Yext ONWARD conference

Yext’s annual industry conference started out in November 2016 as LocationWorld, a 600-person event at the Conrad New York Downtown. We rebranded it the following year to ONWARD.

By 2018, we had more than doubled our attendee count, for 3 days of sessions at Jazz at Lincoln Center. With more than 1,600 guests at the New York Marriott Marquis, ONWARD19 was our biggest production yet.

During my five years at Yext, I worked with our design lead, event marketing lead, and VP of Field Marketing to develop a brand voice for ONWARD that was consistent with, while distinct from, the Yext voice and branding.

ONWARD19

Using footage and speaker soundbites from ONWARD18, I collaborated with our video producer and Chief Creative Officer to write the ONWARD19 hype video.

I sourced attendee quotes from sellers and social media, using our guests’ own words to promote the upcoming event through email and on the ONWARD19 website.

I collaborated with ONWARD’s design lead to create text-based column wraps, glass clings, and large vinyl wall graphics to transform our venue space for the conference.

I also worked with our Head of Event Marketing to write copy for digital signage and push notifications, promoting foot traffic to the main stage and networking opportunities.

Environmentals & Digital signage

Promotional copy

Post-event content

On-site content

Leading up to the conference, I organized and led a team of 8+ content volunteers, training them as in-house journalists to take notes in real time during keynotes and breakout sessions. We used their notes to highlight speaker quotes for social media creative and attendee communications.

Following the event, the content marketing team used the content volunteers’ notes to write blog posts, ebooks, and other thought leadership — and to identify the best sessions for us to feature as on-demand video content.

Results

48%

Increase in attendees
(up from 2018)

Top 20

Bizzabo Must-Attend SAAS Conference for 2020

102%

Pipeline ACV growth
(up from 2018)

Previous years

In addition to writing marketing communications for LocationWorld, ONWARD17, and ONWARD18, and capturing speaker insights for post-event content, I worked with our Video Producer on the opening videos that welcomed attendees at the start of Day 1 programming.

ONWARD18 opening video: wrote script

ONWARD17 opening video: production assistant, performer

Welcome videos