No. 04 · Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation · Global innovation
The event that hooked me.
I was only a few months into my first full-time role at CRG Events when I was staffed on the inaugural Reinvent the Toilet Fair.
Yes. A toilet fair.
But this wasn't really about toilets. At the time, 2.5 billion people around the world lacked access to safe sanitation. The Gates Foundation had challenged scientists, engineers and researchers to rethink one of the most basic pieces of infrastructure in our lives.
Our job was end-to-end logistics: bring the entire thing to life.
RoleEvent Logistics + Production Support · CRG Events
BuiltEvent logistics + onsite support · Exhibitor + prototype logistics · Customs + shipping · Signage · Welcome reception · Press + awards ceremony support
Years2012
This was the event that made me realize events could be about so much more than the event.
The problem was big
2.5 billion people. One pretty audacious challenge.
Researchers from around the world were developing sanitation systems that could operate without traditional water, sewer or electrical connections, safely process human waste and recover useful resources. The inaugural fair brought those ideas out of the lab and into one place.
2.5B
people without safe sanitation in 2012
29
countries represented
28
prototypes
1
first-ever fair
Barges. Customs. Worms. And yes, fake poop.
I was in my early twenties and very new to the industry. Suddenly I was helping bring an international innovation fair to life, with prototypes arriving in Seattle from around the world.
Some weighed thousands of pounds. Some required unusual materials, including live worms. Getting others through customs became an adventure of its own.
And because you can't demonstrate a reinvented toilet without something to put through it, we even had to make standardized fake feces. Think miso paste and a sausage extractor.
There aren't many careers where that makes the production plan.
And I ate it up.
Bringing the challenge to life
A science fair for an idea that could change lives.
CRG Events handled the end-to-end event logistics that turned the challenge into a real, working fair: exhibits and prototypes, breakouts, signage, exhibitor needs, guest experience, reception, onsite operations and the many moving pieces required to make the program work. We also supported the press event and awards ceremony, where Bill Gates recognized the winning designs and the work reached a much broader audience.
The technology was the centerpiece. Our job was to create the conditions for people to gather around it, experience it firsthand, ask questions, exchange ideas and see what might be possible.
Watch the film on YouTube ↗Why this one stuck
This is where I found my thing.
I went into events because I loved bringing people together. This showed me what could happen when you brought them together around something that mattered.
It wasn't about throwing a party or making something beautiful for the sake of it. It was about creating the conditions for people to connect, share ideas, see something differently and maybe move something forward.
I didn't have the language for it then.
I do now.
The event is the output. The connection is the point.
Built with
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation · CRG Events (now Opus Events)
Event lead: Stephanie Owens · Team: Kelley Miller, Ali Hooks · And countless production, logistics, shipping, signage and event vendors.