Greenhouse OPEN Conference
Designing an immersive event experience for Greenhouse's annual customer conference
About Project
Greenhouse OPEN is an annual conference where talent professionals, business leaders and industry experts gather for an interactive learning experience.
Marquee outside the Javits Center displaying Greenhouse Open 2019 event image
Creating hype
In the months leading up to the conference, I used the event brand identity provided by Rival to design various promotional and supporting assets which included an event webpage, a sponsorship prospectus, ebook, social media assets, and emails.
Examples of social media promotional assets
Event landing page
Transforming the Javits Center
With the success of the conference in previous years, Greenhouse had ambitious goals to make OPEN 2019 the biggest and best yet. The Javits Center was chosen as the venue, which occupied a much larger footprint approximately 5x the previous year. Working closely with the event production team at Production Glue and with the help of another designer, I designed over 120 large scale graphics and set up production ready files to be printed at scale. The graphics covered over 3,800 square feet of the space to make a powerful statement upon entry and welcome attendees to the conference. I also designed the branded swag for the event which included an attendee tshirt, staff tshirt, badge, bag, and water bottle.
Stepping into the world of OPEN
Several large scale installations and immersive experiences helped transport attendees into the world of Greenhouse OPEN. These installations included:
An arrival sculpture that welcomed attendees and established the theme of the conference, "Meet the Talent Makers"
Branded backdrops for session rooms
A podcast booth where guests were interviewed throughout the event
A tunnel with branded sculptural shadowboxes, plants, and lighting to transition attendees into the main stage area
Large scale sculptural backdrops and dimensional pieces for the main stage
An After Party at an event space close to the Javits Center, branded with an extended OPEN 2019 identity specifically for the party
For all these installations, I designed the graphics/visual elements of the pieces and ensured the production files were set up to be printed at scale.
Arrival sculpture
Branded stage backdrop
Podcast booth
Tunnel to the Main Stage area
Main stage
Main stage area
Entrance of After Party with custom branded vinyl window and door wraps
Outcomes
Greenhouse OPEN 2019 was a great success with positive reviews and feedback from attendees. Deemed a “FOMO-worthy conference” by Greenhouse partner and attendee Brandice Sills-Payne from Fetcher, she lauded Greenhouse for “creating a welcoming environment for shared learning and development. The design of the event was inspiring, and attendee engagement was tangibly felt.”
Attendance increased by 15% from the previous year and the event generated 4x the leads from 2018.
“I just love the Greenhouse branding, with its plants, leaves, and flowers, all united by the concept of growing. From the Greenhouse-like space of the Javits Center and plant-based projections on the ceiling to the slide decks and T-shirts, Greenhouse created a cohesive brand experience.”
Melissa Suzuno, OPEN 2019 Attendee