This two day Green Future Summit consisted of:
1. A kickoff/introduction. Introductions were all short and rapid fire. Sort of a "blessing" by many different interested parties. Given that, I knitted all the introductions into one image and didn't visual separate the different speakers.

2. A series of 5 different panel discussions. The head client, Kate Gordon, told me that the panels consisted of many different people with many different stories and perspectives - and the objective was to capture the lessons that Newark can use locally. Great context. I mapped each panel with the same structure, so they could be viewed in parallel. In the obvious color scheme: green, green and more green. (Thank goodness I had recently gotten my great refillable markers from Neuland!)

I made sure I listened to the stories, but that what got on paper were the applications for the audience of Newarkers.

3. A report out for each panel topic. The Apollo Alliance smartly designed an event that followed each group of panel discussions with the time and space for the audience to break out into groups to react, converse and come up with Newark-specific actions. After that time the groups reconvened and shared their ideas with the larger group. These were rapid fire! Therefore, I kept the layout extremely simple, Text organized by scale and connecting lines. No time for drawings.

4. A closing from Chelsea Albucher, Newark's Sustainability Officer and Mayor Cory A. Booker. The inspiring end note, who's content was developed over the course of the two days. I had no idea the specific content, though I knew it would be green. I knew that I didn't have a lot of time (20 minutes). I knew that it was crucial to get the energy and enthusiasm right to send people away with. Given that, I synthesized the key ideas, setting aside the detail. I made this more illustrated, brighter, bigger, bolder.

Those are the 4 pieces of the two day event for 300 Newarkers. I certainly hope that the images help inspire Newark to become stronger and greener.

And as a bonus, Apollo Alliance's Keith Schneider, Communications director took the time to interview me about my process and blogged about it here. The audience was very receptive to my work and everyone on the Apollo team was a joy to work with.