Some things stop you dead in your track when you suddenly realize it. For me, this was realizing that TroubleMaker is not just one year back in Huaqiangbei, but we are actually NINE freaking years alive! Time to party and celebrate with all of you!
Technically, we started renting a tiny room in Huaqiangbei in May 2016. We took 2 months to prepare and organized an official opening party on July 9th, 2016. An hour before the start of the event four Shenzhen newspapers joined our press conference.
Since then, we have received over 17,000 people, survived more than three years of lock-down, and moved into our new lab in Huaqiangbei where we can provide way more value to our members than ever before!
So, when international group of founders wanted to visit us on Thursday July 24th to meet with people from our community, we decided to make their experience unforgettable and organized our 9th anniversary on that day.
This is what happened next when we announced the party...
Our community
- 118 people left their email address
- 3 people opted out of receiving emails
- 70 people placed an order
- 78 tickets were sold
- 42 tickets were paid
- 1 ticket was refunded
- 36 tickets were free
- 7 sponsors enabled TroubleMaker’s 9th Anniversary
Together we consumed
- 300 Dutch ragout balls
- 109 bottles of water
- 100 chicken wings
- 60 cans of beer
- 24 bottles of tea
- 10 twelve inch pizzas
- 9 salads
- 6 cans of Coca Cola
- 6 cans of Pepsi Cola
- 6 portions of fried rice and noodles
- and various fruits
Anniversary 9 Live Broadcasts and Replays
We struggled a lot here. Some things went wrong because of absence, other things by human error or technical issues. That being said, we are already preparing to redo the workshops and give everyone a chance to watch the replays!
The Startup Pitches
One startup applied to pitch. Troublemaker has provided two pitch training sessions to help them do a great performance.
The startup founder works for the MTR cooperation. At the day of the event, Shenzhen MTR line 1 had issues and he was responsible to help solving the problem. That's why he couldn't join on time. He hasn't pitched (yet) and we don't have a recording (yet).
We will give them the opportunity to pitch on a later moment. Perhaps online, perhaps in person. We will record this and add the video to our library.
The Workshop of LTR Technology
We have broadcasted Tomás' workshop live. Due to human error, we don't have a recording of this workshop and cannot offer a Replay at this moment.
We might ask Tomás to do his workshop again online. We will record it and add the video to our library.
The Invention Game
Because of unexpected behavior of the recording software I didn't have access to the tools I need to host the workshop. I have postponed this workshop to a later date.
I will record this workshop next time and add the video to our library.
The Announcements
We broadcasted these live after the workshop of Tomás without interrupting the stream. When we lost the recording of Tomás' workshop we also lost the recording of our announcements.
Our new event platform
The software we use for organizing these events is really good. It does an excellent job in connecting people with each other. Attendees can chat with each other and with the Speakers and Sponsors. And the Event Lobby provides Channels to introduce yourself and to discuss topics or Workshops.
All the content we broadcast live during our events is stored on the platform. The more videos we add to this library, the more value our members can get.
I'm in love with this platform and their team. In the past month I have suggested around 10 feature requests and most of them were implemented within a few hours. Their team is super agile! So, we commit to use it for our future events. Starting with the first one on Saturday, September 20th.
We absolutely made avoidable mistakes with the video streams and recordings this first time. But we learned and will do better next time.
Giveaway prizes
In total, 75 people attended TroubleMaker's 9 year Anniversary. 54 people joined in-person.
At the end of the event, our event platform randomly selects people who win a prize in the Giveaways TroubleMaker and the sponsors have prepared.
Tomás Alarcon of LTR Technology generously offered “1 hour free consulting for NPI” to two winners. His winners are Albert Vazquez Rosich and Bihan Mahadewa!
TroubleMaker also provided prizes in several giveaways.
The first one is “a free week pass to TroubleMaker Huaqiangbei” and the winner is Paul Weedman!
Next up, “a free VIP ticket to TechPinata”, TroubleMaker’s signature Tech Conference in November. The winner is Dennis Ash!
The last prize TroubleMaker offered is “free Access to Unlimited Replays of TechPinata”. This prize is won by two winners: He Ya and Andrew Chou!
Congratulations to all winners!
Our next event
Summer time and its holidays made us decide to take a break. Instead of rushing and pushing for an event in August, when many people are out of town, let's do it on Saturday, September 20th!
Pizza anyone?