PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (PHILDEV)
The annual entrepreneurship symposium was PhilDev’s flagship project when I assumed leadership of the nonprofit in 2015. The organization followed the same template as the event’s previous iterations. From my observations, however, I believed that improving the participants’ experience would make the message more compelling, invigorate the movement, and elevate the brand.
During the original symposium, I made two key observations.
First, the event was set up like a traditional conference: circular tables in a large hall with panel discussions on the main stage. While tables were ideal for the lunch meal, they turned half the audience’s backs to the stage. This setup also promoted table discussion rather than focusing attention on the speakers. Throughout the day I observed that over half of the participants–especially those to the rear of the hall–had lost interest in the speakers on the main stage.
Second, the majority of the audience perked up when a panel member spoke about their experiences with entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, most of the panel discussions revolved around federal policies and academic initiatives. While these discussion topics where relevant to the nonprofit’s overall mission, they were of little interest to the majority of the audience; 60 % of whom were students and entrepreneurs looking for resources and inspiration for their ventures.
Following the event, the team conducted surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions to understand the participants’ experiences of the symposium. The findings revealed that while the academics and legislators in the audience found the topics interesting, most of the discussions did little to motivate action for the majority of the participants.
By developing user personas and user journey maps, we could understand our audience’s motivations and design more appropriate experiences.
I guided the team through a brainstorming session and affinity diagraming exercise to explore new ideas. We also attended different types of events to gather inspiration.
Engineering Students
45% of audience
How are tech-entrepreneurs building successful science or technology-based startups?
Professors
25% of audience
What can professors do to showcase the value of developing entrepreneurship studies?
Entrepreneurs
15% of audience
Who are some successful Filipino or Asian entrepreneurs we can model and how did they achieve growth?
The final event design focused on the audience's experience. The backbone of the event was comprised of TED-style talks from inspirational speakers delving into relevant topics based on our research. We also wanted to ensure that the symposium was a conversation where attendees could share their own experiences and state their opinions. Not only did this make the event more engaging, but it poised the brand to be more adaptive to its audience.
The 2016 Symposium was comprised of the following activities and design elements:
We invited over 30 tech-based startups, incubators, and university entrepreneurship labs to showcase their work. Attendees were able to get a glimpse of how existing entrepreneurs and ecosystem supporters were operating in the space while also exploring potential resources for their ventures.
Attendees were invited to join one of two audience-driven workshops (“unconferences”). Each session began with the audience discussing the most prominent obstacles around a given topic and then ideating potential solutions to address them. This participatory event allowed attendees to share their common challenges and volunteer their insights.
Six TED-style talks replaced the panel discussions of the previous symposia. Three of the talks were delivered by entrepreneurs on their individual journeys. One talk was delivered by the head of Google-Philippines on innovation opportunities around the digitization of the country. A professor from Cornell spoke about how STEM innovations in his institution find their way to investor-supported ventures. Finally, a prominent Philippine senator discussed the economic benefits of entrepreneurship and how the government sought to spur growth.
A CNN Philippines news anchor conducted a one-on-one interview with our nonprofit’s founder to explore the organization’s strategy and his vision for the future of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country.
In lieu of circular tables, we opted for a theater-style arrangement to focus attention on the stage and the presentations. To encourage networking during lunch, we set up smaller cocktail tables allowing for mingling. Startup Alley was co-located in the main hall to allow attendees to continue circulating during lunch and breaks.
The 2016 symposium was the most successful conference in the organization's history. The event led to an increase in support and donations for the nonprofit. It also led to the launching of the organization’s following initiatives:
Additionally, in a post-event survey, the symposium received the highest ratings in the nonprofit’s history with a 97% score of ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in all categories. The US Ambassador to the Philippines highlighted the program as a success story in his 2016 report to the State Department.
The overwhelming success of this event and the impact it had in increasing support for the nonprofit simply underscored the importance of customer-centered experiences to brand development. By better understanding our beneficiaries, we were able to deliver targeted value in a motivational experience. Ultimately, this served to elevate our brand across various sectors and increase our number of supporters.
