Project: CNLIVE 2019 Conference
Role: Creative Director
“How are we going to make our opening performance as incredible as last year?”
Special Look: The Next Level
Bigger AND Better?
Our company had such an amazing conference opening last year that we had the tough challenge of trying to out-do ourselves. We also upped the ante by giving the conference the tagline, ‘A Next Level Experience.’
Amazing but achievable.
Our budget required us to be a little more creative that usual. How do we have as grand an opening as we did last year when we flash mobbed a historical theatre? After bashing my head on many whiteboards, I came up with a plan.
Epic Monologue.
If we flash mobbed the previous year, maybe we spotlight a single person this year. Quite literally spotlight. Light them up in such a way that they command your attention. Set a mood that causes the audience to hold their breathe and keep their eyes open so they don’t miss a thing.
Time to Climb.
I crafted a speech that spoke to the theme of the event. The heroes journey in reaching their next level and the trials and tribulations on their path. This speech was powerful, but it can only reach it’s true power if it was delivered by someone who looked powerful. This led to my very first experience as a casting director and we found just the right guy for the job.
That gave me chills.
This is what audience member after audience member reported back to us after watching the performance. This man who embodied power giving an heroic speech while climbing up metaphorical and literal stairs while the spotlights followed him. And when he reached the top and delivered his final line, he fell back into darkness, the opening video played and the crowd roared. The conference had begun.