The Review: Conference Scoring System
Author: Dayana Preval
We often see podcast conferences and festivals and we ask ourselves, is it worth the price? The worst feeling is to spend money on a conference, only to walk away feeling like you’ve learned nothing new.
What if there was a way to know what you were getting beforehand? Something that gave you insight based on key elements that you valued? Well, that’s what we aim to provide our community with our Event Review Scale. We created this scale to provide a detailed overview of podcasting events. We truly want our community to get the most out of each event; while providing events with a rubric of how they can improve going forward.
Our event review scale will cover three main areas totaling to a score of 25 points.
Information: 10 points
Social: 6 Points
Diversity & Inclusion: 9 points
Information
When paying for conferences many want to know that they will learn something. Yes, you may want to meet new people, but I’m not sure if you’d want to spend $200+ just to socialize.
Audience Engagement (2)
This may seem basic, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to not properly allocate time for attendees to ask questions or have an opportunity to share their thoughts on the topic. Often times the audience can equally learn from those on the stage and those right next to them.
Impact of Information (4)
In this area, we want to make sure that resources shared are useful and provides actionable next step'; and not just something you can find via a Google search. This means were clear actionable instructions given that anyone in attendance could leave and do on their own?
Speaker Knowledge (2)
Did the speakers make you say AHA? Did you feel like the information you found can’t easily be found online? Speakers are the meat of any conference, so it’s necessary for the information to be fruitful and actionable.
Social Activities
Now as much as we want to make sure we get the information we need to grow our platforms, no one wants to attend a snoozefest. All good conferences offer a good mixture of information sharing and fun.
Entertainment (2)
Entertainment could be anything from a live podcast show, a comedy podcast performing, a DJ, anything fun to balance out all of the intense information at a conference.
Breakout Engagement (2)
Aside from information sharing that you would expect from a conference, theirs also the opportunity to expand your network. So it’s important that conferences curate mixers and breakout sessions that bring attendees together.
Avenues to Connect After (2)
Okay, so you got your resources, made some connections, now what? A lot of conferences are supposed to inspire, but sometimes, we need a little more motivation outside of the conference. We want attendees to feel like they are a part of a community when it’s all said and done.
Diversity/Inclusion: 9 points
Diverse Speakers (2)
Diversity and inclusion go beyond what you look like, it encompasses your cultural background, age, sexual orientation, abilities, and where you are within your process. In our creative journey, our paths look different, so having resources that connect with who you are is a must.
Diverse range of topics (2)
As podcasting continues to grow, new careers are arising from being a host, podcast editor, and more. Yet there’s not a lot of data out there about podcasting outside of being a host. So we want to see where conferences speak to the various components of the podcast production process.
Diverse Attendees (2)
No one wants to spend a lot of money to feel out of place; hence, we look to see if each attendee felt seen at the conference? With every event (unless geared towards a specific group) people want to see themselves in the space.
Diverse Production Team (3)
In order for an event to truly be inclusive, it has to start from the top on down. So we are looking to see diversity within the production team. This means a board of people with varying backgrounds etc.