Multiverse Reactor
A branded hacker house in Austin for the week of Consensus, giving builders somewhere to work, demo and meet each other instead of another booth handing out badges.
Numbers
- 1,200
- Registered developers
- 35+
- Converted to active builders
Problem
A conference booth buys you thirty seconds with someone walking past, and Consensus week is wall-to-wall booths. Thirty seconds is not enough to get anyone to build on a platform.
Solution
A branded hacker house in Austin for the week. Somewhere builders could work, demo and meet each other, with the sessions run in a living room instead of a hall.
Analysis
A house buys you the whole week, and everyone who turns up has chosen it over the show floor. Sofas change which questions people will ask out loud. Builders came back across several days rather than collecting a sticker once and leaving.
I judge these by how many people were still building a month later. That figure is always far smaller than the registration count and it is the one worth reporting.
Result
1,200 registered developers, and 35+ converted to active builders.
Photos
The house. Taking a building for the week is the difference between a presence and a place. 
Sofas, not rows of chairs. People ask different questions sitting down. 