3% Conference | Customer Success Story

"Women were often left out of meetings with clients who'd benefit from a woman's perspective," she says. "Only 3% of creative directors were women."

Something needed to be done. But the longer Kat waited for someone to challenge the status quo, the more it became apparent that she was that someone. And in the fall of 2012, she created the 3% Conference to show men and women in advertising that diversity inspires creativity, which leads to profitability.

But before Kat could become a beacon of change and transform the 3% Conference into a global movement for equality in advertising, she needed a registration partner who could:

On September 27, 2012, the 3% Conference debuted in San Francisco to a sold out crowd. The runaway success of the 3% Conference surprised Kat — and put her registration platform to the test. Luckily, Eventbrite's platform kept the process simple, even when attendance far exceeded her expectations.

"I thought the first event was going to be a one-off," she says. "I was running my own advertising agency and raising a family."

Bootstrapping the first 3% Conference was no easy task, but Kat credits Eventbrite for enabling her to transform a personal passion into a global phenomenon.

"The platform was so easy to use," she recalls. "And when I needed help, the support team were always helpful and knowledgeable. That level of customer service is simply unheard of these days."

"Being in advertising, I care a lot about aesthetics and branding," she says. "So it's important that people registering for our events have a good experience from the get-go."

A streamlined event registration meant Kat could spend more time building anticipation for her events and delivering a meaningful message to attendees.

With over 30 advertising agencies in attendance, the inaugural conference in San Francisco put the 3% Conference on the map. An exit survey found that 80% of attendees rated the conference “Excellent” and 85% indicated they plan to return in 2013.

The obvious appetite for participation meant one thing: there would have to be more events.

In 2013, the 3% Conference traveled to Boulder, Austin, Boston, Los Angeles, and Seattle. "I didn't want to go from one city to another repeating what was said in San Francisco," says Gordon. "The 3% movement needed to be an on-going conversation to cultivate change. So, to me, those traveling events were a listening tour."

As she listened to creatives speak about their challenges with diversity, a vision for the future began to emerge.

"There were drastic differences in how each city dealt with the issue of diversity," says Kat. "From that moment on, attendees of the 3% Conference became participants."

Which is why now, at the end of every event, Kat stands behind the podium and asks the audience to participate in an exit survey. With minimal effort the 3% team can sync their attendee lists with the world's most trusted survey platform, SurveyMonkey, using their Eventbrite Spectrum integration.

"It takes little effort to pull the exit survey together and send it when the event is fresh on attendee's minds," says Kat. "We get a lot of responses and we read them all."

"In one round of surveys, motherhood was a polarizing topic. Half of the responses said they heard enough about it, while the other half begged us to do more on the subject. So we created an elective session that attendees could go to if they wanted."

By giving attendees a voice, a vibrant online community grew — and with it, the demand for even more events.

Incorporating attendee feedback may be the secret to the 3% Conference's success. No matter where they went, the 3% Conference and its traveling events — called 3% MiniCons — drew sold out crowds.

With so many creatives eager to support the movement, the need to maintain momentum between events was paramount.

"Being a mission-based conference, it's important that attendees don't just consume the content and go home," says Kat. "We need to keep them engaged so they can become advocates for the cause and enact change at their workplace."

Using MailChimp's direct integration with Eventbrite, the 3% team was able to effortlessly send relevant, branded emails to attendees who attended a specific event or all of them.

The constant contact with her attendees would allow Kat to make her next bold move.

In 2015, three years after debuting in San Francisco, the 3% Conference moved to New York City. "We saw a lot of people were traveling from New York," she says. But even though the biggest names and majority of ad professionals call Manhattan home, the move would do more than increase attendance.

"Our goal is to activate attendees and enable them to promote the cause. So I'd much rather an agency send 20 employees to the event than be a sponsor that only sends one or two people — because that's how you hasten change."

Looking back on the last five years, Kat Gordon sums it up in one word: accomplished.

"We've hosted 20 events — all of which have sold out. Beyond the event, the 3% community had grown to over 30,000 people."