Making Your Mark

Reimagining America’s most immersive student-run leadership event.

OVERVIEW

Every March, New Jersey’s Rutgers University hosts The MARK Conference, the largest and most immersive student-led leadership conference in the country. Dedicated to encouraging students to reflect on the “mark” they wish to leave, the full-day TEDx-styled event combines 20+ diverse speakers, extraordinary storytelling, and unique “energizer” activities that inspire attendees to act, think creatively, and empower their communities. I helped market the 2020 and 2021 conferences.

THE CHALLENGE

In March 2020, Rutgers University grappled to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic — suspending all in-person instruction and shuttering its campuses. With buildings closed, the MARK Conference team was forced to confront a challenge it had never encountered before: planning its first-ever fully virtual conference while keeping the heart and soul of the event alive.

As the team’s Public Relations captain, I was tasked with completely reimagining the 2021 summit, and spearheaded efforts to transition the event to the Cadence event platform. The pandemic also created opportunities to experiment and market to potential attendees outside the tri-state area.

Visualizing Change

Beginning in January 2021, I produced several resources to introduce potential attendees to the reimagined MARK Conference including talking points, a dedicated newsletter, a series of explainer and teaser videos, and refreshed visual identity guidelines.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Using rich imagery paired with footage of the Cadence platform (while keeping the event’s traditional red, black, and white branding), we invited students from across the world to join us in exploring a new kind of experience and break free from “Zoom University” fatigue.