Hello everyone, I’m Mori from the Global Development Division and the Tech Blog team. I usually work as a web product manager (PdM) in the Global Development Division. I, along with several colleagues from my company, attended iOSDC Japan 2023 held from September 1 to 3, 2023!

Since an iOS engineer who attended the iOSDC Japan 2023 will cover the content of the interesting sessions, I’ll share my impressions from an event management perspective😎 (#iwillblog is putting pressure on me lol)

https://iosdc.jp/2023/

Reason for Participation

Why did I participate in iOSDC even though I'm not an iOS engineer?

In fact, recently the Tech Blog team has been supporting the operation of study sessions for external audiences and planning internal events. Recently, we have supported the operation of events such as the KINTO Technologies Meetup! hosted by the Corporate IT team and the DBRE Summit 2023 organized by the DBRE team.

We are still a relatively new team, so even during planning and events, we are full of concerns like,
“How can we make the participants enjoy more?”
“How can we facilitate the event better?” 🤔

Hearing the rumor that iOSDC is incredibly exciting, I infiltrated the conference for three days to learn about its planning ideas and how to create such a lively atmosphere!!

Our iOS engineers reported on the 2022 iOSDC, so please be sure to check it out as well 👍

https://blog.kinto-technologies.com/posts/2022-10-13-iosdc2022_participation_report/

Reception

Upon entering the venue, we first checked in and received name cards. These cards contain QR codes and NFC chips for entrance and exit management. QR codes are used for managing entrance and exit at the venue, while NFC chips allow attendees to collect name badges via an app. This idea is great. I better take notes.📝

https://blog.iosdc.jp/2023/09/01/name-card-nfc-tag-exchange-2023/

In fact, on the second day, I completely forgot my name card, but even then, they smoothly gave me a new one, kindly saying, “You forgot your name badge.” I was impressed by their fine consideration. I better take notes.📝

Sessions

The sessions were held across four rooms: two large and two small ones. Attendees were able to participate in the sessions they wanted.

🔻Venue layout: I listened to the talks on the second floor. The first floor was for booths for communication with sponsors. Drinks were available.

I had confirmed the timetable for the day before the event, and I was impressed by how much effort went into deciding which talks to give at which times and in which rooms. With four rooms running sessions simultaneously, the time for each session would vary depending on its content, and the days the speakers could attend would also differ. This coordination skill is something I want to acquire.

The title and speaker name of each session were read aloud via recording by Fumihiko Tachiki, a famous voice actor known for narrations in TV programs such as The Quest a.k.a. “Sekai no Hate Made Itte Q!” Both the audience and the speakers got excited🥳

Online Distribution

By purchasing an on-site attendance ticket, attendees could also watch the sessions online. (There were also tickets available for online viewing only.)

The online sessions were streamed via Niconico Live. I watched online the sessions I couldn't attend in person, and what surprised me was that they were streamed almost in real time! It may depend on the device or environment, but the time lags were probably less than five seconds. I was able to chat with on-site participants in real time via Slack.

What was impressive was that, during the venue changeover, the streaming screen not only showed commercials from sponsors but also footage of the staff working during the preparation period. We also started hybrid streaming from the August event, so I was watching it while thinking that it might be interesting to stream something like this during the break in our next event.

Lightning Talk (LT) Session

Even before attending, I was curious about the schedule, which had six or seven 5-minute lightning talks.

Since I also usually facilitate internal events and meetings, I was thinking, “Is it really possible to pull off this kind of agenda?” — but they did it!😂

First of all, I thought the most difficult thing would be to finish the presentation on time. Their ingenuity on this point is amazing…! When the 5-minute limit approached, music played to create a sense of urgency for each speaker, and the audience was instructed to wave penlights. It was a great idea to encourage the speakers while ensuring they stick to their allotted time. Plus, it’s fun for those waving penlights…! (It was a production style different from last year.)

*They cheered for the speakers with penlights in their signature colors. *

To ensure each 5-minute speech proceeded smoothly, no time was allocated for Q&A; instead, a system was set up for attendees to approach the speakers later at other booths. The only preparation needed between speakers was setting up their presentation materials. During this time, the audience are informed of the next speaker’s “signature color” so that they can prepare their penlights accordingly. Of course, that alone would have left some extra time, so the emcee skillfully introduced booths and shared behind-the-scenes stories about the speakers, making the waiting time feel short for the audience. 👏

Of course, the production was great, but this Lightning Talk (LT) Session was also very interesting in terms of content. Since the session was supposed to be cut off after five minutes, it was impressive to see how each speaker came up with creative ways to summarize it. While some speakers probably didn't get to say everything they wanted to say, their time management skills were impressive, and it didn't really feel that way from the audience.

I think most people who have experience with presentations or speeches would feel that it’s incredibly difficult to concisely summarize what they want to say in a short time. 😭 I myself tend to talk at length because I’m quite chatty. Structuring a talk with a clear beginning, middle, and end—while also adding a touch of humor—makes this kind of event an incredibly valuable opportunity for a great presentation!

Also, giving a short presentation helps sharpen time management skills. Watching them glance at the remaining time and instantly decide things like “I’ll cut this part,” all while effectively conveying their main points, made me think, “They must also be really good at facilitation.”

As the Tech Blog team also aims to improve the employees’ output skills, I’d like to incorporate opportunities like this within the company as well.😎✨

Tech blog members enjoying penlights

Doing What I Want to Do = Maybe Everyone Will Have Fun…!?

This is my simple impression from attending iOSDC, but overall, it was a very meaningful conference even for non-engineers like me. Of course, I don’t understand technical details, but my desire to improve our company’s products is the same as that of the engineers. I participated to learn about event management, but from a PdM perspective, I also realized, “So this is what engineers are thinking,” and thought, “If we incorporate these ideas into our products, they might improve even more!” From the perspective of my original purpose—event management—it was an extremely valuable conference. 🤩

During the social gathering, I fortunately had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Hasegawa, the chairperson of the executive committee. When I asked him about overall event planning and efforts to make an event exciting, he said, “I’m just embodying what I want to do myself.” I thought, this is really a profound truth. Even now, after the event has ended, it really resonates with me.

Before participating, I was worried about “How could I make everyone enjoy our event?” but then I came up with a new idea: “If I try doing what I find interesting, maybe everyone else will enjoy it too.”

Of course, whether it resonates with the audience or not is another matter, but gaining this new perspective has ignited my passion to plan and manage various events going forward. 🔥🔥🔥

At KINTO Technologies, we will continue planning events for external audiences. We will provide information as needed through Connpass (in Japanese) and other channels, so please feel free to join if you’re interested. ✨