Chumstock
A 4-day, 120-person climate tech unconference in the San Juan Islands.
How do you bring founders, funders, operators, and researchers together to dream up the next generation of climate tech startups? We brokered a 3-way partnership with the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories and the Foster School of Business to host a long-form unconference focused on deeper connections and longer conversations.
Deliverables
OFFICIAL STATIONERY: Conference Field Guides
In an unconference, what role could an official event program play? How could it lend gravity to the event, provide helpful information, and yet inspire a sense of levity and social generosity?
We built out a 40 page field guide, featuring everything from tide charts to a participant directory.
SOCIAL CURRENCY: Sardine Tin Business Cards
How could we encourage people to connect and stay in touch, without getting in the way of their conversations?
Drawing on the San Juan Islands’ rich fisheries history, we customized a sardine tin for each attendee, filled with business cards… in the shape of local fish species. To make things interesting, we based the distribution frequency of the cards on the local trophic levels; giving someone your chum salmon was special, but giving someone a shark or an orca became a distinct honor!
MEMORY MACHINES: Custom Chumstock Cameras
How could we encourage group memory-making without driving more phone use?
We designed custom wrappers for disposable cameras and scattered them throughout the event; they got brought on field trips, were passed around on the dance floor, and even got smuggled into rowboats. In spite of the professional photographers on site, everyone agreed that these captured the most authentic images of the weekend.
Videos
