“We need to knock the socks off the brightest scientific minds in the world and inspire them to partner with us to tackle emerging chem/bio problem sets.”

Yeah.
We can do that.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA) Chemical and Biological Technologies Department in its role as the Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO)

Breaking Boundaries for Good.
DTRA-JSTO Chemical and Biological Technologies Department

DTRA-JSTO’s mission is to enable the DoD, U.S. Government, and international partners to counter and deter weapons of mass destruction and improvised threat networks. Not an agency of complacency and the status-quo.

So, when cutting-edge innovators at DTRA-JSTO needed an opening keynote to inspire an audience of leading scientists at their annual conference, ADG rewrote the playbook for conference presentation.

Summary video explaining ADG’s approach to the problem.

A keynote to jump off the screen and into the imagination

A conventional presentation would not be enough to communicate the importance of the agency’s critical mission. What they needed was a kick-off to awe the audience, leave them striving to innovate, and start a conversation with DTRA-JSTO on how funding could help advance their ideas to be “the next disruptive technology.”

How the stage came to life: sketch, schematic, 3D render.
Hand drawn storyboard to animated sequence.
The design team generated over 150 hand drawn storyboards and style frames.

Off-the-screen thinking

We created a presentation unlike any other, featuring custom animated video, multiple displays, environmental projectors, and sound design all carefully orchestrated with the presenter and a simple-but-interactive Post-it Note prop. Halfway through the presentation, to drive home the concept of disruption for good, the video presentation broke free from the central LCD screen, seamlessly expanding into the surrounding environment to encompass the full 70 ft. backdrop.

This is the moment the keynote presentation expands past the 25 ft. wide LED panel and onto the backdrop. Dark grey boxes present the presenter’s video feed (IMAG).

The right strategy, technology, and attention to detail

We spent a great deal of time in strategic discussions and research to find an economical piece of technology to enable one computer to run the entire presentation — without which, this project would have gone considerably over budget. Meticulous technical care was taken to match the colors and brightness between the side projections and the LED screen to create one seamless experience.

From set up to break down our team engaged with the AV company to ensure lighting, audio, visual effects, and more were perfectly calibrated.

Awed and inspired

Following the keynote premiere, the buzz from the audience was electric. They were surprised, stimulated, and proceeded to engage more with our client. Audience feedback from the whole conference singled out the kickoff presentation as a marvel.

The client and audience were thrilled with the end result.
Dr. Hann speaking about the disruptive nature and future of self driving cars.

Industry recognition

ADG Creative was presented with an ADDY Award for Out-of-Home, Ambient Media, Single Event by the American Advertising Federation of Baltimore (AAFB) for DTRA-JSTO’s 2019 Chemical Biological Defense Science and Technology Conference keynote presentation.