While we fancy ourselves a full-service digital agency, our recent event with the New York Housing Conference had us extending beyond our usual day-to-day, and boy did it feel good to flex our large-event chops. Held at the iconic Sheraton Hotel in Times Square, and with over 1,200 people in attendance, this year’s annual NYHC awards event was a can’t-miss, and we got to be on the ground floor putting it all together.
The Big Prep
Since redesigning NYHC’s website last year, we already had a strong working relationship with the organization and were eager to help them on their next grand vision. The tasks involved were no small feat: First, design a concept that would represent the event and appear across all the event collateral. Second, oversee the production of that collateral — which sounds simple enough until you consider the coordination involved in gathering thousands of images from various participants and sources, making sure they’re correct and up-to-spec, and running interference between the NYHC, participants, and the printing firm. Luckily for us, we have some of the most fastidious project managers in the biz on our team.
The Big Event
After designing a cheerful and celebratory concept that involved a colorful, illustrated cityscape with a skyline dotted with bright shapes that resembled confetti, we set to work creating the materials needed for the event, which included 1,200 nametags, 1,300 96-page program booklets, over 60 large pop-up posters, large lobby column wraps, table tents, signage, and more. We used the project management tool Trello to clearly communicate deadlines and final deliverables and made ourselves available to all involved parties in order to answer questions about what materials were needed to bring everything together. We acted as the liaison between the NYHC, the companies involved in the awards gallery submissions, and the printing firm to ensure streamlined communication between all parties.
The Big Success
The event was a hit. Our designs warmed up the conference rooms of the Sheraton and the large, bright, column wraps and pop-up posters were a focal point, drawing people to what this event was all about: the amazing work done by the staff, developers, volunteers, and community to make beautiful, progressive, and multifunctional affordable housing for our fellow New Yorkers.
Hard work doesn’t feel so hard when you’re working with one of the hardest working orgs in New York. From design to coordination to execution, we found inspiration in the breadth, impactfulness, and resourcefulness of the NYHC’s work, and we aimed to match it.
