Autonomous tractors, drones, robotic dogs, and assistive technology… words you’d associate with Dorset?
Possibly not… but Dorset Council is keen on cutting-edge technology and making sure everyone hears about it!
For the third year running, the Festival of Future has been used to showcase the most exciting tech happening in Dorset.
We’ve come a long way since the event began in 2020, which for obvious reasons had to be an entirely virtual event.
With the end of Covid restrictions, 2022 saw the biggest in-person audience we’ve had to date (while of course retaining the ability for people to watch the event online.)
Last year, we bravely popped up in five completely different locations throughout the county, Dorchester, Ferndown, Winfrith, Bridport and Weymouth.
We created a trailer which has been viewed over 900 times – which you can watch below.
Each day’s event had an entirely different programme, a set of speakers, and a variety of tech.
The team worked incredibly hard, right from the core organising team, to prep required from speakers, and our excellent IT support worked their magic in some really challenging locations.
Despite the occasional tech-related scary moment, overall, we were pleased with how the event ran.
We featured over 50 representatives from digital and tech companies across Dorset, showcasing a whole range of topics and tech innovations, and talked about digital inclusion, sustainable travel, and careers available in the sector.
We also involved local school children, through an interactive VR activity and a stop-motion workshop. We were also joined by students from Weymouth College, who gave feedback on a tourism challenge that they participated in.
Outcomes in numbers:
- 211 people signed up to attend in person
- 185 people signed up to attend the event virtually
- 2265 people have watched the event on YouTube since it aired.
- Festival of the Future was mentioned on social media 89 times
- Twitter and Facebook generated 639 link clicks
- Over 54,000 people were reached on social media during the comms campaign prior to the event
- Our newsletter was opened by over 50% of people and generated 183 link clicks
- The press release was picked up by Dorset Echo, Greatest Hits, Bridport News, LymeOnline and Dorset View
- Dorset Solent talked about the Festival on their Breakfast show three times throughout the event.
Feedback
- 66% of people said that they might or would recommend to a friend, 33% said they wouldn’t.
- 64% of people said that they would or might register again, 36% said that they wouldn’t.
- Overall, it seemed that people who attended online had a better experience
- In the written feedback, many people mentioned technical issues (primarily with sound)
- Lots of people also felt that the online audience was prioritised to the detriment of the in-person audience
Lessons learned from #FutureFest 2022
- Having a big in-person audience requires a different style of event – there must be enough to keep people who are in the room engaged.
- Generally, there has been a shift to ‘on-demand’ viewing of online content
- Expectations of people attending were for a conference rather than watching the recording of a show
- Practising all the tech beforehand is crucial (including internet speeds for livestream)
- Be cautious of acronyms and assuming people know certain organisations
- Have a team focused on in-person stewarding/audience care
- Having young people from local schools worked really well, and we’ll continue to do this
- Building days around locations (as we did in 2022) was more difficult than building around themes (as we did in 2021), in terms of content and then particularly in targeting the audience
The future of #FutureFest?
The answer is… we’re not sure yet.
We love the opportunity to gather people and talk about innovative tech.
We’re keen on promoting Dorset as the innovative place that it is.
As a team we love pushing the boundaries, trying new things and taking risks.
We’re not about to stop that, but we’ll see what the future looks like.
Watch this space!
And in the meantime, you can catch up with past #FutureFest broadcasts on our YouTube channel at: Digital Dorset – YouTube
