Another year, another virtual event. Except this time we had the chance to build on what we learned from 2020. For Frontiers 2021, we honed our style, scaled up attendance, and unveiled some of the biggest innovations in Slack history—all with the support of a full roster of agency partners who got a crash course in the brand.
31,200
registrants
17,000
attendees
8,950
accounts registered
10.7 million
impressions on social
$76M
pipeline influence
How did we do it? Operationalization.
For Frontiers 2021, I transitioned from do-it-all contributor to full-on copy lead. While I still took on most of the writing, I was also tasked to oversee all promotional, social, and web copy for the event—as well as the writing for the brand activation, event platform, and everything in between—from a multitude of partners. Documentation, templates and ready-to-go assets helped at least 6 different agencies, a handful of contractors, and pretty much every cross-functional team at Slack contribute to Frontiers.
1) I worked one-on-one with the design lead to create the Frontiers Style Guide, a playbook that allowed partners to quickly grasp the brand and event look, feel, and tone.
2) From there, I created the highly organized mega-doc known as the Frontiers Copy Library, which tracked everything I wrote for the event. All 43,000 words.
3) At the end of it all, I compiled the Book of Frontiers Creative, a presentation that referenced and provided sources for all the event’s creative efforts.
But we had some fun, too
In lieu of a full-scale physical event, we partnered with the inventive minds at Sparks Creative to bring Slack to life in a pop-up brand activation in New York and San Francisco. It was our moment to show people what the future of work looked like, and how a digital headquarters in Slack could change the way you work.
Getting and staying inspired
What started as a brainstorming tactic—get started on the high-level messaging for our event—became the vision for our creative ideation. The manifesto trope from my advertising days became a beloved mini-festo that helped us all stay grounded, and gave me runway for subsequent emails, social posts, web copy, and more. Here’s a taste of what I cranked out. If you need more, just ask.
Designers: Rosie Bubb, Michael Belencia, Rodney Manabat | Writers: Audrey Molina