Starbucks - Chicago
WINNER of the 2020 EX Award Best B to B Conference or Event Environment
Starbucks Leadership Experience 2019
Chicago welcomed Starbucks store managers and field leaders from around the US and Canada for their Leadership Experience 2019.
It was a true celebration of the power of more than 12,000 Starbucks leaders coming together to reaffirm “Our Mission” and completely reimagine what’s possible. It was the largest partner experience in the company’s history.
The Leadership Experience occupied nearly 800,000 square feet of learning and meeting space at McCormick Place, including the 300,000 square foot Experience Hall. United Center covered another 960,000 square feet.
The event concluded on a Friday night with an inspirational closing general session at United Center followed by the musical talents of John Legend.
Design Firms ~ Touch WorldWide and Kite and Nail Fabrication ~ Chicago Scenic
Starbucks Leadership Experience 2019
The Experience Hall featured a paired down version of the Tryer Center, a center for innovation at the Starbucks Support Center, the company’s headquarters, in Seattle, where partners are encouraged to try new things and move from an idea to action in 100 days, refining along the way.
In the Tryer replica, partners saw exhibits such as a mock up for solar panels that will soon be piloted in some stores in California, worked with industrial designers to reimagine how the space in their stores could be used and used a laser cutter to create new tools.
Experience Hall - Pike Place Store
In the Experience Hall, partners walked through replicas of key places in Starbucks history, including: the original Starbucks store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, its farm at Hacienda Alsacia in Costa Rica; and the Tryer Center, the company’s innovation lab at its Seattle headquarters.
The original Pike Place Market store in Seattle attracts so many visitors that there’s often a long line just to get in. In the Experience Hall, we built two side-by-side replicas of the original store so the partners could walk through. The stores even featured the wear on the wooden counters in the exact places as the original store.
Participants immersed themselves in the Starbucks story which followed the journey of coffee and Starbucks from bean to cup.
