was fascinating. We were about 160% above our predictions! What we learned though was that we should probably include sub-metrics too. There are other important numbers we should also take care of.
4. It had a mini funnel
Social media and PR mentions would lead to website traffic, which would lead Register clicks, which redirected to a landing page to purchase ticket, and finally confirmation. This is why website traffic was important, and so was the outreach that required us and everyone involved to make sure they share one thing: techilacon.com. On a less obvious note, actually every Techila Con design template had the website neatly in the bottom corner. Perhaps you never noticed it, but the hundreds of users who directly typed “techilacon.com” in the URL or Google could have potentially seen it. Even though there is no clear way to know, but direct and clear communication from the start always wins the funnel.
5. It was limited by budget
We had a 0 EGP budget on day 1 up to another very far away day. That meant we have to think with what we have, and even when we had sponsors, we also had to abide by their KPIs. Which meant that we had to be super output focused. It’s about goals and how to achieve them. In the worst of cases where we do not achieve these KPIs, then we must stop doing Techila Con because it means it was neither a success experiment by our terms or by the sponsors terms. We had to make sure our campaigns for focused for goals. Registrations and KPIs by the sponsors.
6. It was built on partnerships
I think this is one of the turning points of the events, and that was collaboration and support. Growth experiments do not work in vacuums, and working with others helps you learn, get more definition and definitely also supports you. Even though many see partnerships as a non-growth oriented strategy, I personally believe that partnerships, especially in this region, play a vital role. The society’s communal preferences are of utmost importance when you are trying to make something that works. Some experiments can do wonders when they are in collaboration with others. The output is this event is made by everyone.
The first Techila Con family.
Not finished yet
There are still a lot of tasks we need to do and followups when it comes to both Techila Con Online and Techila Con. We have a hackathon coming up as well as a few webinars, engagement and communications. If you would like to stay updated, follow the website, Facebook or Instagram accounts.
We all learned something new ourselves. The team attended sessions, and were refreshed ready to fight and grow another day. I hope if you attended Techila Con as a speaker, attendee, sponsor or partner, you liked what you saw or it got you excited.
It’s just the beginning.
