In a crowded week with 30,000 attendees, how do you throw a podcast launch that makes an impact? And how do you help the hosts find time for deeper connection with their collaborators, LPs, and old friends?
For the release of The Stepchange Show’s episodes on the American Grid, we partnered with Gridware to host an afternoon launch event that broke the monotony of panels and workshops at SFCW. Custom event branding (“the largest machine ever built”) was designed to work for slides, stickers, and even as the core concept of custom nametags. 160 people attended, connected, and it was incredible to see the happy hour still crowded an hour after the talk ended, chatting about the grid innovations that energized them.
And our designed artifacts gained a second life during the community dinner party we threw afterwards for 30 members of the hosts’ inner circle. Through pitches and in-depth conversations, the social grid of Stepchange Ventures channeled the prompts from our nametags into 4 hours of long-form connection, a welcome change of pace from the rest of the week.
Stepchange Show @ SF Climate Week
A 2-event sequence: public podcast launch & private community gathering
Deliverables
NAMETAGS: channeling energy to connect entrepreneurs
We designed nametags that playfully encouraged participants to connect the concept of transmission infrastructure to their own energy and interests. By visually hooking their areas of expertise up to the grid, attendees were able to quickly find ways to start conversations and build affinity networks.
STICKING TO THE THEME: custom event logo & stickers
How could we give the event a brand while promoting the key conceptual framework of the 4-hours of new episodes on the American Grid?
We designed a graphic that would easily take center stage on a slide, fit into the corner of future decks, and make for excellent stickers. Participants got them before the talk began to seed the core idea of the day, and by the end of the event, we saw them on waterbottles and laptop cases alike.
