As scary as a Saturday night Zoom meeting sounds, there are some tricks to holding a lively and successful virtual event.

Team Judy Wine Night

As a familiar fundraiser celebrated its 10th anniversary, it would also be the first year of the event without its namesake, Judy Erdahl. An advocate and fundraiser for Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Research at the UMN Masonic Cancer, Judy passed away last August after living with MBC for eight years. She brought friendship, joy and gratitude to every interaction, and Team Judy wanted to honor her legacy and make Team Judy Wine Night something special. Interactivity and engagement were key, so, how’d they do that?

• To give the event a personal touch and keep some traditions going, the event-host greeted everyone live from her front door (via Zoom and Facebook LIve) just as she had always done. Even though people couldn’t gather in her beautiful backyard, they had the opportunity to experience her hospitality virtually.
• To keep people engaged, the event was a balanced combination of pre-produced videos of remembrance and live conversations and reflections on Judy’s impact and progress in Metastatic Breast Cancer research, including a live conversation with Dr. Douglas Yee, the Center’s Director. We partnered with our friends at Captivate Media to pull this off.
• To spark interactivity, we recommended 5 minutes of small group breakout rooms for all participants to meet new people or reminisce with friends about how much Judy meant to each of us. The breakouts were a high-point of the event, creating a space for authentic engagement and conversations.
• Increasing accessibility and reach, the team broadcasted the whole event to Facebook Live (a more familiar platform for many who didn’t feel comfortable with Zoom). The Facebook Live video is a forever memory on the group’s Facebook page to be revisited whenever friends seek Judy’s inspiration or gratitude.

Saint Louis Art Fair

The Saint Louis Art Fair, one of the top art fairs in the country, discovered just how creative they could be this year. With over 120 juried artists virtually participating in this year’s fair, the Art Fair had one goal, to support artists and the local community.

• To bring beloved fair festivities forward with a new twist of virtual flare, the Saint Louis Art Fair team kicked-off its promotions by sending VIP boxes to media and VIP guests and engaging artists and the community in conversation and FAQs.
• Generating talk and excitement are essential for creating a successful virtual event. We recommended that on opening night, the team host an Artist After-Party, bringing together virtual fair-goers and artists for a night of lively conversation and drinks.
• To drive participation, virtual fair attendants could visit a variety of live performances and pre-recorded events, right from their living rooms or offices all weekend.
  • Activities ranged from virtual musical performances, to live Q&As with juried artists, to browsing a virtual Art Gallery and buying juried art, to enjoying specials and fair deals from local businesses, to art activities and performances for the entire family to enjoy.

Park Nicollet Spotlight Gala

This year marks the 40th Annual Park Nicollet Spotlight Gala. As one of the largest providers of pediatric health care in the region, Park Nicollet’s commitment is to help families and children thrive and reach their full potential. So, to engage attendees, the Spotlight Gala has combined tradition with innovation.

• To promote such an important cause, the team has reimagined marketing efforts and is working to blend successful past, promotional strategies with a new wave of creativity.
  • Printed out invitations and sent them to traditional audiences, as they’d done in the past for the live, in-person events. Re-created content to be even more captivating, enchanting audiences to join this year’s Spotlight Gala and celebrate its 40th anniversary in serving the community.
  • Used electronic billboards and advertised on various media channels to reach wider audiences.
• To keep the event’s vibrancy and prestige, they are using Zoom to their advantage. The event is no longer limited in capacity, allowing them to invite traditional audiences as well as new participants from across the region. Go to parknicolletfoundationgala.com and join the October 3rd festivities including premier and silent online auction and inspiring stories of hope from children, parents and professionals.

Engagement and interactivity are at the center of a successful event. Zoom fatigue is real but is avoidable. Identify what makes your event special and use that as the foundation for your plans moving forward. Give those special event traditions a spotlight, utilize breakout rooms for increased engagement and reimagine strategies to bring beloved traditions forward in a virtual world.

10 Pro Tips for a Successful Zoom Event

1. Before starting Zoom, change your account name to the event name and upload a brand logo or event logo as a profile picture.

2. Soundcheck presenters, unmute mics; instruct and practice having presenters control their own mics.

3. Turn off video & sound for Zoom operator.

4. Make one or more presenters co-host with full access controls (a back-up for any one system in the event of internet capacity or disruption).

5. Before the presenter shares their screen; instruct all to turn off all emails and other alerts on the presenter’s computer; silence cell phones.

6. Zoom operators may choose to pin a speaker to full screen if they are speaking without visuals for a long time. Especially during a Q & A. This avoids capturing any disengaged participants.

7. When using visuals, use full presentation mode for the best effect.

8. Mute all other participants.

9. Provide Warning when Zoom operator Shares to Facebook Live

10. Prewrite your FB Live description to quickly drop it into the Facebook Live interface. Pause for about 10 seconds on the opening screen before the speaker starts speaking to give the audience a chance to get settled.

