The Shepard team aimed to make Pantheon a modern trade show, with fabric walls over pipe and drape and custom structures. "I feel like it's a really exciting time for innovation and pushing the boundaries, in terms of the conventional way of doing things," said Taylor Elliot, Shepard's director of marketing. "Innovation begins when you start to question the way things have always been done. ... We're seeing experiences be elevated and norms be pushed and challenged. And I think ServiceTitan is a testament to that."Photo: Kellie Warren/Dynamite Studio, Inc.
Held in September at Orlando World Center Marriott, Pantheon 2023 carried the theme of "journey to the top." Shepard was brought in close to the event's dates, doing much of its production work 60 to 90 days out. "It was a fast and furious process, but CDE put together a great inspiration deck," said Sarah Cappuccitti, director of strategy and experience design for Shepard. "It was comprehensive in terms of the creative brief, which gave us a good starting point to develop the story behind how we were going to approach their theme in a way that was authentic to their audience."
Because ServiceTitan is a tech company that works closely with tradespeople, Cappuccitti and her team ideated thematic imagery that would feel tangible—but not obvious. Cappuccitti pointed to the custom-built structures that served as "booths" as an example, which were a nod to ServiceTitan's mountain iconography used this year.
"We wanted to make sure there was that through line [of mountains], but it wasn't seeing mountain ranges everywhere," she said. "Instead, you saw a lot of the peaks in the construction of the structures. We also wanted to make sure that they were at different variations, because something we latched on to in the creative brief was the fact that the journey to the top isn't always up."
Texture was also a main component of the event's design. Cappuccitti and her team brought in materials like metal diamond plate vinyl appliques, plywood that had an elevated look, and Edison lightbulbs. "I think that was a big piece and a big selling point with [the client]—we created a texture deck," Cappuccitti said.
She added, "The key element in creating the concept was thinking of it holistically, not just the components that we were constructing. For example, we wanted to make sure that the lighting was taken into consideration. They have a tendency to go more theatrical, and it makes for an amazing environment. So we wanted to provide our insights on how we could execute that with the design elements that we were proposing."
Keep scrolling for more insights and photos from ServiceTitan's Pantheon 2023...
![This year's Pantheon was also a testament to flexibility and scalability. 'We can start off with a big, grandiose idea that we can pare back and still have a really impactful experience [that] is within reach,' Cappuccitti explained. 'I think that can apply to other trade shows who want that look and feel but can't necessarily afford it, but can think creatively about how to approach a structure, floor plan, substrate, or new technologies [that] are out there [and] within reach for that particular company or association. I think not being beholden to a traditional way of thinking is always going to allow us the opportunity to innovate on the fly.'](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2023/10/Shepard_9.654115808d555.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
