Gathering for Good: Living Beyond Breast Cancer's Virtual Butterfly Ball
About the Client:
Living Beyond Breast Cancer is a national nonprofit organization that seeks to create a world that understands there is more than one way to have breast cancer. To fulfill their nearly 30-year mission of providing trusted information and a community of support, LBBC offers on-demand emotional, practical, and evidence-based content that is meaningful to those newly diagnosed, in treatment, post-treatment, and living with metastatic disease.
About the Project:
Living Beyond Breast Cancer had pivoted many of its events to a virtual format in 2020, and decided that their annual Gala would be no different. The Butterfly Ball has a long and celebrated history of bringing the Living Beyond Breast Cancer community together to raise funds and make a difference in the lives of those who are affected by breast cancer. This year, the organization decided to create a virtual experience and enlisted the team at BLME to support.
Primary: Event Planning, Project Management, Event Tech Concierge
Secondary: Event Strategy, Virtual Events, Marketing Strategy, Digital Marketing, Social Media, Sponsor Onboarding, Speaker Management, Content Creation, Day-of Event Management
Processes:
The initial meeting with the internal team at Living Beyond Breast Cancer outlined the project timeline, responsibilities of each individual, and possible speakers from the community who could participate in the event. Then, the team at BLME got to work on researching, presenting and confirming tech options for the event platform (which included both web-based and downloadable app), and confirming the Silent Auction platform.
As the BLME team began to populate the branded app and Silent Auction software, Beth met with the CEO and VP of Fundraising to create the event storyboard and narrow down the speakers for the event. Simultaneously, Beth met with the marketing team to create and confirm the marketing plan for the event, including email marketing, social media, marketing opportunities within the app itself, and partnership opportunities.
As with all virtual events, it was imperative to decide which content would be pre-recorded and which would be live, and prepare each speaker for their portion of the program. Beth and Living Beyond Breast Cancer’s CEO worked to schedule Zoom sessions and pre-record content; rehearse each speaker’s portion of the program; schedule and execute technical rehearsals with both the internal team (LBBC and BLME) and the speakers; and finalizing the script and run of show for the event.
Working with the VP of Fundraising, Beth helped to identify opportunities for sponsors and partners to gain visibility during the event, including arranging wine to be delivered to each speaker by LBBC's partner, Traveling Vineyard; creating a virtual pop-up shop so that attendees could shop to support LBBC partners; and gathering pre-recorded content from partners as past of the program.
Beth developed a contingency plan for the event in case of a technical error, internet interruptions, or unforeseen circumstances, and served as primary contact for the speakers the day of the event. Additionally, the BLME team provided technical support for the execution of the event, and worked with LBBC’s programs team to divide and assign the technical aspects of the show.
Results:
Over 350 people signed up for the Strength in Stories event, and we had over 175 people engaged in the live celebration on November 7.
Living Beyond Breast Cancer raised over $400,000 to support those affected by breast cancer at this event, through a combination of corporate and individual donations as well as the Silent Auction.
Over 500 people signed up for the event platform, and included over 150 active users.