Special Edition: 2025 By the Numbers

10 stats that paint a picture of our first 8½ months together

Bryan Waldon Pope

Dec 30, 2025

About | Contact Us | Submit an Event Listing

Listen to my recap of 2025 by the numbers (8 minutes, and worth hearing!) and/or read it below:

0:00

-8:05

Hello, Utah Valley Connectors!

2025 has been quite a ride.

I never imagined that a one-person passion project—with an intentional zero-dollar budget—could deliver such dynamic results.

Let’s be clear… Those results aren’t because of me; they are because of YOU!

Thank you for your interest, encouragement, and participation.

Old friendships have been rekindled.
New acquaintances have become friendships.
And friendships have transformed into business relationships—
not just for me but for many who have actively participated.

Since Utah Valley CONNECT is our collective project, I’d like to share 2025’s numbers with you to show you just what you’ve been part of. It’s more than I would have imagined…

UV CONNECT by the Numbers: Our First 8½ Months

~2

Hours/week spent by me on UV CONNECT

It’s true. Once I got everything set up, it’s only taken me a couple of hours each week to handle all the administrative work that makes it tick. This is a testimony to the power of collective effort. Our members (you!) have been the ‘secret sauce.’

38

Weekly issues produced in 2025

We officially kicked off in April of this year, with issues going out consistently on Tuesday morning each week for the rest of the year.

15,976

Views UV CONNECT has had since April

This is an average of almost 2,000 views per month. Not bad for starting from scratch, spending zero dollars on marketing (with the purpose of seeing if this concept naturally resonated with people), and watching this seed be adopted by others and nurtured into a flourishing, living community. Thank you! This is all you.

UVConnect.org

133

Events listed during 2025

That’s 15+ events per month on average since we launched. Not bad! Again, thank you for listing your events. And speaking of that…

21

Contributors who submitted events

Some of these contributors submitted one event. Some submitted a few during the year. This is a number I’d love to see grow in 2026. After all, listing your events is FREE! Thanks to all who have contributed. I’m excited to see what you have brewing for the coming year!

Submit an Event

3

UV Connect Community Partners

This wasn’t part of my original plan. It all happened when someone contacted me and said, “Hey! We’d like to be more involved with UV CONNECT than just submitting events. What can we do together?”

What was part of my plan was to put the UV CONNECT concept out there and see how people would add to it. I suppose, in the end, that means that having community partners was part of my plan—just not specifically. Thanks to SCERA Center for the Arts, the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce, and REUNION for jumping on board.

We have more partnerships in the works, which we’ll announce in the coming weeks!

29

Active referrers

Our membership numbers have grown because many people have shared UV CONNECT. Thanks to everyone who has shared this opportunity with your networks!

Our “active referrers” are those whose efforts have brought two or more new people into the family (with some reaching into the double digits!).

Besides clicking the links, checking out the events, and showing up to connect with new people (and old friends), an important thing you can do to help is consistently share UV CONNECT with others. Thank you for your help!

Share Utah Valley CONNECT

1.49

New referred members (average) per business day since we launched

Again, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has shared Utah Valley CONNECT with others. Your referrals have consistently brought other high-caliber people to the table. We couldn’t do it without you!

63.4%

Our average email open rate

Our highest open rate for a given week was 77%. Our lowest was 58%.

Any of you who work with email for commercial purposes knows this is a stellar open rate. In 2012, I was named one of the top 10% email open-rate and click-through-rate copywriters globally. These were the kinds of numbers that garnered that accolade.

This time, it isn’t about my copywriting abilities—it’s about your being a highly engaged, world-class community of connectors. Kudos to you for being part of this unique family. And thank you for allowing me to be part of your journey!

1.7 to 4.8

The average number of times each email was opened

This is, perhaps, the number that surprised me the most.

For you math geeks out there, this means that for any given email distribution, the ultimate number of email opens was the equivalent of anywhere from 1x to 3x opens for every person on the distribution list—not just those who opened the email. This is unheard of!

These reopens account for recipients revisiting the email and emails forwarded by recipients that were opened by those to whom they forwarded them.

This statistic says one clear thing about Utah Valley CONNECT members: We are tuned in and engaged!

Thank you for your engagement, your event submissions, your attendance at events, and for sharing UV CONNECT with others. You’ve made 2025 a stellar year!

Thanks for being here!