Nonference Wrapped Up

Thank you for not taking notes

Thanks to the wealth of sessions on offer at our inaugural #Nonference last week, everyone had the chance to experience something out of the ordinary and really learn through 'doing' rather than just listening - a rarity at your average industry event.

We thought we’d share a little insight into our day via numbers and recap on some of the stand-out themes of the day, for those who were there but also for those who sadly missed it. 

It’s hard to narrow it down, but here goes:

• Over 800 people walked through the doors of Tobacco Dock, across its indoor and outdoor courtyards and multiple event spaces, to experience #Nonference, the first event of its kind, designed to bring the wonder of digital media to life.

• We hosted 29 hours of activity in just one day thanks to 42 sessions jam-packed with learning and fun – covering everything from the five golden rules behind creating the perfect podcast; to creating native ads in less time than it takes to make a cocktail; a programmatic pub quiz; ‘Where’s Wally’ helping explain precision location targeting; and mind-reading via biometric response detectors, no less. 

• 246 people voted on the Mind Ideas Hack pitches, whereby through the IAB UK’s partnership with the mental health charity, we celebrated stand-out ideas from some of the brightest minds in the industry – ideas which could be brought to life through digital media, to improve emotional wellbeing and to solve business challenges, too.

• Rezonence’s mind-reading robot managed to pour over 150 pints in just two hours for the many ‘nonferencers’ who’d worked up a thirst.

• We also managed to get through 140 mince pies in the Publisher Steering Group session, which worked through the multitude of pressures facing many media owners as they continue to evolve in today’s multichannel world.

• Over 200 attendees took part in Q LIVE’s Nonference special, which tested the true digital prowess of all those taking part.

• 120 Trump masks were worn in a session which made data science fun – showing how our brains tend to see more of what we want to see rather than what’s really there; and how to bypass your so-called ‘Trump brain’ in order to get the facts.

• 436 pieces of Lego™ were used to educate delegates on Blockchain in an overwhelmingly popular session which took a packed room through a clever allegory which served to bust lingering confusion around blockchain technology.

• Eight Buzzfeed quizzes were created, on topics as varied as fashion, food, wellbeing and DIY.

• 408 delegates were treated to a Ferrero Rocher after enquiring about the IAB UK’s Gold Standard certification, which aims to reduce ad fraud, increase brand safety and improve the digital advertising experience.

• The second largest gong in the world, on hand at Tobacco Dock, was ‘bonged’ 17 times to announce the start and the end of the multitude of interactive sessions in a wonderfully old school complement to the day and of course the action around some of digital media’s latest themes and innovations.

We also heard more great quotes than we could possibly count: ‘Video is like pizza; even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good’; ‘Waiting for a page to load is as stressful as watching a horror movie’; and ‘XR technologies represent a mainline into consumers’ consciousness’ – to list but a few.

And we were told that ‘the future happens much faster than we all think’. True indeed, and this is why our inaugural Nonference was conceived: to help future proof marketers, advertisers and agencies in a rapidly evolving world. 

We thoroughly enjoyed bringing together our members to do something ‘wow’ – whether establishing the truth behind the impact of the gender of voice assistants or seeing ‘nonferencers' testing out their own skills on a DOOH brief, with teams working on fictitious brand 'Poma Cider'. 

Thank you for not taking notes, but taking part!

Last but not least, please do look out for our feedback email hitting your inboxes shortly - so you can help us shape Nonference to be even bigger and better next year.

If you would like to find out more about Nonference 2018, you can read all about it here. 
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