Remembering One Spark 2014: Sights & Scenes

[tufsu1]

The One Spark organizers said they expected to top 150k for this year's festival. I'm sure nobody thought 260k would show up.

externally they said 150,000, which was pretty conservative given that last year drew 130,000 with bad weather on several days....internally, they thought they could get over 200,000....but yes, I doubt even the biggest boosters expected more than 250,000 in year 2

[Cheshire Cat]

One Spark in Forbes.

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/

At the One Spark festival earlier this month, 260,000 people gave more than $360,000 in crowdfunding. Next stop: Berlin.
FORTUNE -- Part fundraiser, part pitch contest, and part real-life Kickstarter campaign, the One Spark festival is picking up steam. Earlier this month, the company hosted its second-ever crowdfunding extravaganza, which drew a crowd of 260,000 attendees who funneled $363,000 into more than 600 projects.
Perhaps most notably, One Spark is not located in Silicon Valley, New York, or Boston. It's not even located in a burgeoning tech hub, such as Austin, Boulder, or St. Louis. One Spark's home is in Jacksonville, Fla.
The location is no accident: Co-founder Elton Rivas decided to create the crowdfunding festival in his hometown after Brad Feld's book on Startup Communities inspired him to stay there. Rivas had previously started a marketing agency and a co-working space in Jacksonville. He was tired of seeing his peers feel like they had to move to another city to do something great, he said.
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[mikelep]

Ok... found this... it'll put everything One Spark into perspective:   5 Ways One Spark RUINED Jacksonville, Florida As We Know It

http://persistentconcepts.com/5-ways-one-spark-2014-ruined-jacksonville-as-we-know-it/