The 3% Conference Is Live Streaming

Back in the day—way back in the day—there was a commercial I loved for Mervyn's department store where a woman stands outside the store's glass doors chanting, "Open! Open! Open!"  Everything about it spoke to the excitement and frustration of waiting for the next big thing to happen.

I know buying at Mervyn's is nothing like experiencing a 3% Conference, but that Open, Open, Openess is how I am feeling right now. We are days away from our 6th annual conference and I can't tell you how proud I am of the diversity of speakers (50% are people of color), the breadth of programming (we'll be talking covering, failing, and why Millennials don't want to work for you), and the incredible sponsors who have stood up and voted with their dollars to say this conversation matters.

If you or your agency is a sponsor, thank you!

Tickets are quickly selling out and I know many of you won’t be able to make it. For some the travel is too challenging, the date poses challenges with other obligations, your agency chose others to attend (we know many agencies host lotteries because so many want to attend), and still others may be going but want to share the experience with their colleagues who are back at the office.

Now you can. Thanks to a generous sponsorship from HP, we are offering our first ever live streaming solution.

From the mainstage on days one and two, those who can't come in person can see the action in real time. You’ll have access to all of the keynotes, the Creative Director Track, and you'll get to meet the first 3% Certified agencies. You'll also gain insights from our industry benchmarking study and hear Cindy Gallop's closing keynote.

We have both an individual live streaming solution and a viewing party solution for groups up to ten. Our dream is that you’ll host live streaming parties at your agencies and live tweet back to us with the hashtag #3percentlive. Details on the live-streaming options are here.

And for those of you who will be live streaming from outside the U.S., we have a special international discount code for you, knowing that the time difference may mean you’re watching us in the wee early (or late) hours of the day. Contact me directly for details.

Here's why agencies are organizing their LiveStream Viewing parties in their home cities:

The Martin Agency:

“We’ve sent a group to 3% each year, and if we could send everyone in the agency, we would. Each year there are people here who want to go, but can’t make it work. And probably even more who haven’t raised their hands but are just as curious. So, we wanted to expand our audience and give more people the opportunity to listen in. But it’s not just about listening, it’s about speaking up. And we want to hear from people, especially if they’ve been hesitant to chime in before. We’re hoping exposure to the content in November will encourage more people to add their voice to the diversity conversation, and in turn help catalyze meaningful change.”

From Arnold:

“We are excited to live stream this for our Havas Village, which comprises of Havas Media and Arnold. As part of encouraging attendance to this year’s conference we polled our employees in the Village to submit why diversity is so import to them. If they were to attend this year’s conference, what learnings would they bring back as part of enhancing our diversity efforts. Diversity isn’t just about gender or race to us, we appreciate and welcome talent to come from all walks of life and encourage our employees to bring their side hustle and talent to everything they do here. We are committed to getting involved in our Community in a way that provides passion and purpose.”

Duncan Channon:

"Going to the first 3% Conference was an awakening for me and I haven't been the same since. We are so excited to bring this experience to younger agency staff via the live feed, especially the junior and mid-level men at our agency. They are key players for change. It's going to be a fascinating and enlightening few days."

Looking forward to having you join us on November 2^nd and 3^rd from wherever you are.

P.S. Last but not least, here’s a note from our sponsor.

HP is proud to sponsor the 3% Conference live stream broadcast. At HP, diversity is a business imperative—one that is helping the company deliver transformative business results. We firmly believe that one of the first steps to reinventing mindsets and driving systemic change to increase women and people of color in advertising and creative industries is by providing access to opportunities and events of this kind.

We, at 3%, couldn’t agree more! Thanks, HP!