For the second year in a row, Tool partnered with LinkedIn to bring to life Talent Connect Summit, their largest annual event, welcoming 1800 Talent Leaders from across the globe to Phoenix, AZ. With a huge focus on the ever-evolving topic of AI, this year’s theme, Where Possibility Works, centered around shaping the conversation towards a solutions oriented forward thinking approach. We used this throughline to design all aspects of the conference, from the main stage, to breakouts and bespoke experiences.
DESIGNING IN HARMONY
Touching down at the historical Astoria Biltmore Resort in Arizona, we leaned into the architecture of its Frank Lloyd Wright aesthetic, creating environmental design that worked in harmony with the building itself and the desert landscape of the resort grounds. Taking inspiration from the provided graphical Visual Identity, we proposed a main stage that created a landmark presence that matched the architectural integrity of the venue.
Filling the entire width of the ballroom, our main stage felt as if it was a natural extension of the space. We used lighting design to bring vibrancy to the build, shifting colorways between keynote speakers. Our DJ, sat behind a transparent scrim, which hid or revealed them at key moments in the show.
Building off of the main stage look and feel, we designed a compelling broadcast studio stage for the virtual version of Talent Connect, welcoming thousands more guests via livestream. With similar custom lighting and modular removable panels, the studio stage was able to transform colorways on the fly for different guests and set ups.
Finally, taking the design language even further we extended it to 8 different breakout stages that played host to various talks and discussions throughout the 3 days of programming.
GUIDING OUR GUESTS
The Biltmore, while a gorgeous property, posed a challenge for hosting 1800 people. Half our guests would be staying off site and we would need to make use of every inch of space to provide the various levels of programming and experiences. This made wayfinding difficult, as the event was spread out across 4 different buildings connected by various types of walkways and paths. We developed a physical and digital wayfinding system that used color coding to help guide our guests. Built in the same spirit of integrating with the architecture, large staggered stepped plinths became bright beacons, guiding our conference goers around the resort.
PLAYING WITH DATA
Every year LinkedIn releases a Global Talent Trends Report during Talent Connect that features data-driven insights into the changing world of work. Our goal is to bring this report to life in a way that gets guests to engage with the content. As statistics can get heady, we try to bring a bit of play to this activation each year. This year we created a 3-hole mini golf course, with each hole designed around a trend, telling the story of the data through a little friendly competition. A natural networking activity, these beautifully designed holes, and the Teeing Up Trends Club House looked right at home on the resort grounds.
LOOKING BACK TO MOVE INTO THE FUTURE
As a main highlight to this year’s topic of AI, LinkedIn launched various real AI powered product solutions to their customers. We were tasked with developing a way to introduce these innovations to guests. Our approach was to look back at the history of work to tell the story of what the future of work can look like with AI. We concepted an immersive multi-screen interactive experience that welcomed guests to the New Age of Work.
Guests entered the experience by Clocking In, using their badge at a bespoke punch card machine that read QR codes via scanner. They were then given an assigned seat at a long seamless snaking table, flanked in front and back by two 35’ wide curved screens playing mirrored content. At each seat, a small wooden cube, a derivative of our VisID, invited them to interact with their own projected personal desktop, which helped to contextualize and personalize the story happening on the large main screen in front of them.
Each cube featured reflective tape on the top, which was sensed by Infrared cameras installed above our guests. As they slid the cube across their desktop, they could create light trails and reveal key insights that helped to communicate the power of LinkedIn’s AI.
THAT’S A WRAP
Another Talent Connect Summit success story, which saw an increase of interaction from guests and overall sentiment, combining thoughtful and inspiring environmental design, with playful interactions both analog and digital. Whether it was a swing of a golf putter or creating dynamic projections with a cube, we used creative storytelling to tell a technical story about a very human experience – the way we work.
