Instructure is a new company in an industry dominated by an older player (Blackboard).

To make a splash and get some attention in the market, we crashed Blackboard's user conference in Las Vegas. I championed the idea, assisted with the event planning, contributed key ideas (Darth Vader / Chewbacca / the "OMG Becky" T-shirt) and went to Vegas to oversee and help run the event.

The bar was packed, so many people stopped outside the bar getting pictures taken with Darth Vader and Chewbacca that getting through the hall was nearly impossible, and we got the attention I was looking for: the event was tweeted, blogged about, and Facebooked hundreds of times. Weeks later people were still discussing it.