Social Status' and Crucial Communication

Hi all!

Since my last blog post I've been able to dive into preparation for the remaining Momentum events for the year. The Pink Ribbon Ball and the Perth Pet Expo are the only two events left on Momentum Forum Events' calendar for 2016, so the organisation and preparation of both events has become the centre of attention in the office.

In October 2016, the Pink Ribbon Ball will be held in support of breast cancer awareness. This annual event is held at the Perth Exhibition and Convention Centre and garners a huge amount of support from attendees in raising money for the Momentum For Australia Charity.

The Brian Gardner Pink Ribbon Ball

In planning for the event, I was able to sit down with the CEO and organiser of the event, Barbara, and go through the confirmations and table arrangements for the event. In such a small company like Momentum Forum Events, everything is organised by a few people and so it was incredibly inspiring to see such a strong driving force behind the cause that allows Barbara to work tirelessly to put on this event. Once again I learned that having systems in place and having great organisational skills is key! With such a large scale event like the Pink Ribbon Ball, managing the hundreds of guests and arranging them onto tables, particularly on the purchase of individual tickets rather than guests purchasing a table, is an surprisingly complex task. Although the confirmation of table seating arrangements is yet to be finalised, being able to keep track of table numbers and ensuring names are entered correctly is time consuming and a tedious process. In addition to keeping track of the guest names and tables, the invoicing and confirmation of ticket sales is another entire section that needs to be handled that I hadn't even considered.

I was able to create invoices for the confirmed guests and email them out along with a thank you for their participation in a worthy cause. I think it's important to ensure open communication with clients and an event is no exception. Sending an email to show appreciation for someone's involvement can take up time when sending to many people, however it acknowledges someone's contribution. As most of my PR units have taught me, relationships are incredibly important. If a person attends the event once or if they've attended it every year since its origin, sending thanks can cement that support for the cause and the event.

In addition to preparation of the Pink Ribbon Ball, I was also able to work on some social media posts. Momentum Forum Events has a side project called Hello Darlink!. Hello Darlink! is a series of YouTube videos that explore extraordinary stories and the people behind them. There have been some amazing stories posted up-to-date including Dana Vulin, Tony Galati, and the CEO of Global Goals, Caterina Sullivan.

Hello Darlink!'s Facebook post

The two most recent videos from Hello Darlink! are from the two speakers at the Men In Black Ball, Soa 'The Hulk' Palelei and Carmelo Pizzino. Both Carmelo and Soa had severe struggles with depression, leaving them at an all time low despite their celebrity status. The two interviews explored the stigma around men's mental health and showed a great amount of courage for both men to share their stories. In order to promote the videos on the other social media platforms, I was able to create a Facebook post for both interviews - one a teaser and one a thank you. The post above is the Facebook post I created for Carmelo's interview that was set to be released two days later. I think it ended up being a relatively well received post and the photo captured the positive side to the interview rather than focusing on the gloom. This post was then shared on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Soa 'The Hulk' Palelei's Facebook Post

The second post, as pictured above, was a thank you to the viewers of the interview with Soa. It had reached 10,000 views within 4 days and had received an incredible response. The post was also shared on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Overall I think both posts were captivating enough to receive responses from the followers on all social media channels, especially considering they were my first official posts on behalf of a company! If you have any criticism for the posts please feel free to leave a comment! There's no better way to learn.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night!

Jess