Cox - DIALOG Conference 2022
DIALOG, a biennial event at Cox Enterprises, is a unique and inspiring gathering of the company’s top leadership to converse about the future of their employees, business, and their legacy in the world. For this event, 400 attendees met at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes, California, for a mind-opening three days of speakers, special guests, and activations.
We were thrilled to create the content and immersive surround audio for the 11847px × 1080px (165x16 feet) screens, as well as providing art direction for the lighting of additional staging elements to create an even deeper experience for the audience. The marriage of the on and off-screen design elements and lighting created an enveloping richness to the stories and ideas shared in the room.
Let’s talk about it
DIALOG is all about discourse, stimulating conversation and hearing different points of view. So, we leaned into ambient graphics that played on themes of sound waves.
We explored a range of representative shapes and styles for this key visual element of the conference. These forms were especially well suited for the extremely wide format of the screen array.
From flowing ribbons and lines to sine waves and equalizer bars, the thematic concept allowed for numerous looks and set the visual tone for the event.
It’s like being there
In order to prepare for the more than 400 renders that made up the DIALOG event package, we needed to be able to see exactly what would be happening across the giant array of on-stage displays. (Did we mention the over 2600 sq ft of screen real estate?) So, we built out a digital twin of the event space with the scale accurate screen layouts to ensure that what we delivered would translate exactly as envisioned during the creative process.
The total package
Along with tone-setting opening videos for each day of the event, we also designed and animated dedicated speaker support packages for over a dozen distinguished speakers and guests, each with a unique look and approach that highlighted the speaker’s topic, while maintaining a cohesive look with the rest of the event design.
Animations were developed to seamlessly transition as speakers took the stage and moved through their presentations.
Of course, the designs, layouts, and animations were only a part of the total package which also included immersive sound design and lighting direction.
Lit cubes raised and lowered from the ceiling throughout the show in sync with choreographed supplemental on-stage lighting to reflect the content on screen, shift tones, and engage the viewers in impactful moments.
We actually were there
After designing and animating hundreds of assets, timing custom sound design and lighting cues, and gaining a deep understanding of both the event content and the execution strategy, it only made sense for members of our team to be on-site during the three-day braintrust. This ensured that the work we, and the dedicated team at Cox, put into the event would be experienced precisely as intended.
But, it also gave a few lucky employees the opportunity to listen in to the surprise speaker, for whom we edited a very special opening montage. Let’s just say, “There’s no crying in event design!”
“Working with Elevation on DIALOG was such a pleasure! They were true partners – engaging closely with our internal creative team to bring the concepts and creative to life, offering suggestions, and problem solving. They handled the inevitable curveballs gracefully and never left our side, so they were able to make last minute adjustments on site. We can’t wait to partner with them again in 2024!”
-Amanda Atkins | Senior Director, Presentation and Video Production at Cox Enterprises
Cox DIALOG 2022 - Behind The Scenes
For more work like this, check out our case study for the 2020 DIALOG conference.
Credits
Client: Cox Enterprises
Production Company: Elevation
Executive Creative Director/Editor: Stephen Cocks
Creative Director/Artist: David Hendrix
Executive Producer: Steph Carson
Art Director/Artist: Dianne Frisbee
Artist: Kito Kondowe
Artist: Sean Kiley
Artist: Brendan Pritchett
Sound Design: Miles Carter
AV Partner: AV Concepts