Within the past two months, our CEL team has been involved with non-profit, public and private organizations that are literally changing lives for children, adults and families. Their essential work enhances the lives of their employees and our CEL team members. We are proud to call many of them our friends. We’re filled with gratitude for the tremendous amount of giving we’ve seen – just within the last 60 days.

Improving health and well-being through philanthropy

“It was rewarding to see our design work at the Park Nicollet Foundation Spotlight Gala,” graphic designer Erin Molstad said. “We worked collaboratively with the fundraising staff and the event production company to plan the event, create the marketing materials, and design the onsite signage, program and materials. With 1,000 people in attendance, the whole event exuded music, generosity and gratitude.”

As a friend of the Park Nicollet Foundation, CEL Founder Cindy Leines is chairing the Love and Legacy Campaign for Park Nicollet Foundation – with a focus on supporting the health and well-being of youth in our communities. With a $5 million goal, we welcome your gifts!

Hope heals

People share their valuable time, resources and talents. Each of us gives for different reasons. Often we support causes that have personal meaning in our lives. For our whole CEL team, A Night for Noah and the Hope Rocks Gala are more than events – they bring families together to celebrate the lives and love of children who have died.  Design director Scott Rogers shares “For our son Noah’s 10th birthday and our 9th and final event we held another beautiful Night For Noah. We have 150 of our closest friends and family come to support our foundation that gives to Faith’s Lodge, a facility that hosts families who have lost a child or have a terminally ill child. Through everyone’s support we raised $30,000 at this year’s Night For Noah which will go directly to Faith’s Lodge and helping other families who suffered such a tragedy as we have.”

We also admire and enjoy the B&E Sharing & Caring Foundation’s Charity Poker Party, where the three top winners select the charity of their choice to receive the donated funds. This annual event hosted by Business & Estate Advisers brings together people who are passionate about diverse causes.

Our clients are making a difference:

• Helping children, families and staff through difficult times after the death of a loved one.
• Supporting music therapy for patients hospitalized or in hospice.
• Providing financial and emotional support to parents whose baby has died.
• Mentoring students in identifying and achieving their dreams.
• Providing safety and security with affordable housing.
• Helping each and every student be prepared for the global world.

Here’s a tribute to clients who are making a difference in the lives of the young and old.

We are grateful for the people who have blazed the trails and established the opportunities for gratitude and giving. We ask you to take time today to say thank you to those you know who, while running their own busy lives and companies, are sharing their time, talents or resources for others.

Thanks to each of you (you know who you are!) that pave the way. Live your mission and values, and make a difference in the lives of others. We are each better because of you.

#ParkNicolletFoundation #LoveandLegacy #HopeRocks #GIVEMN #gratitude

Cause-related marketing brings for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations together for the greater good of all. It is the premise on which our company was founded, leading to our passionate commitment to the betterment of business, family, and the community. We continue to be involved in the community and we encourage our clients to cause market because it’s simply good business. If you do it right and for the right reasons, you will be rewarded with new and loyal clients, while further solidifying relationships with your existing ones.

Here’s an example of how it works – Picture yourself here:

Kentucky Roots

Duke Energy of Kentucky and Ohio wanted to strengthen their environmental position within the communities they serve, and the Kentucky Roots campaign that we created for the Northern Kentucky Urban & Community Forestry Council was a perfect way to do it.

Duke Energy agreed to a lead sponsorship with a cash donation that enabled us to significantly expand the reach of the educational campaign. Duke Energy’s logo and key tree planting and digging safety messages are now on the sides of buses, on the radio, and on t-shirts and banners across Northern Kentucky. More importantly, they are positioned as an environmental leader, dedicated to caring for trees within the communities they serve.

Do you have a passion for a specific cause or nonprofit organization? Is there a campaign that you can sponsor and position yourself as a leader in your industry and community?

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, cause marketing is “now the norm.” Add cause marketing to your marketing and public relations strategic plan.

1. Choose with your heart

Sincerity from the heart attracts prosperity from the cause. When you invest in a cause that you believe in and you truly want to impact, you are more likely to get the most out of the relationship. 

2. Align with your brand

What does your target market care about most? Is it children, animals, families in need? Take time to be strategic and go to where your people are, thinking through every possible challenge and outcome.

3. Give some power to your people

If your staff believes in the cause, they’re more likely to work hard to support it, so ask around to find out what they care about.

4. Expect to donate time in addition to money

This is when the relationship really pays off because you’re working in the trenches, building a trusting relationship. When a charity can trusts your sincerity, they are more likely to connect you with Board members, donors and other sponsors.

5. Make a long- term commitment

It takes time to build a relationship and the longer you invest in a cause; the more it will be connected to your brand.