Empower Women’s Leadership Conference
Background
To support women and other underrepresented populations in the construction and marine trades, two of Washington’s Centers of Excellence collaborated to produce Empower Women’s Leadership Conference. The first of its kind, Empower develops attendees’ leadership abilities and teaches valuable communication, conflict resolution, and career skills. The event organizers engaged Trio Group to support the event from its inception in 2017.
A bold, contemporary brand highlighting women in the trades squarely positions the Empower Conference as the Pacific Northwest’s leading event for tradeswomen who want to advance their careers.
Strategy
Because the conference was new, we worked with the event organizers to identify the ideal attendee, determine the marketing channels best suited to reach them, and the core platform where information about the conference would be housed. Based on website, email, and social media analytics from the two Centers of Excellence, we determined that a microsite on the Construction Center of Excellence’s website was the ideal home for conference information. An email campaign to the organizers’ lists would drive traffic to the conference microsite, and Facebook updates supported by ad spend would raise awareness of the event for members of the target audience who weren’t on the organizers’ email lists.
Content for each of the channels would revolve around a series of profile videos showcasing women in the trades that we produced and posted on YouTube. Inspiring quotes and speaker highlights would further motivate and engage the ideal attendee on social media.
Design
Visibility of women and people of color in the trades is very low, so we decided to use photos of real women in the trades as the focal point of our brand identity. This achieved two goals: inspire and motivate women by placing them as the stars of the show, and clearly position the event in service of women and other underrepresented communities. Combining the two complementary colors of the organizers’ brands was an easy way to unite the event to both organizations and create a bold, contemporary identity.
Video Production
Inspiring profiles of women in the trades raised visibility of the event and inspired prospective attendees.
Execution
We launched the microsite months before the event and supported the organizers by managing and updating the site’s content as speakers and workshops were added to the agenda. In addition to the email campaign and social media posts we outlined in our marketing strategy, we supported organizers by designing and printing the conference program and signage. We were on-site to provide live social media posting during the event and to capture testimonial videos which we later edited into a promotional video for the conference.
Deliverables:
Brand identity design
Marketing-communications strategy
Social media content & strategy
Email marketing
Print & environmental design
Micro website design and development
Video production
Social media posts
Informative, inspiring, and entertaining social media content helped Empower reach beyond the organizers’ email list and existing network. A Facebook group for attendees increased engagement and facilitated networking in advance of the event.
Evaluation
The first Empower conference in 2017 exceeded the organizers’ attendance goals and expectations. We’ve been engaged to support the conference every year since, leading to attendance growth every year. We’re proud to be spearheading the marketing effort for the 2020 conference which will include a refreshed logo and even more opportunities to highlight remarkable women in the trades through an expanded content strategy.