From Concept to Crowd-Puller: The SwiftLeeds Journey by Adam Rush

Dive into the story of SwiftLeeds, a gathering that’s become a beacon for Swift enthusiasts, through the eyes of its founder, Adam Rush. With over a decade of experience as an iOS Engineer, I embarked on a mission not just to create another tech conference, but to foster a community where learning, innovation, and connections flourish. This talk is my personal narrative of transforming a vision into reality. From the early days of sketching out plans, grappling with challenges, to celebrating our milestones – it’s a journey filled with lessons, laughter, and a few surprises along the way. I’ll share the strategies that worked, the hurdles we overcame, and how we’ve kept the passion alive through each event. Whether you’re dreaming of starting your own conference or looking to make a mark in the tech world, join me as I unfold the chapters of creating SwiftLeeds, a testament to the power of community and determination.

Adam is a self-confessed writer, speaker, technologist and iOS evangelist! He currently operates as a Staff Engineer specifically for the iOS platform, offering traditional programming services and understanding the modern recognized paradigms.

Transcript

1. SwiftLeeds & Beyond 🚀 The Journey
2. What is SwiftLeeds? ADAM RUSH “A community conference; by the community for the community” • Create a true community conference • Offer fi rst time speakers a chance on stage • Give everyone a chance to attend a conference • Be modern, be inclusive.
3. The idea was born 💡 • I had the idea ~8 years ago • In 2019 many conferences in the UK had either closed or gone bust • Attendees need to walk away feeling valued and most of all by having fun • As my wife said to me “just do it”
4. Monday 26th August 2019 10:05 PM
5. Monday 26th August 2019 10:05 PM
6. Planning 🤨 • Finding a venue (we visited over 6) (only required once) • Financial budget planning • We budgeted for 50 people • Don’t rely on sponsors • Create a compelling story • New conference buzz • Amazing speakers • Planning starts immediately from November onwards.
7. Budget 💰 • Budget for 50 attendees (start really small) then scale everything upwards • Don’t rely completely on sponsors (but it helps) • Keep enough in the pot for future years but keep on reinvesting • Don’t make a pro fi t
9. COVID-19 😷 • Delayed the conference by 1 year. • Over 98% of ticket holders kept their tickets (~40 attendees). • We continued to push the conference forward.
11. …and I was determined
15. 2021 Let’s Go! 🚀 • Operated with 3 staff members • 100 attendees • Gather crucial feedback • Understand the logistics of running a conference
16. Building Hype • Intriguing social posts • Drip feed speaker announcements • Videos at the venue
17. 2022 A Pivotal Year • Outgrown the venue and move to Leeds Playhouse • Create a SwiftLeeds team of community members • Upgrade the website along with artwork • Create a unique stencil for developers • Introduce Sessionize for anonymous speaker selection process.
19. 2023 Keep on Growing • Stabilize the SwiftLeeds team • Build a fully functional iOS app along with a custom SwiftLeeds check-in app • Iterate on the website along with our own API • Introduce the concept of SwiftLeeds Drop-In Sessions. • Introduce SwiftLeeds Live • Build out SwiftLeeds on YouTube • Listen, Listen, Listen…
21. Become a stamp 💟 • Motivate others to create conferences that follow the same pattern • Introduce new ways of doing things • Be bold and innovative in the ideas • Never look at others, always stay focused on the plans
23. 2024 “Another” pivotal year? 👀 • SwiftLeeds Drop-In Sessions V2 • SwiftLeeds Live and/or something else? 👀 • We have our biggest announcement in the works and no other conference (we think) has ever got close to this… 🫣😬 • Keep on growing in numbers (likely a full venue sell out ~400). • Launching our fi rst “theme” the SwiftLeeds Olympics
24. Tribulations & Thoughts • On the fi rst conference the caterers were sent home 1 hour before the start. • The merchandise company went bust 2 months before the conference in 2022. • Rocky economy == no sponsors in 2023 • Completely under-estimated the amount of work involved • Overwhelming feeling hosting that many people and people that get opportunities
25. Thanks for watching!