Made By Few Conference to Inspire Makers of the Web

A tech conference with Little Rock roots is relocating to Northwest Arkansas in its fifth year, seeking to make “the web a more beautiful place.”

The annual Made by Few conference will take place at multiple venues in downtown Bentonville and Springdale from Oct. 26-29. Much of the conference will be hosted at the Record — a new 12,000-SF event space at 104 S.W. A St. in downtown Bentonville — but other segments will take place at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 21c Museum Hotel and Sassafras Springs Vineyard in Springdale.

Arlton Lowry, conference founder and chief creative officer of Few, said the event will be “a very inspirational, informative experience.” Few, the conference host, is a North Little Rock company that designs and develops websites and apps.

The conference will be a learning opportunity for not only designers and developers but also for entrepreneurs and startups, Lowry said. “It’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be ridiculous.”

The intent is to help people find their passion, take chances and “get them on the right path to making the web a more beautiful place.”

Part of the vision is to connect Arkansans with the national scene, said Correne Spero, operations lead for Few.

In 2015, over 300 people attended the conference from 26 states and Canada. Attendees included employees of Facebook, Blizzard and Shopify.

Between 300 and 400 attendees are expected to come this year, Spero said.

This year, speakers are coming from Facebook: Chloe Park, product designer, and Alex Cornell, product designer; Mozilla Foundation: Cassie McDaniel, design director; Google Ventures: Daniel Burka, design partner; and Mike Monteiro, co-founder of Mule Design Studio.

Monteiro became popular by painting and owns a design shop in San Francisco, Lowry said. “He really lights the fire in people.”

The quality and diversity of the speakers are very important to the event organizers. They wanted to make sure the event would include a good split of men and women speakers.

Lowry explained that over the years, organizers have continued to “push things to the next level.”

Before founding the conference, Lowry said he “cut his teeth” on a conference he worked on in Atlanta and had hosted events at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

The conference started small with 100 attendees, and tickets were $25 per person.

Now, as the conference has grown, ticket prices are over $400. He said tickets for similar conferences run between $1,300 and $6,000.

“We bring in better-quality speakers at a lower cost,” Lowry said. “We’re not trying to make money off people’s backs.”

The conference is expected to cost $150,000 to host, which covers speaker fees, hotels, shuttles, food, lights, photography and rent.

While its high cost doesn’t make it easy for organizers to host, they have the opportunity to partner with organizations such as the Northwest Arkansas Council to offer scholarships for 20 students to attend.

All artwork produced in a design competition during the conference is donated to a nonprofit organization that promotes art. On Oct. 28, the fourth Designed by Few competition will be hosted at 21c with music and dancing.

On Oct. 27, an opening reception will take place at Crystal Bridges.

Between Oct. 28 and 29, Handmade by Few craft show will be hosted at the Record and is open to the public.

“Handmade by Few is an exciting collaboration that gives the local community and conference attendees an opportunity to experience some of the region’s best artist in one beautiful location,” Amber Perrodin, co-founder of The Little Craft Show, said in a news release. The Little Craft Show is merging with the Made by Few conference to produce Handmade by Few.

On Oct. 26, Made by Few Fireside Talks will take place at Sassafras Winery. The outdoor event, hosted by Chris Coyier, will include six speakers on various topics.

“I’m really excited about it,” Lowry said. “We’re going to do some really cool stuff.”