Work: Yale University For Humanity Virtual Event

I led digital strategy and development on this virtual event helping Yale University launch the For Humanity campaign in October 2021. The event platform has since been archived, but elements of it can be seen on August Jackson’s website here. The project included two websites launched together, one based on the Swoogo platform to carry the livestream and the other was an immersive site for visitors to view a virtual campus during the Pandemic. The online experience was build to be WCAG compliant and included a portal to house 15 separate streaming broadcasts, a content recommendation engine, a custom photo booth, 360-degree video campus tours and private social networking platform. Some of the results from the project included:

  • 33,000 visits to the campaign website

  • 5,000 attendees from around the world

  • An equivalent of 71 days of content viewed during the 3 hour event

The project recently won Best Live Streaming and Video Production from Event Technology Awards. Here is a link to Yale’s Office of Development team talking about the project where you can also see elements of the site.

View of stage from balcony of the Schwarzman Center

Tod Szewczyk
Born in New Jersey, bounced around the east coast as a kid: South Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland and then upstate New York. Moved to Chicago for high school. Stayed in Chicago for college. Co-Produced one of the original sound art festivals in Chicago, In the Eye of the Ear with Steve Barsotti. Scored a few plays in between. In 1998, married photographer Amanda Sudimack and moved to Denver to work at RR Donnelley. Helped companies in Denver, Paris and London go public. In 2002, moved back to Chicago where son Emmet was born. Moved over to Leo Burnett as a print buyer in the same year. In 2008, traded city dweller status to (close-in) suburbanite and daughter Zoe was born. In 2013, moved up the ladder at Burnett to VP. Now spend most of my time finding new ways to connect interesting companies with the agency under the brands Leovative (blog and events Leovative, FutuRetail/FutureShop). Believer in the idea that the fastest route to innovation lies in making novel connections, from the book Where Good Ideas Come From. Have had the great fortune of working with amazingly talented people that have expanded my thinking of what is possible. Looking forward to what's next.
www.todszewczyk.com
Previous
Previous

Work: Elkay's Virtual Neighborhood

Next
Next

Passion to Power Podcast