The Splice Beta 2020 report
Asia’s only media startup festival (and possibly the world’s longest too!)
We just wrapped one month of Splice Beta with 51 speakers (of which 55% were female) in 42 sessions from 14 countries.
Here’s how we did.
“Hands down, best make-the-most-of-2020 online conferencetival. So much fun to join every session and so much love for the entire community. Everyone needs to learn from Splice on how to do these properly. #splicebeta.”
— Yan Oak, Thibi
We got gender balance right
Here’s who came to Beta
Media startup founders, tech folks, investors, journalists, media development donors, product managers, and academics.
499
The total number of live attendees
1,930
The total live sessions attended by all attendees
4
The average number of sessions per attendee
10,575
The number of unique visitors to the website
19,779
The number of page views on the website
10
The number of mentors from the media ecosystem who made their knowledge and time available
27
The hours of coaching that mentors made available for Beta attendees
1,164
The number of Splice Beta attendees on our mailing list
8.3
On a scale of 1 to 10, how useful was Splice Beta to you?
9.1
On a scale of 1 to 10, how did we do on our promise of delivering access and diversity?
9.4
On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Splice Beta 2021 to a friend or colleague?
Source Based on 58 responses to our Mailchimp survey of our Splice Beta mailing list
Areas to improve
Flattering feedback is always humbling, but useful feedback is 🙌
“I paid for tickets but I didn't see any ‘enter type ticket number here’. There seemed to be no ‘entry’ which made the buying of tickets, well, of no meaning.”
— John
“I did think that US$5 was too little as well. you priced it so as to allow for forgiveness for mistakes and bumps etc. “Hey, it's only 5 bucks, what do you expect”. You de-valued the brand. It felt like that you lost money and the $5 was a donation. So, it was a free gig and I made a donation to help support costs. That is how it feels. So, make it free. The most expensive thing is free.”
— John
“Google Meet doesn't allow proper networking. Participants can't direct-message each other, so for any *private* outreach (as would happen at an actual conference via business card exchange), they had to look each other up on LinkedIn or Twitter. This would make it hard on early career / shy people / non-English-speakers to forge new connections / work opportunities. Participation is a reason for attending a live online event (otherwise you might as well watch it on YouTube) & was the only weakness of Splice.”
— Corinne
“I may have missed it but I would love to see a weekly newsletter update that organizes the different sessions into ‘tracks’ for easy reference.”
— Ade
The top 3 most-attended live sessions
(apart from our opening session)
216,500
The number of #splicebeta impressions on Twitter
What people are saying about us
“My k-drama nights have been taken over by these 2 dudes and their great speakers at #SpliceBeta. Many sessions from this month-long online media conference are really thought provoking & helpful.”
— Kuang Keng Kuek Ser, DataN
“What I love about these @splicenewsroom people is that the feisty, fearless Davids of independent media have found in their ranks colossal Goliaths who are aligned to their values and helping them survive. And #splicebeta is where you see them. There's also lots of talk of tacos.”
— Genesia Alves, The City Studio
“Definitely the most interesting and exciting media conference (festival!) in Asia: #splicebeta.”
— Sanne Breimer
“You should come hang out with these incredible speakers — and the most amazing global media community in the world”
— Christine Liehr, Thomson Foundation
“…an exciting experience, great speakers, a curious audience, fantastic hosts, major inspiring stories”
— Florence Armein, Earth Journalism Network
“The hosts say hello to everyone who joins - such a lovely personal touch. (And yes, I’m biased because I’m a fan of
@splicenewsroom and their work)”
— Federica Cherubini, Reuters Institute
“#splicebeta created FOMO if you had a conflict! Loved the inspiring presentations and supportive conversations. The networking, personal and fun spirit made it more special!”
— Patricia Torres-Burd, MDIF
“These two (+Shirley, of course!) just pulled off the most accessible, inclusive and inspiring online event on media and journalism I've seen in this pandemic year.”
— Mattia Peretti, JournalismAI
Our top 3 YouTube videos
A year ago, I started The Current, my own media company in Pakistan. This is what I've learned.
Marium Chaudhry, The Current
Media is a business — and just like any business, there are certain truths
Koreel Lahiri, MDIF
Splice Beta Online begins! This is how to make full use of a month of festivities.
Splice team
592
The number of hours viewed for Splice Beta videos on our YouTube channel
September 1 to October 5, 2020
4,628
The number of views for Splice Beta videos on our YouTube channel
September 1 to October 5, 2020
Our top 3 Facebook videos
118
The number of hours viewed for Splice Beta videos on our Facebook Page
September 1 to October 5, 2020
638
The number of 1-minute views for Splice Beta videos on our Facebook Page
September 1 to October 5, 2020
3,800
The number of 3-second views for Splice Beta videos on our Facebook Page
September 1 to October 5, 2020