Case Study
Astro Together Montreal 2024
Role
Strategic direction, artistic direction, technical production, audiovisual management, speaker coaching, show direction, supplier sourcing and management, food and beverage styling, interactive giveaways, games and attractions, logistics and on-site management, promotional and event staffing.
Mandate
Astro is a young, quickly growing tech company that builds a web framework for creating websites. They were referred by one of our trusted suppliers with an objective to capture impressive content of a keynote and some additional presentations to be able to use as marketing material to pitch potential investors. Since their goal was content creation, they originally approached a video production company, who recognized that they would need full event production support to build, not just engaging presentations on a captivating stage, but a memorable experience that would encourage participants from the programming and developer world to step away from their screens and be engaged by fun activations, great food and ultimately each other.
Solution
We worked in close partnership with the client and the video production team to design an accessible space that would get participants away from their usual workstations, engaging with each other and the brand, while also looking impactful on screen with a creatively designed stage, interactive giveaways and beautifully styled crowd-pleasing food and drinks.
Impactful, stage design on a budget
Since the key aspects Astro wanted to capture were their keynote presentations, our stage design would have to be a major focus. The presentations and the setting should look future forward but also remain functional, elegant, clean, approachable and on brand. And of course, come out beautifully on screen. We worked with some of our favourite lighting designers and technical teams to help create a stage that allowed for larger-than-life live coding demos, real-time translation subtitles, and gorgeous content capture while respecting budget parameters. We also worked directly with the speakers to ensure that their messaging was succinct and their delivery left an indelible impression.
Not just merch…moments to connect.
The tech industry is chock full of merch and people love it. But we wanted to make sure that we were curating our choices of swag so participants were also getting a moment to connect, not just another branded giveaway. Custom branded t-shirts were created on site giving guests a chance to interact with a local Montreal supplier and see how this type of work is done. Arcade and video game stations brought people together and encouraged low-key networking over a game of pinball or Mario Kart. Even the food offerings were interactive conversation starters with a build-your-own taco station or personalized coffee bar complete with coffee art.
An online brand IRL
Astro’s brand lives primarily online. Our creative direction team took on the challenge of translating it to a real life environment and ensuring it ticked all the boxes from the perspectives of functionality, live design aesthetics and content capture. Everything from the choice of venue, floorplan layout, use of brand colors and accessible design of the space were taken into consideration to help achieve this. All choices were made to ensure that the brand’s personality would permeate the event on every level, from how guests were greeted on arrival to the kind of cookies they were given on departure.
