Quick Reference Guide:
Page 2: Examples of stellar NewCo sessions
Page 3-4: Who should I expect at my session? Selected attendee demographics.
Page 5: Session presenters are CEOs, founders or senior executives
Page 6: Session description guidelines
Page 7-9: Session description examples
How do I write
a good
NewCo
session
At NewCo SF, the American Conservatory Theatre took 40 lucky NewCo attendees behind the scenes of its new $70mm theatre project, still under construction. Prior to NewCo, only major donors were allowed "hard hat access.” In San Francisco, Twitter outlined Twitter Nest, its vision for a new kind of corporate
philanthropy based on direct employee
engagement with its mid-Market St. community. At Tesla in Silicon Valley, NewCo festival goers
toured the factory, rode the tram, and saw first hand the technology packed into these futuristic cars. They also took test drives!
At NewCo New York, attendees peered behind the curtain at The Gray Lady’s R&D Lab, to see how people and machines might someday collaborate on problematic data.
Only at
NewCo
Some of the best
examples of stellar
NewCo sessions.
NewCo Festivals draw millennial, wealthy, senior-level attendees...
46%
Tech/ Internet48%
25-34 Years20%
C-Level50%
125-175k72%
Own37%
500k-1m60/40
Male/Female29%
Married17%
Have Children68%
College/Grad SchoolNewCo sessions self-segment - each attendee builds a customized schedule,
picking sessions because the content/topic speaks to them:
In 2015, NewCo will
connect its partners
to the power of more
than 1,100 innovative
companies changing
the face of business,
around the world.
NewCo Sessions are
delivered by a
founder, CEO or
senior executive.
Selected Presenters Keith Krach CEO, Docusign Jason Nazar Founder, Docstoc Mike JonesFounder & CEO, Science, Inc.
Dick Costolo
Former CEO, Twitter
Adam Vollmer
CEO, Faraday Bicycles
Alon Cohen
Pres. & Co-Founder, Houzz
Larry Fitzgibbon
Founder, Tastemade
Stewart Butterfield
Founder & CEO, Slack
James Freeman
Founder & CEO, Blue Bottle Coffee
Nancy Duarte
Principal & CEO, Duarte, Inc.
Ron Gutman
Founder & CEO, HealthTap
Gil Elbaz
Founder & CEO, Factual
Adora Cheung
Co-Founder & CEO, HomeJoy
Kara Goldin
Founder & CEO, Hint Water
Prakash Janakiraman
Co-Founder, Nextdoor
Josh Tetrick
Founder & CEO, Hampton Creek
Sunil Paul
Co-Founder & CEO, Sidecar
Jonah Peretti
Founder & CEO, BuzzFeed
Brian Chesky
NewCo Session Description Guidelines:
● Deliver an experience— a tour, a hands on demo, role-playing etc. Include the audience. ● Pitch your company— but without pitching.
● Explain to attendees why your company is a “NewCo” (definition here). Tell them about your company’s contribution to positive, transformative change.
● Write a session title that both differentiates and attracts.
● Explain the physical space you work in. Why did you choose that spot and how does it work for you? Bring your company to life in its “native habitat”.
● Craft your session description to attract the type of attendee you want— see page #4 for NewCo demographics. We’ve found that “if you build it, they will come”.
● Play to your passion— we’re all better at talking about the things that really matter to us. ● Write your session description in the third person, try to use action verbs...they’re exciting. ● Think about how you would pitch for a SXSW panel, how is your company’s story unique?
Examples of different formats:
● Tour your space and give a short presentation.
● Panel discussion with stakeholders (investors, users, content creators, employees). ● Break up into smaller groups and solve a problem.
● Circulate subgroups through different hands-on demos with a product or service. ● Share your entrepreneurial journey/founding story.
Session
Description
Guidelines
For more, contact
Tim Nordvedt at:
NewCo Session Description Examples:
Being Human, speaking to other humans: How we think about voice and brand at Slack: As we move into a future where AI is mingled with UI, and the software we use becomes more and more human, how do you maintain a friendly, intimate, approachable voice when your user base is
expanding faster than a very fast thing? Anna Pickard, Editorial Director of Slack, talks about how closely interwoven the Slack voice is with the design, the product, and the values of the company itself. Hear how Slack is trying to retain the same personable tone that has helped it become the fastest growing SaaS company ever. Suggested Audience: Developers, Product Managers, Gamers.
One Student, One Tutor, and One Pufferfish at a Time: Join 826 Valencia staff in our Writing Lab for the inside scoop on our mission to close the academic achievement gap through 1:1 tutoring, student publishing, and the store filled with authentic pirate supplies that happens to serve as our front. We'll give a brief overview of our history and an update on our plans to open a second center in the Tenderloin neighborhood before diving right into writing activities meant to inspire our participants' creativity and help them imagine the wild possibilities and powers inherent in the art of storytelling and bookmaking. Suggested Audience: Educators, Parents, Media Professionals.
Session
Description
Examples
For more, contact
Tim Nordvedt at:
NewCo Session Description Examples:
How Leap Reaches Deep Into Virtual Reality:In this session, you’ll learn how Leap Motion is helping virtual reality move out of the science lab and into the mainstream. Discover how the
Leap Motion virtual reality controller tracks the movement of a user’s hands as they play games and other apps in virtual reality on a Mac or PC. Attendees will hear what it takes to achieve “presence” in the VR space, and why it’s so important for the future of VR/AR. Get a chance to demo the Leap Motion controller, speak with the Leap Motion team directly, and hear why input devices like this are such a fundamental piece of the VR equation. Suggested Audience: Developers, Product Managers, Gamers, and User Experience professionals.
How Work Works— Integrating Technology in Companies Large and Small:As
technology changes so quickly, how do organizations cope? Gain insights on how companies, large and small, integrate technologies into their organizations from Zach Haehn, head of
Bloomberg’s new San Francisco engineering office, and Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg’s venture capital fund Bloomberg Beta. In a conversation moderated by distinguished anchor Cory Johnson, attendees will learn how Bloomberg has managed change versus the startup world, and how both are rapidly creating new technologies. Suggested Audience: Founders, VCs, Developers.
Session
Description
Examples
For more, contact
Tim Nordvedt at:
NewCo Session Description Examples:
Changing the Game for Restaurants: the Role of Tech and the Consumer:Fancy
yourself a foodie? Join co-founders Chris Webb and Eric Jaffe for a tour of ChowNow’s new Playa Vista headquarters and learn how ChowNow is changing the game for local restaurants nationwide with a product that enables your favorite eateries to compete against the big national chains. Chris and Eric will take NewCo attendees through a deep dive on the current state of restaurant technology, food trends analyzed from over 3,000 U.S. restaurants, and seemingly small consumer decisions that can yield a big impact on the long term success of a restaurant. It wouldn’t be a ChowNow fete without food, so come hungry — we'll be serving up Stumptown coffee and an afternoon snack from one of our favorite LA restaurant clients.with the Leap Motion team directly, and hear why input devices like this are such a fundamental. Suggested Audience: Restauranteurs, Foodies, Consumer Marketers and Developers.
