One Spark National Attention

[johnny_simpatico]

I'm repeatedly reading about all the worldwide attention One Spark is providing for Jacksonville.  Thought I'd do a LexisNexis search to see if that assertion is valid or if it's just a bit of urban folklore. 

I searched from April to today and found 63 citations in the Florida Times-Union, plus four press releases.  There were many other hits on the words "one spark," but many of them dealt with fires, finance or sporting events around the world.  I read the NY Times almost every day and don't recall seeing any mention of the World's Crowdfunding Festival.  A search on their website verified there were no items about the event.

The Florida Times-Union had an April 19th article on Peter Rummell visiting New York and interviewing with Time Magazine.  I see nothing about One Spark on the Time site.

An article in today's paper cites a survey by UNF which found that 15% of One Spark visitors were not from Duval County.  My guess is the lion's share of those were from St. Johns, Nassau and Clay Counties. 

I'd love to believe the hype, but it's hard to believe One Spark has put Jacksonville on the map any more than, let's say, the Michael Dunn case.

[johnny_simpatico]

Sorry to appear like a Luddite.  (What kind of Neanderthal is still looking at print newspapers?) 

FYI, here are some results of interest as measured by Google searche3s.  I've contrasted interest in One Spark with interest in Michael Dunn.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=one%20spark%2C%20michael%20dunn&cmpt=q

Sometimes it's helpful to take a step back from the Jacksonville bubble and look at the place dispassionately.

[ProjectMaximus]

I'm with you, Johnny, in the difficulty of finding online press about "one spark" given the ubiquitous title and the plethora of local results.

But here are a couple national pieces that I happen to have in my browser history to share:

CNN/Fortune article:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/25/a-real-life-version-of-kickstarter-is-drawing-massive-crowds-and-millions-of-dollars-to-jacksonville-fla/

CNBC Interview:
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000265763

[blizz01]

Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/04/11/startups-compete-for-crowdfunding-dollars-in-person-at-the-one-spark-festival/

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-ross/floridas-one-spark-crowdf_b_5148258.html

[fieldafm]

Thought I'd do a LexisNexis search to see if that assertion is valid or if it's just a bit of urban folklore. 

I know I personally watched Fox Business News and CNBC showing on-air interviews about One Spark. Maybe I was eating One Spark mushrooms at the time 

Also, generally speaking, for magazines like Forbes, Time, Entreprenuer etc... there is generally a lag period in print publication dates. On a few magazines that I used to work for, it generally took about 2-3 months from submission to hit the ink. I'm sure things have evolved and gotten a bit more nimble since 2001-2004... but I wouldn't expect an article that was just written to appear in a monthly publication right away.

[CityLife]

^Good point. I hope at minimum it gets some print coverage in Florida Trend.

[finehoe]

Speaking of which,  "UNF study shows One Spark 2014 had $1.8-million impact on Jacksonville tourism industry"

http://members.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2014-05-13/story/unf-study-shows-one-spark-2014-had-18-million-impact-jacksonville

[BoldBoyOfTheSouth]

We've all seen the countless ideas at One Spark that were not even all that serious and when asked about their business plan, many could not provide anything that a serious investor or bank underwriter looking at a loan would take seriously.  Though, perhaps through crowd sourcing, they would get the seed money to hire people to help them develop a business plan.

Or maybe they think that business plans are outmoded.  Who knows.

[BoldBoyOfTheSouth]

I too was troubled that most people outside of Jacksonville really were not talking much about One Spark.

One Spark has received some positive feedback as a city in Germany wants to emulate it which is a great thing.

If nothing else, it brought pride of place to people in Jacksonville and brought hundreds of thousands of people downtown is was great in an above itself.

Hopefully over time it'll actually spark innovation in Jacksonville and give locals the audacity to dream that they can build something great here in Jacksonville. Perhaps one or two hipsters from elsewhere came to Jax, saw potential and move here and build something great.  Jacksonville won't reap those rewards for many years.

[BoldBoyOfTheSouth]

I just hope that soon we will start hearing how Project X and Innovation Y and Idea ABC went from college dorm dream on a computer and/or four people in a tiny office and it turns into a great idea that hires hundreds of people. 

One Spark may never spawn the next Twitter or Microsolt or Cabage Patch Doll but hopefully it'll help take the small time business into a industry leader.

[Tacachale]

This was an event that was put on with private funding and was almost entirely free to attend. Any attendance and outside press it drew came at a price of virtually nothing to the average Jaxon. Plus there was the concrete impact of 260,000 people downtown and an economic impact of $1.8 million over just a few days - and this is only its second year. Not sure what more one could expect for free.

[I-10east]

^^^+100

That's the first thing that came to my mind; We're not gonna get SXSW recognition and attendance numbers in the second year.

[johnny_simpatico]

Reading the T-U article about One Spark's economic impact provokes plenty of questions.

The survey found an estimated 1,010 people booked 1,600 hotel nights during the event. The average length of stay was 2.8 days with an average party size of 1.8 people per stay.

Did the study assume that everyone booking a hotel room downtown was there for One Spark?


UNF deployed a team of 16 interviewers with three supervisors who were managed by faculty director Michael Binder to survey the crowd from April 9-12.

The survey also found that the majority of people attending the festival were from Duval County. One Spark officials said there were an estimated 260,000 people who crammed the 20-square-block footprint of downtown Jacksonville for the duration of the festival. Out of that, the UNF study showed 85 percent were from Duval County and 15 percent were visitors from outside the county, accounting for about 51,000 "unique" visitors from other areas, the study showed.

If 260,000 people visited the festival and 15% from were outside Duval County, that would equate to 39,000 from outside the County (not 51,000) -- and some subset I suppose would  unique visitors. This assumes the festival organizers' estimate of 260,000 is correct. 

Those 51,000 people are used as the basis of the calculated $1.86-million impact.

OK. So the hotel beds weren't part of the analysis. The article does not say if the $1.86 million constitutes net economic benefits.  The festival wasn't free to the taxpayers, who had to pay for police, fire and sanitation overtime, among other expenses. If these expenses weren't included in the $1.86 million, the big benefit shrinks precipitously.

Let's just say the story is confusing. We can hope it's another case of the T-U doing a lousy job of explaining something rather than a flawed analysis.

[Tacachale]

This one from the Daily Record is a little better.

http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=542914

Among the things it says:

Based on the survey, 1,010 visitors booked rooms in commercial lodgings, accounting for 1,600 event-related room nights – a direct expenditure of $1,135,000.

Those surveyed said they planned to spend an average of 2.8 days in a hotel during One Spark.

Applying the industry standard regional festival event multiplier to estimate overall visitor spending, the total amount that flowed into the local economy is calculated to be $1,816,000.

So the hotel stays were part of the estimate and the estimate was created the same way they're created for events throughout the region. In fact, it sounds like the $1,816,000 figure is for these out-of-town guests alone, not including the folks who didn't stay in hotels.

[CityLife]

The survey also found that the majority of people attending the festival were from Duval County. One Spark officials said there were an estimated 260,000 people who crammed the 20-square-block footprint of downtown Jacksonville for the duration of the festival. Out of that, the UNF study showed 85 percent were from Duval County and 15 percent were visitors from outside the county, accounting for about 51,000 "unique" visitors from other areas, the study showed.

Would be curious to know how many of those 15% were from St. John's, Clay, and Nassau Counties.