'Social Impact Zone' pop-ups help conference-goers focus on homelessness

Each year at Cisco Systems’ Cisco Live event—which draws nearly 30,000 people—the company brings its CSR goal of accelerating global problem-solving to benefit people, society and the planet to life for customers, partners and participating employees through hands-on activations. At the 2019 event, held in San Diego, the area of focus was homelessness. For the visual design of a “Social Impact Zone” and pop-up activations that inspired people to learn about and engage with the homelessness issue, Cisco has won first place in the “Social Impact Design” category of PR Daily’s Video & Visual Awards.

Goals for the CSR component of the conference included sharing the mission and vision to inspire customers and amplify the opportunities for social impact at the conference. To inspire customers to do good, the conference team designed a space that highlighted the nonprofits benefitting from the projects taking place throughout the event, such as assembling meal kits, hygiene kits and school supplies.

The separate pop-up spaces offered opportunities for attendees to collaborate on hands-on projects and share their involvement on social media. The design employed bright colors to set off the social impact zone so it would stand out; the design also immersed attendees in the topic to spur them to action.

As attendees entered the zone, one wall shared stats on homelessness; an infographic showed how many people attendees could help with the projects in which they participated; another space was dedicated to taking the pledge. Each nonprofit was given a panel of a wall to explain their organization’s goals and audiences. Modular design ensured Cisco could offer a variety of service opportunities throughout the week.

The social impact experience rated 4.75 out of 5 among conference-goers, and the team set records for output, such as 23,828 meal kits assembled.

Congratulations to Heather Henderson Thomas.