HUBweek 2015

Colliers International Post-Event Recap

Executive Summary

Executive Summary
Built
something entirely new

Reached
across Greater Boston

Achieved
measures of success

Learned
areas for improvement

Built from scratch a network of sponsors, collaborators, participants and

attendees; delivered value and created opportunity for those who engaged
Delivered outstanding, engaging, challenging events every day even in the face
of unusually severe weather
Leveraged commitment of founding institutions and key sponsors to host 106
events, 85% of which were free, across eight days, with 600 speakers and
46,000 attendees.
Reached new audiences; created new partnerships; showcased the best
innovations and innovators in Greater Boston
HUBweek survey respondents had an overwhelmingly positive experience: 79%
rated HUBweek as excellent or very good.
82% are extremely or very likely to recommend it to a friend.
Developed strong brand awareness and visibility, with tremendous growth postLabor Day as event details were finalized and new opportunities secured
Not perfect: lessons learned around coordination, communications and cohesion
Looking forward: proved that there is both supply and demand for HUBweektype offerings. Building on our success to create a sustainable model
achievable.

HUBweek 2015 was an ambitious, unprecedented experiment

and huge success.

HUBweek by the Numbers

76,000 unique visitors* to HUBweek.org
Over $50,000 in prize money, legal & other services awarded
46,000 attendees over 8 days
Over 20,000 ILLUMINUS attendees
Over 600 speakers and artists
More than 300 ideas and companies showcased
106 events exploring 5 macro topics
Network of over 70 collaborating organizations
4 founding partners
----
1 community

*Over 4-month period!

Feedback from HUBweek Collaborators

Collaborators are organizations that contributed to event development,
creation, and/or facilitation. Collaborators were not founding partners and
did not contribute financially to HUBweek. Collaborators came from all
neighborhoods and industries and dramatically increased the reach of
HUBweek at minimal cost to the event.!

87%

reported creating new relationships or!

potential partnerships!

32%

ABSOLUTELY created new business leads!

67%

ABSOLUTELY attracted new audiences!

27% LIKELY!

56%

EXCELLENT/ VERY GOOD HUBweeks help building new

relationships!
29% SATISFACTORY!

Conceptually HUBweek is a great

event and has lots of potential
going forward. The experience of
the first year plus some more lead
time and designated point persons
will be useful to any participants in
making the most of the
opportunity, in terms of content,
promotion, and finances. Silk
Road Ensemble
We connected with the
Boston Globe for the
first time, as well as
some of our
neighbors.
Le Leboratoire

I think there were definitely some good
leads that came out of the event. Also
a great way to build our brand in
Boston.
WeWork

Anecdotes from HUBweek Attendees & Collaborators

We were able to connect with people in Boston that
we usually dont get a chance to meet. C Space

HUBweek provided the impetus for us

to develop what could turn into a
signature annual event for us; gave us
a communications platform to reach a
wide audience we had tremendous
diversity in attendance.
Commonwealth Kitchen

Loved the different activities and how innovative

and creative everything was. Also it was so
organized and well-executed. Am glad HUBweek
exists! HUBweek attendee

It totally EXCEEDED my expectations in terms of

speakers, topics, number of events, number of
free to the public events and just overall the
quality was high. HUBweek attendee

When we reached out to businesses about

participating in our eventsomething that was
brand new (no track record to reference)it was
quite helpful to have the HUBweek umbrella
context. MA STEM Connect

The opportunity for my 13-year old son to

speak to MIT students active in droning
and robotics was spectacular. He was
inspired by them, the space they work in
and by the labs and materials they have
access to...It was truly thrilling.
HUBweek attendee

The sheer number of people we had in the space and

the opportunity to invite really awesome companies
to showcase their work.
WeWork

Marketing Results
Advertising: Coordinated effort that led to significant increases in Sept-Oct.
timeframe
Reached well over 4MM via traditional advertising efforts and over 12MM
impressions*
Integrated efforts including TV, radio, print, display, OOH, experiential
Leveraged partner network to build awareness over 20,000 flyers and postcards
distributed, over 30 emails delivered to partner networks, signage at partner
locations
Web: steady increase in traffic to site, with numerous efforts contributing to
increase
Over 76K to the site over a four month period, with traffic doubling month-overmonth

Earned & owned media: overwhelmingly positive press, steep growth in HUBweek
network
Coordinated efforts at 9:23 on 9/23 led to highest site traffic to date and trending
status on Trendsmap, as well as over 16K impressions on social media
Over 250 media mentions from outlets such as The Boston Globe, BostInno, Boston
Magazine, BetaBoston, Fast Company, Huffington Post, WRKO, WCVB, Greater
Boston, etc.

*Continuing to gather data from partners and sponsors.!