Upstream uses RecapHub to extend reach beyond 3,000 live attendees

Summary

Partnered with: Upstream Festival, community-driven startup innovation festival

Where: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

When: May 2025
Industry: Events & Startup Community

Key Results: Extended event reach beyond 3,000 live attendees, streamlined content creation for newsletter and organic marketing channels.

Upstream: The event Dutch startups should know about

Upstream is where innovation meets community,  in a vibrant festival atmosphere, bringing together founders, investors, and corporate change makers such as Kiki Lauwers (CEO Thorizon) or Wouter de Bruijne (Former CCO ParkBee). 

With over 3,000 attendees, this event has become a gateway to cutting-edge ideas, meaningful connections, and new opportunities for the Dutch startup ecosystem.

While Upstream's community-driven approach is making them stand out in the cluttered scene of (tech) events, it also creates a challenge when the festival ends. The team was spending so much time managing the live event logistics, there was little left over to create fresh post-event content, engage with their newsletter subscribers, and maximize the reach of their valuable insights. 

This means that they were missing out on community growth and a weakening of ongoing engagement. 

"Working with EventLabs has been a great decision. From our very first conversation, it was clear how valuable the tool would be for our marketing and beyond. During the event, we captured key session takeaways in real time and shared them online immediately – creating real buzz around the sessions. Since then, we’ve been using the generated content for our website updates, LinkedIn posts, and newsletters. The ability to link it all to a recap page with analytics is giving us even deeper insight into what content resonates most with our participants.”

- Christine Michaelis, Head of Marketing, Upstream Festival

Upstream also worried about missing the opportunity to provide value to their broader online community beyond just the live attendees.

RecapHub: A fast, long-lasting solution

After seeing what Upstream had accomplished with their festival over the past few years, we reached out to introduce RecapHub.

The moment we explained how we could enrich their event sessions with our tool, they were more than open to hear about what RecapHub has to offer. Especially because we were solving a real pain point: creating fast, same-day, quality content for multiple channels without the usual time investment.

“The collaboration has been seamless. EventLabs adapted quickly to our needs and delivered a great experience. I’d recommend it to anyone running an event who wants to boost their marketing efforts. I’m looking forward to continuing to work together."

The implementation was straightforward. Right after each keynote, Upstream used RecapHub to process their content and generate materials ready for distribution across their preferred marketing channels. 

Insights made to be shared

The results exceeded Upstream's expectations.

Instead of spending days creating post-event content, they were able to quickly generate high-quality materials that brought valuable insights to their audience in minutes.

The festival's impact extended far beyond the original 3,000 attendees, and both website visitors and newsletter subscribers received rich, insightful content from the event. Here’s a sneak peek: Insights from Ferdinand Grapperhaus at Upstream Festival: Navigating Market Pivots

Last but not least, Upstream’s website became a resource for the broader startup community. People who couldn't attend the festival now had access to key takeaways and insights. 

Upstream’s favorite RecapHub features?

• The Topic Mindmap: visual map of how concepts flowed and connected throughout their keynotes, making it easy to see the bigger picture of discussions

• The Key Insights: turned the keynotes into concise takeaways delivering a clear overview of what attendees needed to remember