2022 NAEYC Annual Conference
Case Study
Branding & Identity | Physical & Digital Signage | Program Design | Photography
Slideshows | Backdrops | Social Media Content Creation
Video Editing | Email Graphics
Background
Designing a conference for thousands of attendees requires careful planning, coordination, and execution to ensure a successful event. I have the pleasure to work with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) on three conferences per year. The NAEYC Annual Conference is the largest of the three and was held in Washington, DC in 2022.
I served as the Creative Design Project Manager, Lead Designer, and Photographer. I also had a team of one Senior Designer and two Junior Designers to assist in design production.
I also worked closely with the Conference team, Sales team, and external vendors to manage every design aspect of the event.
Final Assets Produced
178 page conference program
50+ digital slides used during the opening and closing sessions
15 full-page ads highlighting educational resources, upcoming events, and sales items
4 page exhibit hall guide for attendees
Physical signage for registration, exhibit hall, session rooms, and bathrooms areas
Digital and physical signage for interior lobby and outdoor street areas
1-minute highlight reel to kickstart the opening session
Giveaway items such as plant seed packets, straws, raffle tickets, and postcards
Photography coverage for 5 days
Social media static posts and videos
Email graphics for event promotion
Project Launch
At the start of this project, I worked closely with the Conference team, who was responsible for overseeing execution of the event and bringing together the Design, Marketing, Policy, Finance and Executive teams. The Conference team starts planning the event a year ahead and brings in the Marketing and Design teams about six months prior to the event.
A kickoff meeting was held to discuss the overall vision, goals, brand identity, activities, supporting events, keynote speaker, session details, marketing efforts, and printed program. We analyzed member surveys conducted at the previous year’s conference to ensure that the event addressed members’ concerns and felt unique from past conferences.
Ideation Phase
Once we had a clear understanding of the needs, I began the ideation phase, sketching out ideas and brainstorming concepts for the conference brand identity. Since this year did not have a specific theme, I leaned into elevating the NAEYC brand as a whole. I emphasized the circular design elements and bold, primary colors that is characteristic of the NAEYC brand.
The goal was to create a design that would increase brand awareness and create a visually impacting experience.
Production Phase
Once the designs were approved, I moved on to the production of the conference program, exhibitor guide, social graphics, email graphics, digital and physical signage, and giveaway items, and other marketing materials.
I assigned the Senior Designer as the Lead Designer role for conference program and exhibitor guide. She was the primary contact for receiving the content, implementing design, and making edits, while I oversaw the entire process to ensure the final product meets the deadline and quality standards.
For marketing graphics, the entire design team produced original content that was promoted through email, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. My primary role was to record NAEYC staff and governing board members performing trendy dances. I also worked closely with a freelance videographer to record short interviews all 17 governing board members speaking on their experience and excitement for the upcoming conference.
I designed 15 digital, animated banners for 6 locations on site. Each banner was used to promote events happening around the conference, future conference dates, and directional information about the venue.
The majority of the physical signage was produced by an external vendor, Hargrove, alongside creative direction from myself. All designs were vetted and approved by the creative, marketing, and conference teams.
Additionally, all designers, collectively worked on graphics for events happening throughout the conference. This includes marketing stickers and buttons, slideshow presentations, interest forum group stickers, plant seed packets for educators to take back to their classrooms, raffle tickets for prizes, posters for activities, and advocacy postcards that educators can fill out that will be hand delivered to Congress.
To drum up excitement during the opening session, I created a one minute “sizzle reel” with stock content. This short video highlighted the venue’s location, promoted marketing statistics about the conference, and featured a playful cameo of NAEYC’s CEO and President.
Summary
As project manager, I oversaw the entire process from start to finish, ensuring that every detail was addressed and deadlines were met. As lead designer, I communicated regularly with teams and external vendors to ensure execution was satisfactory. As the on-site photographer, I captured photos that showcased the liveliness of NAEYC’s members, which will be used to promote next year’s Annual Conference.