Hello, Habr! My name is Aya Taksildaryan, the founder of Maeutica company. I would like to talk about how we created the ideological platform for WCIT-2019 - World Congress on Information Technology 2019, and how, through storytelling, we helped the organizers tell this story to the whole world.
Holding large IT events is a whole science, which has already been written about on Habré more than once. You can talk a lot about this, but today I will limit myself only to the WCIT-2019 case. The Congress was held in Yerevan, so last year Armenia became the center of attention for the global IT industry.
Some details about WCIT
The World Information Technology Congress is the largest international event. Within its framework, conferences, exhibitions, seminars, business meetings and discussions are held. The first WCIT was held in 1978 by the World Alliance of IT Associations (WITSA), which includes more than 70 associations of the IT industry.
Since 1978, the Congress has been held every two years, but since 2017, the organizers have decided to gather the international IT community annually. WCIT has already been held in Spain, USA, Japan, France, Australia, Greece, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and other countries. In 2019, Armenia became the host country and the center of the IT industry. Participants of the event are business representatives, investors, heads of IT companies, ministers of countries and heads of state.
Storytelling: what is it and why is it needed for world events
For a general understanding, I will briefly talk about what storytelling is and why technological events need it.
Storytelling is often referred to as a set of visual tools or a well-written story. However, it is not. In the modern digital world, the story of a brand must be told in such a way that the audience can find a reflection of their own thoughts and feelings, and feel a sense of belonging to it. The story and the emotions embedded in it make the brand communications vivid and memorable. Storytelling is becoming a necessary tool in order to clearly articulate brand identity, to distinguish a company from competitors. This is a kind of brand strategy, how it will interact with the audience and what it will broadcast. Storytelling allows you to convey information to a person so that he not only hears or sees it, but also feels it, remembers it.
Why do large international events need storytelling?
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Back in 2014, the Armenian delegation was preparing for the main pitch in Mexico City on the holding of the main IT event in Armenia in 2019. The topic of the Armenian side was “The power of decentralization”, which shaped the future content of the congress. The selection was strict, so you had to try hard to choose your country. And this is where we used storytelling. As a result, the emotional component of the pitch was born - the video “Why Armenia”.
The main idea of video storytelling was to show why exactly Yerevan can become a new center.
And we all know the result. It was Armenia that was chosen to host WCIT 2019. Preparations have begun!
Background WCIT 2019
The country and the organizers set very ambitious goals for all of us:
- To position Armenia as one of the developing innovation centers, as well as as a new international technology center with a huge potential for IT expertise.
- To position the event itself as a global event for the entire IT industry, where each participant should feel their involvement
- Create a platform and start future integration processes in the global IT community
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It all starts with an idea
The entire cycle of the project was supervised by Marina Kazaryan, director of brand strategy. To solve the set tasks, we started to develop an ideological platform. For this, we have involved many experts from the IT industry. The main branding task was to position the Congress. On the one hand, it had to be presented so local and understandable as to attract the local community, on the other, so universal that international experts would also want to participate. The main thing is that everyone should want to be a part of this story.
Thus, the ideological platform “Rethink the center” was born, which became the ideological basis of the event.
The ideological platform was based on the theory of deconstruction, which was revealed by the philosopher Jacques Derrida... He proposed the term “deconstruction” - a new understanding through the destruction of a stereotype or inclusion in a new context. Based on this concept, we proposed to expand the vision of the participants, to convince them that the world is a place where any point can become a support, a source of knowledge, strength and energy, become another center.
Visual concept
Visual storytelling is based on an image of a seemingly empty canvas with a relative center in the form of a cross in a random place. Each person can see here familiar images, associations and present their own story with their own rules. This is a kind of invitation to choose a certain point and start building a whole new world around it.
Implementation
To implement the ideology of the project, we used the most effective tool - storytelling.
We have bypassed all the standard approaches that are commonly used in the visualization of technological events: blue-metallic or bright red-orange colors. Our solution is laconicism, simplicity of geometric shapes and black and white style for the most understandable visual code for the entire Congress audience. A white canvas with a moving black cross is an interpretation of the new center point for the implementation of ideas and technologies. This is a kind of destruction of the traditional view of the world - after all, the center can be where you did not even suspect. This design-concept has become a direct narrative of the entire ideology.
The idea of "another center" or decentralization permeated the event completely. The implementation took place in the classical style. First, we analyzed the entire path that the participant will take. Then we created an integrated chain of impressions, in which, regardless of who the target audience is and where they come into contact with the brand, they feel like a participant in the story and receive confirmation of the main message.
Various elements of gamification helped us in this, for example, the participant's tote bag was made in such a way that he could move the cross-center himself. This logic was present in all elements from the physical: an airport with a welcome counter, a delegate's package, gifts, a car and a hotel, a lounge area, a staff uniform, advertising, etc. Before the event: decentralized performance at the opening ceremony, stage design and video storytelling. Each element became a kind of story.
Storytelling made it possible to achieve the set goals, in addition, with its help, it was possible to establish an emotional connection between the participants not just with WCIT-2019, but with the whole country and its culture: to show other people, different traditions, different tastes, and other ambitions.
Thousands of participants remembered Armenia as a new center of the technology industry and told tens of thousands of colleagues, friends and relatives about it. And here's the evidence:
- 48,000 people attended the opening ceremony.
- WCIT-2019 was attended by representatives of more than 3000 companies and 6400 delegates from 70 countries
- The event was attended by 120 speakers - top experts in the technology industry.
- 165 articles and 6000 mentions were published about the Congress in major local and international media.
Summing up, we were once again convinced that when conducting technological events, one should not neglect such an important element as ideology and emotions. Methods that are invisible and not very significant at first glance can become the main factor of success. Like, for example, storytelling in the case of WCIT-2019.
By the way, I would like to receive feedback from those readers who attended the event last year - please tell us about your participation in WCIT-2019. How large-scale was the event, which of the speakers was the most interesting, what are your impressions?