Moving Forward
Board members standing up at Landesa’s Seed the Change Dinner, held in March 2022 at Block 41 in Seattle. Photo credit Michael B. Maine.
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A person with long brown hair stands at a table and is waving. More people are seated at tables behind them with some standing and waving as well.]
In the current phase of the pandemic, we are looking hopefully towards the horizon and feeling the momentum as our clients are booking many, many in-person events! For some folks, it feels like things are “getting BACK to normal.” Here at Synchronicity, we see this as a great opportunity to move FORWARD instead.
Inviting guests in-person does NOT mean that a repeat of your 2019 event plan is going to work effectively. Changes are necessary. This is kind of a no-brainer, if you consider:
Are there new organizational goals or problems that your event can help solve?
How has pandemic life changed your guests’ desires and expectations?
In what ways has your organization has shifted in your values and methods over the last two year?
What new ways of participating in events have guests have experienced over the last two years?
What will you do to face the reality of the staffing, supply chain and fuel shortages which are driving up the costs of many elements of “in-person eventing”?
How will your event feel relevant after the initial “wow, look at us, we’re back together!” moment? (Pro tip, this giddy vibe is waning already, as your guests have likely attended a couple of concerts, plays, weddings, or other events by now …)
What initiatives is your organization currently exploring on the topics of accessibility, inclusion or community-centric fundraising?
If you’ve worked in the non-profit sector, you have probably observed at least one organization living on the ‘event hamster wheel’. A sure symptom of this is when we ask a client to tell us their goals for this year’s event and they reply “Sure! Our goal is to hold our gala in October!” Or … “Yep! Our goal is to hold our conference in May!” While it might feel like it given the amount of work involved … holding your event is NOT (in and of itself) the purpose. Events should always be seen as a tool we can use to reach certain outcomes. In order to be successful, we need to start by defining what those outcomes should be!
Sometimes a good way to get specific about the purpose is to ask “What problem(s) are you hoping to solve with this event”? You can also ask “How will we know if we have succeeded?” Here are some simplified examples of how an event could help you solve problems:
“We need to give our best volunteers and partners recognition and a celebration, they are experiencing burnout after the amazing work they have done during the pandemic (perhaps we should dream up a beautiful awards ceremony, to bring everyone together for a meaningful experience). We will know we’re successful if we see a rebound in the numbers of people signing up for volunteer shifts.”
“We want our community of activists and advocates to really understand our priorities for the next legislative session so we can coordinate all our efforts statewide (and we think a conference where we share these ideas and do workshops on tactics and skill-building will set us up for a successful year). We’ll know we’ve achieved our aims when we see more advocacy and action from all our partners, and (of course) big wins in the next session.”
“We need to fill that $100,000 goal in our budget (and we think our donors will donate if we hold a big splashy event to get their attention). We’ll know we’ve succeeded when we see new and returning donors jumping in with meaningful gifts, and introducing us to more new potential supporters.”
“Our organization is facing our milestone 50th year, and we need to remind the community that we are still operating on our founding principles AND let all our supporters know about the innovative new ways we are delivering our services (maybe a big luncheon with a great keynote can help us connect and inform everyone). We’ll mark this as a success when we see other providers coming to us to form partnerships around our new initiatives, and viewing us as leaders in our service area.
Of course, you don’t have to find just one. Events can solve multiple problems – but they have to be designed, from the foundation up, in order to do so effectively. Slowing down to establish shared event goals on your team is a vital step, especially in 2022. Let’s be sure your event doesn’t become just another spin around the hamster wheel. Establishing deep intention and smart strategy will lead to successful outcomes.
Pro tip: Until you know your goals for the event, don’t recruit volunteer co-chairs, don’t set a date, don’t book a venue or a host … pause for a moment and make sure everyone in your executive team is in alignment on the GOALS, and then begin. That way, ALL the decisions you make for your event can be based around building the swiftest and most elegant pathway to success.
One goal that we hear often from clients is that they are looking to reach more people (and/or more “new” people)! If there’s one thing we learned over the last two years of virtual events it’s that making your event available to remote guests online makes it easier for folks to join your community. Having at least a virtual component to your event makes it much easier to share your mission (and your ask!) with potential donors in other states - and even other countries. This can also meet an access need - some community members just might not make it to an in-person event for a multitude of reasons (health concerns, shortage of time for travel, and childcare pinches are just a few). Sharing your event with them in a way that they can enjoy from home will help ease some of that FOMO they may be feeling! We’ve got plenty of ideas about the various flavors of hybrid events – and some of them are NOT as costly as you might imagine - in fact, we’ve defined four distinct flavors so far. Look for those in a future blog post!
Thinking about access brings us to our final challenge. While you’re planning for 2022 and beyond, NOW is the time to revisit your fundraising event structures and begin (or continue) to deeply incorporate Community Centric Fundraising. There’s no better time than this natural and necessary shift in how we’re doing things to center the community of your organization. We encourage you to take a look at their website and consider how your fundraising strategies can better align with your mission and goals! We have lots of experience implementing these, we would love to chat if you want to learn more about how to dig into these ideas.
None of these changes can happen if you are event planning on auto-pilot. We implore you, take this transition to re-evaluate your events. This can be daunting, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed, reach out! We’d love to chat and help you determine what we can do to help you produce your Best Event Ever. Our first conversation is always free :)
