Vol 19, Issue 6, August 26, 2021

In our last blog [Click here to read it.], we wrote about Prairie Lakes Healthcare System’s successful experience last fall when they transformed their annual breast cancer awareness event, Celebrating Life, from in person to virtual.

At the time they had hoped that in 2021, they could present their spring Ladies’ Night Out event in person. But right after the holidays as the pandemic persisted, they made the decision to produce that event virtually too.

Their theme was “Dying to Laugh: How to Be Happy When Your Life is a Mess,” and it seems as appropriate today as it did then; we’re all still dealing with uncertainty.

 

SPRING LADIES’ NIGHT OUT
How to Be Happy When Your Life is a Mess

“When we booked our speaker last summer, we were hoping to have our Annual Ladies’ Night Out in person in the spring of 2021,” Jessi Eidson, Business Development Specialist at Prairie Lakes said. “We usually hold it in February, when women are itching to get out of the house, but we decided our chances for an in-person event would be better if we pushed it forward to April, still suspecting we might be virtual again.

                           The Team at Prairie Lakes Healthcare System: Jennifer, Andy, and Jessi

“Comedian Stacy Pederson’s program, ‘Dying to Laugh: How to Be Happy When Your Life is a Mess,’ sounded like a great fit – a little levity — for these unusual times.”

But even with the vaccine coming into the picture early in the year, it became obvious that their community wasn’t going to have attained a percentage of vaccinated people high enough to be comfortable hosting an in-person event, even when they delayed it till April.

Ladies’ Night Out is normally a big event — free of charge. They take over an entire event center.  Education is a big part of it. Normally doors open at 4 p.m. They place tables with displays outside the banquet hall manned by representatives from each of their different specialty services so that people can go from table to table, ask questions, and get information directly from each service.

“We were just thinking about how we would keep everybody safe — with tables side by side, and wearing masks and trying to talk over them,” Jessi said. “We just didn’t feel like people would be able to have the experience that we were used to. And being a healthcare system, we definitely wanted to be a leader in what we chose to do. So, we made the decision to move it to virtual.”

Normally at the in-person events, they also have presentations going simultaneously in four different breakout rooms so that every 25 minutes, people can go to a different classroom and before the keynote speaker comes on, hear all four presentations in whatever order they prefer.

“But during the whole last year, when we weren’t doing education events, we shot a lot of videos,” Jessi said.  “So we produced a lot of education blogs, video blogs, education videos, and education for our social media channels and wellness blog.”

“Using all these video resources that we created, we designed a special Health Website that went along with the event. So when participants logged in the night of the event, the website was active. We kept it open for about five weeks after the event. Components of our live event now became available at the touch of a finger, and participants could access them at their leisure.”

 

Instead of giving their guests a welcome packet upon arrival, they mailed each registrant a themed package – a swag bag — beforehand. Based on Stacy’s keynote talk, “Dying to Live: How to Be Happy When Your Life is a Mess,” they included an imprinted tea towel — to clean up their messes — along with an event pen, a hair tie, several recipes, and a note pad. They kept it light and inexpensive to mail.

“We knew people were coming mainly to hear Stacy’s message, and with the virtual format, we were aware of needing to keep their attention. We normally would have led up to her talk with various program elements while people were getting settled. Instead, we did a short intro and let Stacy have the microphone.

“She was awesome. Her story was compelling, and her humor kept people engaged. It really was the perfect topic.” Jessi said. “Stacy agreed to a Q & A at the end that Jennifer moderated, and that was very successful as well.  

“We were very pleased with the event overall, and we were really impressed with our attendance. We typically get 450-500 when it’s been in person. We were excited about the numbers we were seeing right away, and then afterward, we received messages that there were some watch parties of groups of people watching, to add to our numbers. So, we had just as many if not more people than we would have had at our live event.

“We learned from our event last October (Click here to see previous issue of this blog), and I don’t think we would have done anything differently for this one. And while we’ve learned a lot from these experiences, we’ll be happy to go back to in-person events just as soon as we can!”

In person, or virtually, to learn more about Stacy and view videos, click here, or contact me at barbara@speakwellbeing.com or 503-699-5031.

 

IN PERSON, VIRTUAL, or HYBRID? How Can We Predict?

As I’m writing this, the COVID Delta variant is throwing a monkey wrench in plans for fall.  Masks are being recommended indoors, especially in hot spots, even for vaccinated people.  Infection and hospitalization rates are once again reaching record numbers in many communities. But schools are opening, and some concerts are resuming. It’s again hard to predict what the situation will be in the fall and even early 2022.

When events are unfolding with such uncertainty, it’s important that we stay in touch and share our experiences so that we can learn from one another. I’d love to hear how you’re adapting and what you’re thinking about the months ahead.

Write to me at barbara@speakwellbeing.com or call me at 503-699-5031, and share what your team is learning as you continue adjusting to these changing circumstances.

Until next time, take care of yourself for your well being and those you love.

Barbara

For Your Well Being is published with the intention of bringing you insider speaker reports, exclusive stories about special events around the country, meeting planner tips, and fun stuff from the worlds of health and well being. Be well and be in the know!

The Speak Well Being Group is a specialized speakers bureau, focusing on health and wellness for all types of organizations that want to foster health and wellbeing for their employees, members, clients, and in their communities.

We hand select our speakers, and they are not only experts in their fields; they inspire and motivate attendees. Our ultimate goal is to make a positive difference in their lives — a sense of wellbeing, ease, and hope — and likely enjoy some laughter and levity along the way.

Finding the perfect keynote speaker for your special event or conference is my personal passion, not just once, but year after year. It brings me great joy to know that your audience was delighted and moved by the speaker we selected together. I’m committed to making the process easy, pleasant and fun.