Over the past 4 years, we’ve been hosting a free e-conference series geared to tackle the accessibility and quality issues in industry conferences.
Issues with existing industry conferences:
High registration costs, often ranging from $1,000–$2,000 USD, and/or significant travel expenses, as conferences are frequently held in expensive city centers.
Poor curation of speakers, with “pay-to-play” models being common and poor expert vetting of speakers, particularly at lower-cost events.
Conferences are critical spaces for knowledge exchange in our industry. As it stands, high-quality information tends to remain concentrated within large corporations, while lower-quality, and often inaccurate, information circulates more widely.
These barriers create significant challenges for:
Equipping smaller businesses with the tools they need to succeed
Introducing young professionals and students to the industry
Addressing the spread of misinformation
Advancing our industry collectively in areas like safety, sustainability, and performance
This is the gap my free e-conference series seeks to bridge.
How does The Eco Well e-summit series compare to other industry conferences?
In 2025, we started to collect audience feedback to see how our series compares to traditional industry conferences. Here were the results of our survey:
100% felt our e-summits were as good or better than other industry conferences, 96.6% felt they were better, with 69% indicating they were much better. 100% felt our e-summits were more accessible.
“It is the best in beauty and formulation science, by far.”
We asked survey respondents how our e-summit series compares to other industry conferences. Summary of responses:
Accessibility: The virtual format makes it easy to access, especially for those with limited income or living in low-income countries.
Content Quality: The e-summits provide highly informative, reliable, and detailed insights from highly qualified professionals and relevant experts, often surpassing other industry conferences in quality and accuracy.
Value: It stands out for its free access to quality content, diversity of speakers, and focus on objective perspectives, without the sales pitches often found in other events.
Engagement: The series is interactive, engaging, and convenient.
“Jen’s E-Summits are fantastic. The quality of the information, accuracy and broad topic coverage is better than any other industry conference I’ve attended - it’s incredible that she’s made it free for attendees. I’m optimistic that the increased availability of high quality education, especially for younger people in the industry, will have a ripple effect on improving cosmetics as a whole.”
Our respondent survey is a part of our effort to make a case for The Eco Well e-summit series to help us get industry buy-in and support so we can continue the project, and increase our impact. If you are a company who partners with traditional industry conferences, please consider partnering with us for ours.
More full response highlights
“In my opinion, this e-summit series stands out from other industry conferences primarily due to its unparalleled accessibility and highly focused content delivery. While traditional conferences often require significant travel and time commitments, this virtual format democratizes participation, allowing a broader audience to engage with cutting-edge insights. Furthermore, the series' ability to deep-dive into specific, relevant topics over a sustained period offers a more concentrated and actionable learning experience compared to the often broader, more fragmented agendas of larger, in-person events.” Niwrka Pena
“A must for people in the personal care arena, and very worthwhile even for people casually interested in the industry.” Nic M
“As someone living in a low income country, access to such high level professional resources is often out of reach due to steep costs. The Eco Well is truly doing amazing work for this industry in terms of quality and accessibility.” Silvia
“An incredible achievement by Jen Novakovich. People love these events because you cannot get anything like this anywhere else.” Neil Burns
“I absolutely love the e-summits that Jen puts on! I’m a cosmetic chemist relatively new to the industry, and these summits have been massively helpful in educating me about topics that are relevant to my job. They not only give me information that I couldn’t get anywhere else, but I know that it’s accurate and trustworthy. These conferences are invaluable to both professionals in the industry and everyday people who are interested in cosmetics.” Sadie
“As a copywriter, I find this series invaluable in helping me build my knowledge and understanding of the beauty industry, as well as ensuring I’m not contributing to misinformation or false or over exaggerated claims.” Blythe
“Huge value to all attendees, especially those wanting a more balanced viewpoint on the issues in the cosmetic industry.” Kevin Herbert
“I've never felt any of the speakers were there just to sell me something, which is much more frequent in other industry conferences. This makes the series much more appreciable to attend and in my opinion valuable.” Giovanna Ecclesia
“The accessibility is incredible. I’m a small skincare content creator and this series makes it possible for me to stay on top of things and get reliable information I can pass on.” Annonymous Response
“I haven't seen another industry do anything like it before! Normally it's accessible, quality, free: pick two. Jen provides us with all three and I will always be grateful for it.” Annonymous Response
“The e-summit series has been helpful in keeping me updated on industry changes from ingredients to consumer behavior and so on. I've enjoyed how nuanced and thorough the summits have been while also allowing space to engage and interact.” Otemah Boakye
“The value is hard to measure because it would've taken me years to gain this knowledge elsewhere. It's extremely high value and very much worth the time.” Annonymous Response
“It is a power packed session and one stop solution for anyone who wants a deep dive in cosmetic industry. I learnt so much from these sessions! Always look forward to the sessions. Extremely grateful to Jen for organising these.” Sakshi Kwatra
“The Eco Well and the amazing e-summits Jen curates is a great place to gain meaningful industry insights. The speakers cover a comprehensive range of relevant topics providing a quality scope of information. Each segment is unique and interesting and a valuable event to access and was nice to be able to go back to the recording afterward. It is very empowering to see Jen and many of the women speakers contributing so positively to the cosmetic science industry and overall research of today.” Annonymous Response
“Even when you're part of a large organisation, securing approval to attend every major beauty conference isn't always feasible, especially when you're new to the role. That's precisely why platforms like the Eco Well E-Summit Series are incredibly valuable. They democratise access to crucial industry insights, proving once again that information truly is power for continuous learning and innovation.” Annonymous Response