In looking to update the WWD Apparel & Retail C.E.O. Summit earlier this month, the planning team had three clear goals in mind: bring digital components to the event, add a modern sensibility, and deliver global content. Overseen by Kristen Wildman, Fairchild Fashion Media's executive director of event marketing, the event brought high-profile executives in the fashion and retail industry to the Plaza, where speakers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, and United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand discussed global shifts and emerging markets.
Producer XA helped the internal team streamline the design of the conference, with decor and staging driven by a clean color palette of white and yellow, few fussy touches, and minimal branding.
On the digital front, the organizers worked to emphasize online content and reduce paper clutter. That included partnering with FiftyThree—the maker of the iPad drawing app Paper—to live-sketch the conference and aggregate the colorful imagery on the WWD on Paper Tumblr page. Attendees were encouraged to post comments and photos to social media (according to the organizers, Martha Stewart was one of the Summit's most prolific tweeters), and they could print out snaps via an on-site Instaprint booth. To drive traffic to the sponsor lounge, there were places to charge gadgets and listen to content from past events, as well as a central touch-screen table that allowed guests to browse photos from WWD's They Are Wearing reports.
