GET Exploration Day: Using Campground as an Event Hub

“ My favorite experience was actually getting to meet some of the people I reached out to before the event started, because Campground clearly listed all the attendees that were coming and I got to reach out ahead of time. I think I may have found a life-long friend because of this opportunity!” 

- GET Exploration Day Attendee

Introduction:

GET Cities Exploration Day is an annual event that provides an opportunity for early career tech professionals from Chicago to learn about and join extracurricular groups working to advance equity in tech, learn from amazing speakers with shared lived experiences, and solve problems together – which is how real connections get made. The event focused on engaging participants that reflect the full diversity of the Chicago tech ecosystem and strongly encourage women, trans, or nonbinary technologists, particularly those who are also Black, Latino/a, Indigenous, disabled, and/or LGBTQIA+.

GET Cities is a national initiative designed to accelerate the power and influence of historically excluded people and places in tech through ecosystem alignment and activation to build a more equitable and vibrant economy. GET Cities launched in 2020, powered by SecondMuse Foundation, with catalytic funding from Pivotal Ventures and in partnership with Break Through Tech.

Challenges Faced by GET Exploration Day:

Before Campground, the organizers of the event had no central hub for event attendees to connect and store event  information. 

• After managing registration using Lu.Ma, the organizers would have to rely solely on emails to share all information

• Presenters would always ask "how do I share this presentation after?"

• At in-person events, a common issue is "I don't have a business card but i want to connect"

How GET Exploration Day used Campground:

As organizers: (As shared by Allison James, Senior Program Manager at GET Cities Chicago) 

• I really liked it for having everything in one spot. It was very easy to use on my end. 

• We had little QR codes so people could sign up there if they wanted to

• It was a great tool for the presenters. We could upload their decks and schedule them to be posted after their presentations. 

Participants: 

• They used Campground as a way to see who was going to be at the sessions, make connections

• These were all early career folks - eased some anxieties around networking! 

• People were actually doing this live and scrolling through on their phone

Implementing Campground was quick

• Directory organized by participant type (including the event organizers and participants) 

• Resource hub for all decks, free resources, career links, and more

• Sessions organized the day-of breakout sessions and allowed participants to browse which sessions they might want to attend day of, learn more about the speakers

• All event assets such as Code of Conduct, Day-of Agenda, and more were stored as well 

Benefits and Outcomes:

All 175 participants + 32 Tech Equity Network members had profiles

130 people used the platform actively to prepare or during the event (63%) 

• Going beyond Event Registration to Creating a Sustained Community: Campground allowed GET Exploration Day to be more than just a day-of event; it allowed the community to have a space to connect before, during, and after the event.
  
  
  

• Organizer Efficiencies: Having one place to store all event assets, session information, and attendee information in a very simple and user-friendly space helped the organizers immensely. This also saved $$ – the alternative would have been spending up to $10K on an overly-designed conference platform, whereas our events system was $250 per month.
  
  
  

• Metrics and Tracking: Event registration platforms only track registration and maybe attendance, but what about the engagement during the event? Campground helped track the usage of the platform and connections made. 

What’s next?

We're exploring the use of Campground to maintain their ongoing Tech Equity Network communication and collaboration activities. Campground allows them to have different ‘spaces’ for a one-day event vs. ongoing programs, and would function like a bulletin board, directory, and newsletter generator for this coalition of orgs. 

Allison: “My interest is preserving a common place for this network to be a network - a landing spot that doesn’t require much admin.”