Learning your lessons

Sometimes things don’t turn out quite as you had expected. A Tuesday evening in Hexham was one of them. I’ve long got myself hung up on numbers when planning events, worried that nobody would turn up, indeed I often say once there are more in the audience than speakers I can start to relax. But why focus on numbers? Surely it is the quality that matters. I guess the issue has been around feeling that what we are doing is of value and looking respectable in the market. Yet who is judging? I know the answer to that one.

I have long hoped that we, CyberNorth that is, would be able to put on events outside of the main urban areas. Newcastle and Sunderland are easier to arrange but what about those people in the further flung parts of the region? After all, Northumberland and Durham are large areas with many smaller towns and villages. Are the issues around cyber security not real to them too?

As part of #CyberFest last year we had hoped to put on something in Hexham with the support of Advance Northumberland. Again numbers weren’t good and so we decided to postpone. When using other organisation’s money it is only reasonable that they see a return.

When the chance came to be part of the new Tech NExt festival I resurrected the idea but trimmed my ambition to go for a smaller, twenty or so attendee event, working with SameSpace, a co-working facility in the town. After a lot of marketing and effort, the numbers were still not great but we decided to go ahead anyway.

In the end there were a dozen of us in the room, on a warm summer’s evening, talking about cyber security. It turned out to be one of the best events I have ever attended. The audience were engaged, the talks were great and the questions kept coming, so much so that we nearly ran out of time.

I need to learn my lessons about events. Large doesn’t always mean good and quality wins everytime. On my way out one of those attending asked when we would put on another event in Hexham. That’s something I’ll have to think about.