17 Nov 2011 Microstock Expo – My Experience Creating an Industry Conference

The first Microstock Expo took place in Berlin earlier this month, produced by Amos Struck and myself.   Attended by over 150 people, 20 microstock agencies, 12 traditional agencies and 8 service providers, the room was jumping!

Lee Torrens and Amos Struck opening the Microstock Expo 2011 Conference

The program was extremely well received and the speakers did a fantastic job sharing their expertise.   Feedback from the event overall has been overwhelmingly positive, confirming our decision to make Microstock Expo an annual event!

It’s an Honor

For me personally, the biggest success that came out of Microstock Expo was the response from the industry.

Sponsorship sold out in under two weeks.

Speakers were enthusiastic and we had no trouble filling the program with top experts on each topic.

We also had 12 great exhibitors fill the large expo room.

And of course ticket sales were solid from the day we announced the event right through to some walk-ins on the opening day.

The fact that such an enthusiastic response was generated for an event with no history, and created by two first-time event producers, was a true honor for me. Thankyou to everyone for your confidence in us.

Conference attendees make their way back into Microstock Expo

Thankyou!

Those who attended the event are likely already tired of hearing me say this, but thankyou to everyone who was involved and supported us.

Thanks to all the sponsors for their financial support without which the event could not have taken place. They all came on board very early, taking a leap of faith that the event would deliver value on their money.

Thanks to all the speakers for giving us the content that made it so easy to sell tickets. Lending us your name to promote the event, traveling to Berlin, and then delivering such well-prepared presentations ensured attendees got great value for their money.

Speakers of the Microstock Lifestyle session at Microstock Expo

Thanks to the exhibitors who enthusiastically shared their products and services with the audience and provided so many cool give-aways.

Demonstration of the Pixolution search technology at Microstock Expo

Thanks to all the attendees who came and participated so enthusiastically in the event.   It was great to have so many people from different parts of the industry and different parts of the world there to share viewpoints.

Robert Kneschke speaking during the audience discussion at Microstock Expo

Thanks to Vita Valka for the amazing design of the brand, the program and all the attractive visuals for the event.

Thanks to Mark Milstein for sending us Adam Berry who shot such wonderful photos of the entire event.

Thanks also to the great staff at the hotel and the amazing Audio-Visual team who made the event so slick and professional.

Thanks to Ellen Struck who took so much of the logistics off our hands with the badges, showbags and registration, and Julia Struck for additional registration support.

Ellen Struck counting down the PitchFest time limit

Thanks to Luis Alvarez for organizing the iStockphoto Fashion Shoot Workshop which was very popular with the participants who got some great stock shots out of it.

Stock photo produced at the iStockphoto Fashion Workshop at Microstock Expo (Copyright Andresr)

Thanks to Willie Thomas for his hospitality, organizing an impromptu stock shoot and the awesome moving-camera time-lapse videos of the conference (coming soon).

Most of all, a personal thankyou from me to Amos Struck, my business partner on the event and close personal friend, for being passionate enough about the event to make it happen, and organized enough to have it ready with just five months preparation!

Photos and Videos

We’re putting most of the official photos from the event on the Facebook page and there’s some more on Twitter too.

We have 16 hours of HD video footage of the event which we’ll make available for online purchase as soon as we finish cutting it and get it uploaded. This is no small task!

Group shot of some of the speakers of Microstock Expo 2011

Press Coverage & Feedback

There’s already a lot of press coverage about the event.   Here’s some that we’ve spotted so far:

• Our own post at Microstock Expo
• Microstock Group Live thread
• Giorgio Fochesato, here and here and here (translate button at the top)
• Robert Kneschke: What I learned at Microstock Expo
• CEPIC: First Microstock Expo in Berlin was a success
• Pictorial Online

The feedback we’re receiving from attendees is surprisingly consistent. Lots of enthusiastic feedback praising the program & speakers, the professionalism of the production, and the great hotel. Most of all, many people are using the word “fun” which is something we worked hard to embed in all aspects of the event.

Audience watching the action at Microstock Expo 2011

Check out some of the comments we pulled from Facebook and Twitter on the Microstock Expo post-event blog post.

Thanks to all the attendees who’ve provided feedback so far. Please keep it coming.

Microstock Expo 2012

The decision to repeat the event was made around the time the sponsorship sold out.   At that time we knew there was interest and everything that followed confirmed that.

There’s still some big decisions to make about 2012, such as where in the world to do it, what time of year, and weekend or during the week.   But we’ve already decided to include tracks for photo, video and illustration, with more hands-on workshops and longer portfolio review sessions.

If you’re not already subscribed to the Microstock Expo mailing list, be sure to do so to get the updates on the video and hear the announcements for the next event.

Thanks again to everyone involved and I look forward to welcoming you again to #MEXPO 2012!

Lee Torrens and Amos Struck at the conclusion of Microstock Expo 2011