Dr. Robert Duncan: Hacking The Human Mind | The Art and Science of Neuroweapons | Ethical Considerations of Capable Weapons

Dr. Duncan’s Lecture on Neurohacking at MIT, May 1, 2019:

Reception of the Lecture at MIT | Note from Allison Ireland | May 6, 2019

The Robert Duncan MIT lecture went well. Originally we had 260 RSVPs, however only about 60 actually showed up the day of the event. Attendees were mostly all University students of Neuroscience from local tech schools. Most were not familiar at all with the phenomenon. Probably one of the most impressive things though is the traffic on the EventBrite page. Overnight it went from 1,000 to 60,000 views. It is currently at 76,000 and seems to be getting 1,000 views a day. I would like to edit the content, email it out to not only the attendees and RSVPs but all 5,000 relevant parties invited and obviously put it up on the EventBrite. Without question this was much more effective than handing out flyers randomly on a street corner. I think the content needs some tweaking though.

Here is follow up market research from sign in sheets. I thought it was interesting and worth sharing for future events. When asked if they were familiar with tech prior to this event 32% said yes while 68% said no. When asking those saying they were familiar how they became familiar 40% said internet, web articles or alternative media, 10% said government affiliation, 20% said personal experience, 10% said experience of a loved one and 20% said through the Cuban embassy news story. When asked if they would like to receive lecture materials emailed to them 67% said yes 33% said no and when asked if they would like be involved in more in-depth discussions and help us working towards solutions 67% said yes, 30% said no and 3% said not sure.

Also so we know which marketing platforms were most effective at bringing attendees to gauge ROI (return on investment) this was how those that signed in learned of the event: 21% Meetups (free), 9% direct emails (free), 2% flyers ($300), 40 EventBrite (free), 26% word of mouth (but 1/3 of these said it was from their professor so that more from direct email) 2% newspaper print ad ($600). Lesson learned free online marketing is way more effective! Email blasts, word of mouth and EventBrite traffic are most effective. Flyers and newspaper ads only accounted for 4% of attendees.