The Feedback Post: "Where Were the Egos?"

Thank you to the 153 who emailed me with feedback from the ClimateImpact Summit! Here is an overview of your replies.?

For our first Summit, we set out to do a lot (i.e. too much): two days, 500 guests, 100 speakers, two stages.?

We over-delivered: over 600 attendees - with 114 speakers, THREE stages and one Climate AI Hackathon (with 80 participants).?

1. Overall vibe was great!??

I was peak-nerves at 9am on Tuesday morning (the day after a bank holiday - whose idea was that; with a train strike too!) waiting to see if anybody would arrive for the opening. Well, thanks to those who were punctual and we had an almost-full house for the address by Minister Amanda Solloway of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero .

From that point, the attendee numbers hovered around 350/400 in the building at any one time with over 600 joining at one point or another. The upside of the central London venue is that we get good numbers; the downside is you never know who is going to come when.?

At times the theatre was less full when other rooms were standing-room only - which means we got the positioning wrong.?

We didn't leave time between sessions for people to head to different rooms which meant speakers were interrupted (my bad, apologies).?

As always, nearing the end on day 2, the energy was flagging and the main coffee point ran out... maybe we should have opened the bar early...?

2. Networking:?

I'm a sceptic when it comes to event apps (how has nobody cracked this post-COVID??) We went with Swapcard in the end and I didn't give it much thought. But by and large we received positive feedback on it.?Kudos.

The main challenge to the networking was that there was too much content on and not enough breaks. But overall, the networking was good because we are very curated and thoughtful about attendees: we are NOT a corporate conference; we are NOT a conference for start-ups. Our focus is to build a community for SCALE-UP founders and this represented over 50% of attendees.?

3. Content/ speakers:?

We got pretty much unanimously positive feedback on the quality of speakers. The challenge is that 'climatetech' is so wide-ranging. So does one keep the themes wide-ranging or indulge in deep-dives? We set out to do a bit of both.?

We prioritise founders on stage and delivered on this. The moderation of the panels was a bit mixed and didn't always land right. We don't like to over-prepare - we like conversational-style, informal conversations but this is difficult to achieve.?

We did not allow much time for Q&A which frustrated some attendees. I think we could make this a more interactive experience next time.?

Some said that panels were too short - which is exactly what we wanted. At every conference I have attended, the panels are 100% too long, so we set out to make them as short as possible. (Personally I'd prefer 15 minute conversations but that can offend the speakers!)?

We don't do slide shows or speeches and nobody seemed to miss them (this is inspired directly from Founders Forum Group and this is free advice to any other event organisers).?

4. Venue/ catering:?

Most attendees loved the The Royal Institution and we've used the venue before though this was our first exclusive takeover - I highly recommend it. It can be a bit of a maze (which some dislike), and we can do a better job on signposting and more digital signage.?

Unfortunately the catering didn't deliver as expected. We were obliged to use a third-party caterer which falls short on vegan options (notwithstanding the very steep prices). I work with so many amazing food founders and we're keen to incorporate them in future events (note to foodie founders: our Future of Food Council is 24th June).?

5. How to improve:?

- A pitch or 'Dragons Den' style event? (Typically we avoid any pitching but I'm open to this).?

- More networking breaks and more facilitated networking (though not sure how!)?

- Some wanted more focus on growth-stage: we're hosting the ClimateImpact Growth Retreat in November (msg me for more!)?

- Nobody asked for more panel sessions (funny that) but some people do want VIP dinners (easily said)...?

- So overall, next time around the thinking is to do slightly less in terms of content and more in terms of networking...?

5. The community we're building:?

Keep in mind that, leading up to the Summit, we had already done 40 'Council' events where we gather groups of 25-30 senior leaders in specific verticals (e.g. Carbon tech; Future of Cities, Food; AI etc.). The idea was that this would differentiate our Summit to others: we are a community with lots of events all the time, not just an annual conference.?

I think the testimonials speak for themselves:?

'We sit in that space between VC (tech) and PE (assets) where there are few investors prepared to take both risks to deliver the energy transition. Your conference had the best concentration of them that I’ve attended.'

Adam Howard @ UK Investment Bank

'The go-to community for Europe’s top climate investors and founders. The event has already cemented itself as a key fixture in the calendar.'

Tommy Stadlen @ Giant VC?

'You managed to get pretty much everyone working on climate there - congrats... I think you are genuinely building something different in what is becoming a busy space.'

Jim Mann Founder, UNDO

'The breadth of speakers and topics covered felt particularly unique. From governments to futurists, it allowed the audience to engage on many different levels and see the problem we are tackling from diverse perspectives.'

Aaron Benjamin @ DAC Coalition?

'The event was great. Amazing to pull together such an interesting and motivated group.'

James Arbib @ ReThinkX

'Perfect mix of quality people.'

Ludovic Blanc @ EKTA

AND MY FAVOURITE:

'The ambience was great... how did you get everyone to leave their egos at the door!'?

Jo Ruxton MBE @ Ocean Generation

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY: for more, email [email protected]

June 24th:

ClimateImpact Clubhouse at London Climate Action Week

1. Future of Cities: Built Environment
2. Investment Council: connecting climate VCs, private equity, CVCs and sovereign funds.
3. Future of Food Council.
4. Oceans Council (new launch)
5. ClimateImpact Networking drinks

September 23rd & 24th:

ClimateImpact Clubhouse, New York Climate Week

November (tbc):

ClimateImpact Growth Retreat