Case Study
How Rails World conference fosters networking for attendees
Rails Foundation - the non-profit behind Ruby on Rails web development framework - has been using Curated Connections at their annual conference for years now. This is special for us because Curated Connections itself is built using Ruby on Rails.
Meet, Amanda Perino
Amanda is Executive Director at The Rails Foundation where one of her responsibilities is organising the annual Rails World conference.
In this case study, Amanda tells us how she uses Curated Connections to enable powerful connections between conference attendees.
Q. Why do you use Curated Connections for the Rails World conference?
Amanda: We use Curated Connections before our in-person Rails World conference to match attendees and give them the opportunity to meet up virtually before traveling in-person to the venue.
When we polled before attending our conference, we saw that for a significant percentage of attendees, Rails World is their first Ruby conference. On top of that, up to 25% are fairly new to the Rails community entirely. By organising a pre-conference networking program, we can help ease some of the nerves that an arise from walking to an event that you’ve never attended before.
For first-time attendees, it is a really valuable ice-breaker. They are able to travel to the event already knowing at least one familiar face. This could make all the difference to someone’s experience at Rails World.
This allows us to start the conference excitement weeks out.
Q. What do the members say about this networking perk?
Amanda: The Ruby community especially loves the “hallway track” at events, and they value the time they get to spend together catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. Curated Connections is a great warm up/extension to that.
When attendees participate, they do often mention it as a point in “What I liked” in the post-event survey. Right up there with food, atmosphere, and people. :)
Q. Would you recommend Curated Connections to other event organizers?
Amanda: Curated Connections is a great way to drum up anticipation for your event and give attendees the opportunity to get to know others in a more quiet, personal setting before entering a 1,000 person conference. It’s a no brainer.
It’s so straightforward to set up and launch, and the team is great. We’ll definitely use this again next year.
- Creating a networking program before the conference can be a great way to improve the experience for attendees. Especially if your conference sees lots of first-time attendees.
- Networking is the top reason why people come to in-person events. By ensuring they know atleast one familiar face, you can ensure that the event is a success for them.
- Stop leaving attendee connections to chance and use a tool like Curated Connections. Create a pre-event program, invite attendees to it and watch them form meaningful connections on autopilot.