The 2014 About.com Expert Conference
On Saturday, October 18, 2014, Empire produced About.com’s Expert Conference for the second straight year at the IAC Building in NYC.
The conference gathers together hundreds of About.com’s experts—the people who write content on the site on topics ranging from travel, health, and tech, to sandwiches, etiquette, and women’s hairstyles. The site is visited each month by approximately 90 million users.
At the 2013 event, new CEO Neil Vogel received applause from the experts throughout the day as he explained the many changes he was planning for the website. He took the stage once again at the 2014 conference, this time to show that he had delivered, taking the once staid website and making it vibrant, exciting, and alive—a site designed to attract viewers to the site and to keep them there. Many images and videos from the new site were displayed prominently on the fantastic high-resolution video wall at the IAC Building (120’ wide x 11’ high).
Vogel introduced other company executives to speak throughout the day and led a panel discussion with some of the site's most popular experts. Attendees also enjoyed catering by Abigail Kirsch, who also provided delectable passed hors d'oeuvres for the cocktail reception that closed the day.
Empire managed all aspects of the About.com conference, providing stage management, registration, TPA procurement, technical direction, catering management, décor. Empire is proud to produce business conferences for some of the world's leading companies.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
