This time last year, Introduced was just a wild idea that I was pitching to the Technically Media cofounders.
The goal? To bring together our wider community in an event that had something for everyone, reflected our daily editorial (both through Technical.ly and Generocity) and was a true conference housed within Philly Tech Week.
And, selfishly, to alleviate some of the midweek drain my three-person team experiences doing five to seven days of events back to back — just blend them into one!
There would be content covering all of our different editorial themes (or tracks) including Media, Creative, Access, Civic, Sciences and Business. (Dev would still own its own separate conference day.) Attendees would find topics that matched their personal career goals and interests as well as topics that contributed to a greater citywide lens of growth and innovation.
In our first year, we hosted notable speakers such as Todd Carmichael of La Colombe, Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital (before she made her Fast Company cover debut!) and Wil Reynolds of Seer Interactive, plus reps from companies such as Campbell’s, Honeygrow, SAP, Comcast, Hershey’s and more.
In addition to three rooms of simultaneous content (24 hours total with 100+ speakers), we had a rotating demo floor attendees could visit throughout the day, a Comcast Lift Labs Lounge and curated one-on-one meetings with founders, purchasers and venture capitalists.
Some of my personal favorite comments about our inaugural year?
- “Just wanted to give a shout-out to the #intro18 conference for, in the four panels I saw (one of which, full disclosure, I was on) having more diversity than I’ve seen at other tech conferences, period.” — David Dylan Thomas, Think Company
- “My head is still spinning almost a week out of @TechnicallyPHL #intro18 but in the most energizing way possible. So much love, hustle, and inspiration across the board. Also writing this while sipping my mocha draft latte from @LaColombeCoffee – am I an honorary Philadelphian?” — Katrina Rios, emocha Mobile Health
- “Kudos to the @Technical_ly team in an outstanding #Intro18 Conference. What a stellar addition to the Philly Tech Week lineup #PTW18” — Jeanne Mell, then with University City Science Center
AND, the tweet that I may or may not have screen-shotted and saved to my desktop?
#Intro18 is the conference that I’ve been waiting to see in Philly. #PTW18 pic.twitter.com/X25s5fFdgq
— Liz Brown ??????? (@lizbrownsays) May 3, 2018
But hey, if all that didn’t impress you, just come and see it for yourself because Introduced by Technical.ly is BACK in 2019 and will take place on Thursday, May 9, at Convene CityView (which, if I say so myself, is a super pretty space).
The price will be increasing for year two, but for one day only, Black Friday, you’ll be able to register at the 2018 rate — $100 for general admission.
Use the code “turkeyday” at checkout this Friday, Nov. 23, to get your ticket.
More announcements to come, but don’t miss this special deal!
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