Koorsen Sales Conference

Project Overview

Koorsen brought WoodMill in to continue the branding for their annual Sales Conference — picking up where a previous designer had left off. The ask was straightforward: execute the deliverables, maintain the look, check the boxes.

One of those deliverables was the conference program.

Client

Koorsen Fire & Security

Role

Senior Designer

Year

2017

Scope of Work

  • Art Direction
  • Graphic Design
  • Logo Design
  • Collateral
  • UX

Years One & Two Built to Impress

The program was 24 pages, 6×6, UV-printed with a soft-touch cover. The marketing team wanted it to feel premium, and it did. Every detail was considered. Every page designed from scratch. Both years were portfolio pieces — the kind of work you’re proud to hand someone.

At the conference, all 150 attendees received one. By the end of each day, the requests for replacements started coming in. Lost in a hotel room. Left at a table. Forgotten somewhere between sessions. Staff were fielding requests throughout the event.

The Observation

Two years in, a pattern was clear. The program was beautifully made — and almost entirely ignored as a functional tool. Attendees needed to know where to be and when. They weren’t reading it. They were losing it. And every replacement cost the company time and money.

The problem wasn’t the design. The problem was the format.

Year Three — Built to Work

For the third year, WoodMill proposed scrapping the premium program entirely.

The replacement: a single 11×17 sheet, folded down and slipped into each attendee’s ID badge holder. Every group had a different fold — so their specific agenda faced out, visible from the back of their lanyard. No excuse to lose it. No excuse not to have it. The schedule traveled with them everywhere they went.

The printed ID cards were replaced with lighter, less expensive inserts. The high-end program was gone. Printing costs dropped by several thousand dollars. Replacement requests stopped.

The Lesson

For the first two years, the work was exactly what was asked for. Year three was what was actually needed.

Good design solves the right problem. Sometimes that means a 24-page soft-touch book. Sometimes it’s a folded sheet of paper. The conference wasn’t about the program — it was about the people attending it. Once that was clear, the answer was obvious.

That’s how WoodMill works.