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A Most Public Affair

(Designing experiences meant to be encountered)

The Challenge:

For years, the tradeshow booth could only be managed reactively—shaped by many voices and constrained by a physical structure that made real evolution financially impossible. Each year brought more of the same. Budget was routinely swallowed by maintenance (“just update the copy and it’ll do,” they said), while the big sell leaned heavily on name-dropping. Sales conversations varied wildly depending on who you spoke to, and the brand showed up without a clear, unified story.

Then the guardrails came off.

For the first time, there was space to take full narrative control + design the booth intentionally—not to appease every request, but to create a system + story worthy of the brand.

The game
plan

I identified the opportunity to fundamentally redefine our experiential approach and brought a new direction forward—grounded in research, budget reality, and brand strategy. Rather than continue reactive updates, my proposal was to treat the booth as both a modular system and a narrative platform.

The intent was simple: design something flexible enough to scale across shows, structured enough to guide consistent sales conversations, and smart enough to stop spending the entire budget just to maintain the status quo.

my approach

I led the creative direction—identifying this stronger approach and bringing it forward through early visuals + narrative cues. I held the vision steady as the work evolved, championing the shift + encouraging the team to push beyond the old patterns.

The result was shared momentum around a clearer, more intentional direction—one the team could fully engage with + make a real impact from.

  • Led research, vendor evaluation + platform selection

  • Managed implementation strategy + execution with a focused cross-functional team of four

  • Designed asset structures, metadata standards + governance models to support scalability

  • Created onboarding materials, training tools + documentation to drive adoption

  • Provided ongoing education + workflow refinement as needs of each team evolved

Putting
it all in motion

The Payoff:

A modular booth system that cut reprint costs by half + unlocked flexibility across booth sizes + show footprints

Stronger emotional engagement tied directly to the brand’s purpose,
not just product or licensing recognition

A narrative-led experience that brought consistency AND personalization to sales conversations

Momentum that extended beyond the booth, driving deeper + more enthusiastic partnerships throught
the company

Awarded the People’s Choice award, confirming the strategy + re-elevating the brand’s presence within the industry

Read More About the Awards