FOST London 2026: who came, and why
Six API and AI conferences under one FOST London badge, among them Apidays London, over two days. Sena talked to attendees before the doors opened.
18.8%
no-show rate for attendees who replied to Sena before the event, against 43.5% for attendees who got the message and stayed silent. A reply shows a plan to come. It does not prove that Sena made them come.
- Reached
- 1,135
- attendees reached on WhatsApp, of 1,589 ticket holders
- FOST London 2026
- Replies
- 201
- replies, three times more than any earlier FOST edition
- FOST London 2026
- Conversations
- 268
- conversations with at least one message from an attendee
- FOST London 2026
- Recommendations
- 1,762
- recommendations, each one an answer to what the attendee said
- FOST London 2026
Last updated 9 October 2026
What did FOST London need from Sena?
The form asked for a job title and stopped there.
Registration form
- Name
- Attendee
- Company
- Software consultancy
- Job title
- CTO
- Why here
- Not asked
What Sena heard
- Came for
- Practitioners, not vendors
- Plan sent
- Day two, no vendor sessions
- Source
- Their own words, one chat
- Channel
- WhatsApp, no app
One badge opened six conferences and 119 sessions. FOST gave Sena its attendee list, its programme and its sponsor profiles, and attendees installed nothing. What it takes to set up Sena for your event lists what your team sends.
What did attendees ask Sena for?
Mostly the programme: 193 of the 268 conversations asked about sessions or the schedule. In 98 conversations, about 1 in 3, Sena guided the attendee to sponsors and exhibitors.
Share of 268 conversations, by job
- Sessions and schedule
- 72%
- Sponsors and exhibitors
- 37%
- People to meet
- 36%
- Logistics and helpdesk
- 24%
193 conversations
98 conversations
97 conversations
64 conversations
Source: FOST London 2026
During the two days, 62 conversations used Sena as a live guide to the next session.
"Do you know if [a sponsor] has a stall at the conference?"
"Can you remind me of the address?"
"Is there breakfast tomorrow?"
The registration form did not show two groups. 26 of the 222 people who wrote to Sena came to look for a job. 21 came mainly to sell.
Where did Sena send them?
1,762
recommendations, and each one answered what the attendee said.
1,130
to sessions: 109 of 119 in the programme
260
to sponsors: 30 of 33 got at least one
372
to other registered attendees
- For the programme
- Nine of the ten sessions that Sena recommended most covered AI agents, MCP or AI gateways.
- For renewals
- Three sponsors got no recommendation, because the fit was poor or the profile was thin. Fix a thin profile before the renewal talk.
Which sponsor got what belongs to FOST, so we do not publish it here, and we treat your event data the same way.
Who showed up?
Attendees who replied came more often.
- Replied to Sena before the event
- 18.8%
- Read the message, did not reply
- 42.8%
- Got the message, did not open it
- 45.2%
- Number not on WhatsApp
- 45.2%
- No message sent
- 33.3%
165 attendees, 31 no-shows
663 attendees, 284 no-shows
279 attendees, 126 no-shows
199 attendees, 90 no-shows
69 attendees, 23 no-shows: no phone on file, or a phone shared with another attendee
Source: FOST London 2026
7 of 8
attendees who told Sena they had to cancel stayed away. Your ticket system does not hear those cancellations. Those seats can go to the waitlist.
What the comparison does not show
A reply predicts attendance and does not prove cause. Attendees who got the message and did not answer missed the event at about the same rate as attendees who never got it. Attendees with one or two messages came as often as attendees with five or more.
The full analysis: Event no-shows: data from 1,411 FOST London registrants.
What did the organizer get after the event?
Two files. 205 goals in their own words.
- CTO, consultancy
- Hear practitioners, not vendors
- Junior developer
- First FOST: plan two days, meet speakers
- Cloud architect
- Find a contact met on day one
- + 202 more
- Roles and goals. No names on this page.
- Who showed up
- Sponsor results
- Questions with no answer
78 of the 205 also have a LinkedIn profile and a conversation of three messages or more. The report adds who showed up, matched to badge scans, which sponsors attendees asked for, and the questions with no answer on the day: venue basics, session end times, the recordings policy and which sponsors recruit. See every section on the post-event report template with a filled example.
What did attendees say?
"I'm interested to hear from people who are living the problem and solving it within their own organisational context more than I am wanting to hear from someone with a product to sell."
CTO, software consultancy · Sena built a day-two plan with no vendor sessions.
"Yes please. This is amazing!"
Junior developer, first FOST · Sena sent a two-day timetable, booths to visit and openers for talks with speakers.
"I met [a contact] from [a card network] today and forgot to exchange contact details. Can you help?"
Cloud architect, global tech company · Sena found the right person.
Questions about the FOST London results
Did Sena reduce no-shows at FOST London?
Not proven. Attendees who replied to Sena before the event missed it at 18.8%, and silent attendees at 43.5%. People who plan to come reply more often, so a reply predicts attendance. It does not prove cause.
How many FOST London attendees used Sena?
268 conversations had at least one message from an attendee: 249 on WhatsApp and 19 on web chat. 201 attendees replied to the first WhatsApp message, three times more than at any earlier FOST edition.
What did FOST London give Sena?
Its attendee list, its programme and its sponsor profiles. Sena did the setup and sent the messages, and attendees installed nothing.
Which sponsors did attendees ask for?
That belongs to FOST, and we do not publish it. Sena recommended 30 of the 33 sponsors at least once, 260 times in all.
What does the organizer receive after the event?
A report and a follow-up list, as files. The report covers who came, what attendees asked for, where Sena sent them and which questions had no answer. The list holds 205 attendees with their goals in their own words.
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