Your organization was founded with a mission, and a specific purpose to fill a gap in your community. Given the fact that we’ve all officially spent an entire year—quarantining, masking up, and social distancing—it’s about time we come together in-person and regroup to plan for a bright future ahead.
If you want to give your best in your work—to your clients—you must be at your best. As the old saying goes, “You cannot pour from an empty cup.”
Your organization was founded with a mission, and a specific purpose to fill a gap in your community. Given the fact that we’ve all officially spent an entire year—quarantining, masking up, and social distancing—it’s about time we come together in-person and regroup to plan for a bright future ahead.
We are very grateful that we remained busy and our tiny but mighty business continued to thrive. 2020 was quite the rollercoaster ride with unfortunate moments that thrusted the Black Lives Matter Movement to the forefront and COVID-19 turned all of our worlds upside down. As a black woman business owner, I had to make sure that I prioritized my mental health and found balance.
On the other hand, this year was full of wins for many of us. We took time to work on ourselves, enjoyed remote working, and many innovative businesses and ideas were born. We mastered how to make virtual events interactive and engaging and we also received over 5k in grant funding that we used to make some business improvements.
I want to thank everyone who supported us throughout this year because we couldn't have done it without you. And last but not least, I invite you to check out our beautiful illustrations created by Chrissie Bonner of Illustrating Progress that illustrate our powerhouse year.
XOXO and Happy New Year,
April Burks
Founder and CEO
Major events such as SXSW, TED Conference and the physical portion of the Adobe Summit have been canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Companies are instructing employees to stay local and in some cases and not attend events with more than 100 attendees. At Pink Social Strategies, we have been working with our clients to make the best decisions for their conferences, events, and large meetings. Based on our many conversations, we’d like to share with you a few actions you can take if you have an upcoming event that is likely to be impacted by COVID-19.
Educate yourself-- Check the CDC website and your local government sites to get the latest and accurate information. You do not want to get caught up in the mass hysteria. Without the proper information, you can’t make a rational and informed decision.
Not only do you need to educate your self on the outbreak, but familiarize your self with your insurance plans. Did you buy an a la carte event insurance policy? What does that cover and what needs to happen in order for you to file a successful claim? In many instances, you won’t be able to claim the insurance unless your city or state declares a state of emergency.
Weigh your options— Can your event be easily converted into a virtual event? This may not be possible for all events. For example, imagine a virtual networking event. A virtual event probably is not the way to go unless perhaps your audience is a tech crowd that would enjoy this as an option. Working with your team can help you to determine the best course of action.
Can you reschedule your event? Before giving rescheduling the greenlight, think about the impact the date change may have on the venue, speakers, and other contractor schedules. Another factor to consider with rescheduling the event is, ‘how far out do you push it?’ We don’t really know when this outbreak will be cleared up. To be on the safe side you should probably push the event until at least the fall.
Should you cancel the event? Well, the bigger question is, can you afford to cancel? As I said earlier in this post, you need to familiarize yourself with your insurance plan. For many of us, we simply cannot afford to cancel the event, we don't have the funds to return and we’ve paid all of our vendors, etc. Perhaps you just have to go on with the show, if that is the case, take extra precautions and utilize a “no handshake” policy or “touchless greetings.”
The fear of the unknown is real! So be transparent and direct.
-April Burks
Get ahead of it— Inform attendees of your plans. Do not wait for them to ask you! Let them know how changes or cancellations will be communicated to them. If you’re going to move forward with your event, let them know what steps you are going to take to prevent the spread of germs. If you decide to cancel the event, be very clear about the refund policy. The fear of the unknown is real! So be transparent and direct.
At the end of the day, you need to have a plan. You cannot approach this with a “whatever happens happens” attitude because that could be a costly and irresponsible mistake. Educate yourself, figure out what are your options and then craft a positive, clear and concise message to your attendees.
If you are interested in speaking with a member of the Pink Social Strategies team about a COVID-19 strategy for an event your organization is hosting, contact us at april@pinksocialstrategies.com.
Photo taken by Jana Williams
The State of North Broad was held on Tuesday, December 17th, 2019 at the gorgeous and historic Met Philly. Pink Social Strategies (PSS) worked with the North Broad Renaissance (NBR) to create a truly memorable experience for guests. The North Broad Renaissance is a non-profit organization that serves as a Special Service District (SSD) that serves the North Broad Street corridor from City Hall to Erie Ave.
“In partnership with community stakeholders, the North Broad Renaissance is looking to revitalize the community, create opportunities, and improve the economic power and overall quality of life along one of Philadelphia’s most prominent corridors
– North Broad Street”
Shalimar Thomas, Executive Director of NBR, cast and shared the vision and plan for North Broad as well as what has already been accomplished along with NBR Board Chair, Dr. Kenneth Scott. Jeff Guaracino (President & CEO, Visit Philly), Rob Wonderling (President & CEO, Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia) and Mark Harris (Managing Partner, Linebarger, Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP) all spoke during the program as well. The State of North Broad Report, full of exciting news and accomplishments, was distributed as well.
Councilwoman Cherelle Parker was presented the Think Broad Award by Shalimar Thomas and Brittany Forman — Photo taken by Britney Morgan
On top of having an exciting and insightful program, the event also featured music, cocktails, tasty treats and wow factors! This year LiveNation donated a pair of tickets to a show at the Met to each attendee and there was a gift card grab that featured tons of gift cards from the businesses along North Broad. And that's not it! We also raffled off two sets of tickets (donated by LiveNation) to the New Year’s Eve Dave Chappelle Performance at the Met. Purposeful Pops served up custom pops and Coffee, Cream and Dreams served hot chocolate and homemade cookies. Last but not least, we curated a custom playlist for this event, that features old school jams and some holiday classics. You can access the playlist HERE. So take a listen and check out the pics below, taken by the event photographers Jana Williams and Britney Morgan.
On Thursday, we had the honor and pleasure of working with Episcopal Community Services to plan and execute their signature event, The Forum on Justice and Opportunity. The sold out event was held at WHYY and featured impactful panels, breakout sessions and a thought-provoking keynote address delivered by Dr. Beth Babcock of EMPath.
Custom Social Wall created by Antoinette Minor
In addition to the keynote, Dr. Babcock facilitated an Academic Masterclass, Nisha Patel (Robin Hood Foundation) led a discussion on the narrative and misconceptions of poverty with Neal McLaurin (One Step Away), Sabrina Vourvoulias (Generocity), Cassie Haynes (Resolve Philly) and Meeka Outlaw (MindSet). The Co-founders of Leapfund Karen Schoellkopf and Caroline Mcandrews led an informative workshop on the Benefits Cliff. Following the keynote address, Dr. Babcock was joined by moderator Ashley Putnam (The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia), panelist Arley Styer (Episcopal Community Services) and panelist James Paige ( Community Council Health Systems).
While planning this event, we wanted to make sure our attendees left empowered to continue the conversation and take action. We also added a few surprises to keep our attendees engaged and enjoying themselves. Antoinette Minor of TYP Social created a custom interactive social media wall, Purposeful Pops provided custom pops and Illustrating Progress provided live graphic recording. Check out pics and videos below!
