A Line of 1500 People: The Perils of Prioritizing Technology over Process
Last week Spigot Labs had the honor of helping out Denver Startup Week with their job fair. It was a huge event for us — great visibility, run by an organization we believe in, and an opportunity to make a big impact at a large event. We spent a lot of time preparing. Many late hours went into testing the latest round of code changes, designing and prepping the RFID wristbands, and crafting our communication to drive maximum user engagement.
Our technology performed perfectly, the job fair was the largest Denver Startup Week event in its 5 year history… but the event was a failure for Spigot Labs.
I’m learning quickly that success in the event industry is largely dependent on your perspective. In this case, we delivered exactly what was promised, but failed to deliver it to all 1500+ people who arrived at the job fair, and their perspective is the one that matters most.
Event registration is physics
Event registration can be distilled down to one simple concept: rate of flow. Job fairs by their very nature encourage people to arrive early — maximize the time you have to visit with the hiring companies! At last week’s event, the majority of candidates arrived during the first hour, and the line for registration quickly extended around the Denver Center for Performing Arts and down along 14th Street. At 6:45pm, 45 minutes after the doors opened, we stopped handing out Spigot Labs wristbands, and invited those people lined up outside to “come on in.”
We simply did not have the required rate of flow at the registration tables.
Registration speed per table ≈ 2 attendees per minute
Number of registration tables = 4
Attendees registered per hour = (2 * 4) * 60= 480 attendees
We were attempting to register 1500 attendees at a rate of 480 attendees per hour. The event would have been mostly over by the time all the attendees were registered.
“Sure is a cheerful color. Guess I’ll have to get used to it.” — Eeyore
Yes, I’m disappointed that I didn’t see 1500 job candidates tapping their wristbands instead of handing out sad paper resumes. With that said, there were a lot of things to be proud of at this event.
- 1785 users registered for the fair at the Denver Startup Week site
- 431 of those logged into Spigot Labs
- 332 uploaded their resumes
These numbers don’t put into context the amazing conversations I had with people before, during, and after the event. Recruiters were eager to see how job fairs could be brought into the 21st century. Candidates couldn’t believe that their resume and their entire online presence could fit on a paper wristband. The concept and the technology resonated with people on both sides of the table.
Feedback rolled in via email, LinkedIn messages, and tweets.
Much of this I attribute to the Boulder/Denver Startup scene, and the people that come together for Denver Startup Week every year. I’m truly honored to be a part of this community, and enjoy each and every conversation with others in Boulder/Denver who are working to build something new, piece by piece.
The Road Ahead
A cadre of Spigot-ers joined me at the job fair including friends, family, and co-workers. I’m fortunate to be surrounded by people that are “fixers”. When confronted with a problem, all they see are solutions.
After the dust had settled, and the registration line had disappeared, we all got to work brainstorming how to fix our little flow problem. The solutions varied widely, but they all boiled down to distribution of work. Distributing registration across more tables would help (50 tables would have been able to register all 1500 attendees in 15 minutes), but what if you could distribute registration across the 1500 smart phones that were standing in line?
We’ve started designing our next generation registration process which will have support for some level of self-registration. The technology is always the easy part, it’s the process that requires real work.
I’m excited for what’s on the horizon — maybe next year we’ll hit 2000 attendees? I can’t wait to see all those wristbands.
Little by little, one travels far. — JRR Tolkien
