---
aliases: ["LeadDev London 2025"]
Is A: Project
Belongs to: "[[25q3]]"
Advances: "[[responsibility-content-production]]"
Status: Done
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# LeadDev London 2025

## Overview

LeadDev London is one of the premier conferences for engineering leaders, and attending in 2025 served three purposes: participating in a panel on "Building Engineering Content Brands," meeting potential podcast guests and sponsors in person, and writing a post-conference analysis piece for the newsletter. The trip combined brand-building, relationship development, and content creation into a single, high-leverage event.

The conference took place in early September in London. Beyond the panel, the most valuable aspect was the hallway conversations — meeting people who have been reading the newsletter for years, connecting with potential sponsors face-to-face, and identifying guests for [[25q3-podcast-season-4]]. The post-conference newsletter issue became one of the highest-engagement pieces of the quarter.

## Goals

- Participate in the "Building Engineering Content Brands" panel discussion
- Schedule at least 5 in-person meetings with current/potential sponsors during the conference
- Identify and pitch 3+ potential guests for the upcoming podcast season
- Write a post-conference analysis newsletter issue highlighting key themes and takeaways
- Strengthen relationships with 10+ newsletter readers and community members attending the event

## Key decisions

- **Panel participation over keynote pitch.** Was offered the option to propose a keynote talk, but chose the panel format instead. A panel requires less preparation time, provides exposure to the other panelists' audiences, and positions Refactoring alongside other established content brands. The trade-off is less individual spotlight, but the networking value of sharing a stage with peers outweighs that.
- **Three days, not just conference days.** Arrived one day before the conference for scheduled sponsor meetings and stayed one day after for follow-up conversations. The extra days doubled the relationship ROI of the trip.
- **Post-conference piece as synthesis, not summary.** Rather than writing a play-by-play of conference talks (which dozens of attendees will do), wrote a synthesized analysis of the three biggest themes emerging across all talks. This is more valuable to readers and stands out in the content noise after any major conference.

## Notes

- The panel discussion went well. The other panelists represented a startup-focused newsletter (~80K subscribers), a podcast network, and a YouTube channel for developers. The conversation surfaced interesting differences in monetization strategies and audience engagement patterns. Several audience members approached afterward to discuss Refactoring's sponsorship model.
- In-person sponsor meetings were extremely productive. Met with 6 sponsors (5 existing, 1 prospective), and the face-to-face time strengthened relationships in a way that video calls cannot. The prospective sponsor signed a 3-month Deep Dive package within a week of the conference. [[person-matteo-cellini]] prepared one-pagers for each meeting, which was a professional touch.
- Identified 4 potential podcast guests, 3 of whom have since confirmed for [[25q3-podcast-season-4]]. In-person conversation is vastly more effective for podcast guest recruitment than cold email.
- The post-conference newsletter issue ("Three Things I Learned at LeadDev London 2025") had the highest open rate of any issue in Q3 (48%) and generated significant discussion in the [[25q3-community-launch]] Discord. Conference analysis content consistently outperforms regular issues.
- [[person-emma-wilson]] also attended and facilitated an introduction to several VPEs from UK-based scale-ups. These connections are valuable for both podcast guests and understanding the European engineering leadership landscape.
- Total trip cost: approximately 1,800 GBP (flights, hotel, meals, conference ticket). The ROI through the new sponsor alone covered the trip cost several times over.
