The Project
As a nationally recognized entrepreneur support organization, JumpStart equips tech startups and small businesses with the skills, services and support they need to grow and thrive.
The Background:
I joined the JumpStart team as the Event & PR Coordinator. As an entrepreneurial support organization, keeping the community engaged is a critical ongoing goal. I was tasked with refreshing the community events to increase participation and reinventing the annual conference, which had been stagnant for the past several years.
My Role:
As the event coordinator, I created a new calendar of events that featured a mix of workshops, coaching, and networking events to engage the community on different levels. For the annual conference, I envisioned a neighborhood-wide entrepreneurial festival to get the community out and engage additional small businesses. The event featured over 30 programs across 15 venues. I produced all of these new events from soup to nuts, including logistics, vendors, and partner relationships.
Decisions:
The new annual event, named Starup Scaleup, was a massive undertaking, requiring the participation of the full staff and numerous community partners to bring it to life. Getting stakeholder buy-in was a particular challenge, which led me to devise a plan to allow each partner their own individual branded events throughout the day. I also created a mechanism to involve several restaurants in the neighborhood by creating a food ticketing system for attendees. Building this event from scratch allowed me to be adaptable and get creative to successfully navigate and develop such a complex undertaking.
Outcomes:
My new calendar of events increased event participation 25% for the year. Startup Scaleup, was a newsworthy event, gaining local press and increasing attendee numbers from 600 to 1000 in the first year. I continued to host the annual event for the next three years, first as a staff member, then as a contractor. By the time I had concluded my work on the conference in 2017, it had grown to a 1600-person event.
