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Compared two venue types for a tech conference and the winner surprised me
I ran a 200 person tech meetup in Austin last quarter and tested a hotel ballroom against a coworking space. The hotel had better AV gear but the vibe was dead, people just sat there. Coworking space had basic mics and a projector but the energy was way higher and we sold 40 more tickets for the next one. I think the open layout made people mingle more naturally. Anyone else find that casual spaces work better for B2B events?
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the_matthew23d ago
Kill the rows next time and see if the hotel works better.
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henrycooper23d ago
Hotel ballrooms have this weird formality that kills conversation (everyone feels like they're at a wedding they don't want to be at). The coworking space probably had that coffee shop buzz that makes people actually want to talk to strangers. Maybe the real lesson isn't that casual spaces are better, but that sitting in rows listening to slides is just a bad way to network.
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