LIfe@Lumu gives you an insight into what it’s like to be an Illuminator. After the success of the most recent Illumination Summit, we (virtually) sat down with the team that made it happen.
What was your role in preparing for the Illumination Summit?
Julian Brown: I helped with writing and editing some articles about the summit on the Lumu Blog, promoted the summit on social media, and got to host a live Q&A session with poker pro and bestselling author Maria Konnikova!
Zonia Caceres: I was responsible for the backstage team involved in live production, multimedia, invites, and the concierge service.
Lorena Arévalo: I helped with adapting the graphic concept to all the necessary formats for the stream and social media, as well as some live production tasks.
Manuel Otalvaro: I worked on the design concept, web design, development, and art direction.
Fernando Cuervo: I was involved in reviewing the content of the summit and in the raffle.
Maria Lobato: I worked with the speakers, marketing, and sales team to bring it all together.
Linda Portela: I worked with our more than 70 regional partners in the event promotion to bring people into the Illumination Summit Experience.
What skill did you have to learn for this summit?
JB: Doing the Q&A session was a new one for me—I’m usually behind the cameras!
ZC: I had to learn a lot about streaming tools and their integration: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I also got to work in coordination with Lorena (my co-producer).
LA: I think the most important thing was to work as a team for the live production and to manage the streaming tool. On the other hand to improve my knowledge in design tools to create better images.
MO: I learned about creating the best web and lead form experience, new streaming tools, and creating quality reports about the summit.
FC: We always want to deliver the best experience to our users, so I had to learn about new tools and some new cybersecurity trends.
ML: Being that this is our third Virtual Illumination Summit, you’d think we have this down, but no. Every Summit is a continuous learning experience. And, every time, we try to raise the bar a little bit because we want to provide the best live content experience for our audience and because we honor the time they are giving us. I always learn from the different tools we use, this time we used Restream and Youtube Live — other times we had used Zoom. We learned a lot about these tools and also about how to work with speakers to bring the most out of each of them.
LP: I think that every day you learn something from your team. This time, I was not directly involved in the logistics of the new event format, however, I was able to observe how Lumu can carry out high-quality and international events, always working as a team.
What’s the key to hosting a successful cybersecurity summit?
JB: Attracting the right attendees. Making the event short, fresh, and exciting is super important after a year of boring virtual events.
ZC: Uniqueness. It needs to be interactive, have energetic and relevant speakers, and have a good look and feel. Last but not least, you need to have a team that even though they might be a little afraid, dive deep in with the commitment to see it through.
LA: Be innovative, have great guests, a great team, and time to develop all the crazy ideas.
MO: Good speakers, and great coworkers with the same passion for creating the best possible Illumination Summit.
FC: With tons of virtual events going on, we know that it is difficult to separate us from the crowd. I think the key thing is always asking, is this valuable for our attendees? Is this something that I would attend?
ML: Good content never fails. We live by this and you may see it in our blogs, whitepapers, capsule videos, and past Illumination Summits. The key is good content that people cannot get elsewhere. And yes, the team to make things happen. A former colleague would often tell me, “where there is a will, there is a way”—cliché, yes but also very true.
LP: I believe that the agenda and the level of the speakers made it a successful event, which makes it attractive to the target audiences we want to reach.
How did you feel during the event?
JB: I felt nervous, but confident in our preparation.
ZC: A little bit worried, kind of nervous, very happy, and so excited.
LA: I was a little nervous at first but I loved the experience and all the teamwork.
MO: Seeing so many hours of work and effort come to life felt awesome!
FC: You always feel a little bit nervous in the hours and minutes before the event. After the event starts you enter on the flow and focus on delivering the best experience that you can.
ML: I always feel nervous but also relieved in a way. This is it! We can’t reschedule or postpone it. This is the moment that we worked on, for many weeks so let’s make the best of it. For the record, unexpected things always come up (including in our last Summit, did you notice?) but it is a matter of thinking on our feet and solving for them the best way possible to minimize the impact on the entire event experience.
LP: I felt confident about the experience we were about to offer and excited for the world to finally see it.
What was your favorite section of the summit?
JB: Maria Konnikova is such a compelling speaker and she made really interesting points about decision making. I also enjoyed seeing Ricardo and Chris tie that analogy to cybersecurity.
ZC: Mine was Maria Konnikova’s speech, it is really good to see as a woman a referent in an environment where traditionally was ruled by boys. Is inspiring, is empowering.
MO: The summit was great but my favorite moment was with Chris Steffen. He has good energy and passion.
LA: My favorite part was Maria’s presentation, I think she had a lot of energy and handled her speech very well, also when RV announced the fund investment, it was exciting.
FC: All of the Summit was great, but the Unfiltered Chat with Chris Steffen was mind-blowing.
ML: The speakers were very engaging but my favorite part was the Lumu Evolution Video, because it tells the story of what we have been building at Lumu, showcasing the evolution of our offering, our commitment to solving big problems cybersecurity teams currently face, and our deep belief on the fact that operating cybersecurity proficiently as possible regardless of the size of your team or pocket!
LP: For me, the event was great from beginning to end because we had some excellent speakers and good content altogether.
How was this summit different from previous ones?
JB: Having Maria Konnikova on was a game-changer for me. I’m a big poker fan and it was great to be able to pick the brain of such an accomplished author.
ZC: We had to migrate everything to a new platform to deliver a better and more professional experience. Also, of course, to have this amazing and brilliant woman like Maria Konnikova.
LA: Me (haha), I cannot answer this question
MO: New speakers and new challenges, we learn with every summit that we can do it better.
ML: We tried to make every minute very intentional. I think we achieved that because this event was short and packed 3 speakers, 2 Q&As, 5 unique videos, and a section for prizes—so definitely a LOT!
LP: I believe that the format we are developing is a winner since it is fresh and, different from other conferences. Through analogies and examples, we showcase different angles of cybersecurity.
What was the most rewarding moment of this summit?
JB: The virtual high fives after the event were nice, but the thrill of being live with Maria and moderating all the questions coming in was the best.
ZC: Seeing the people engaging with the event, seeing how happy and excited and involved they were, and also when we finished! I felt like a weight was lifted from everyone’s shoulders.
LA: I think the whole event: seeing how all the efforts paid off, how the live viewers increased, that everything was perfectly coordinated and carried out as planned.
MO: When I saw the number of people and the interaction with our event, it was amazing.
FC: The most rewarding moment is to see the live comments of the attendees saying good things about the Summit. Also to see positive feedback on the post-event survey was great.
ML: Creating an experience that people like and content people can relate to is incredibly rewarding to me. Save the date for the next one—September 15th!
LP: Listening to our audience’s positive comments and seeing our work take shape and be totally worth it due to the volume of people who attended and saw the Summit.
Now that you know a bit more about its behind-the-scenes action, relive the Illumination Summit: Poker and Cybersecurity: A Game of Skill, Not Luck.
