Considering turning your annual gala into a Virtual Gala this year? You are not alone. This is the trend we are seeing in 2020 and it is a creative and profitable way for nonprofits to meet fundraising goals in our socially distanced culture.
While the virtual gala should have a lot of similar elements to your live event program, you will need to adjust it for the new format of being on the internet.
Why does your virtual program need to be different than your in-person event program?
There are more distractions at home.
Your virtual attendees will have children and dogs and other things on the internet to capture their attention if your program is not engaging enough.
They won’t have the energy of a live community.
When people come to a live event, they become part of a community that they are involved and engaged in which creates a unique energy an involvement that is unique to live events.
They have short attention spans.
People are trained to have highly engaging content. With online content getting quicker and shorter (think TikTok or Twitter), they don’t have as much patience for things that are slow, so your program needs to be quick, to the point, engaging, inspiring and call them to action soon and often.
What makes a successful virtual Gala?
A Short Program
The ideal length for a Virtual Gala program is 30 minutes. Any longer and people start dropping off. Statistics show that after a half hour 50% of virtual program attendees leave the virtual event. This means, you’ll need to cut your 30 minute key note speaker and stick to the point. Every second of content during your virtual event should either inspire, entertain or encourage your audience to take action (aka give $$). Your messaging will need to be clear and concise. It takes more strategy and forethought, but it will be much more impactful.
An Early Fund-A-Need Ask
In a typical live gala, the whole program will build momentum up to the Fund-A-Need or fundraising appeal, but in a virtual gala, you will need to ask early (and ask often). You should start your event by reminding people why they are there, using a story/testimonial/video to connect them to your mission and conducting the Fund-A-Need while you still have everyone’s attention.
After the formal fundraising appeal, you will continue with your program. You can share more stories, talk more about how your organization is serving people and as you do this, your auctioneer (who should be working in tandem with your emcee) will remind people that they can still give. Think of one of those old telethon fundraisers from the 80’s or 90’s. They always did multiple asks. Most people will give during the formal ask, but you want to remind them incase they couldn’t figure out the tech right away or if they feel inspired to give more later in the program.
Featured “Live Auction” Items
Your live auction will not be a typical live auction where the auctioneer calls out bids. They should be listed as “Live Auction” items on your mobile bidding technology, but the virtual attendees will be able to bid on them the same way they would a silent auction item. The “Live Auction” items would be featured during the program and the auctioneer would call attention to the current bid and move on to the next rather quickly as donors would have several hours to get in their bids.
Mix Live and Prerecorded content
Hosting a live streamed event with a professional AV and production team allows you to integrate multiple formats seamlessly. This allows you to prerecord nervous, rambling or high risk speakers so they can have multiple takes, get used to the camera or record at a time with fewer people around. The live aspects could include your emcee and auctioneer who are professional performers and can improvise on screen with ease. Your production team can splice in inspirational videos and graphics with along with the live content to make it more engaging and fast paced and your viewers at home don’t have to know that any of it was recorded in advance.
Save Thank You’s for the end
In a live event, it is common for the Executive Director or Board Chair to get up and start the night by thanking sponsors, volunteers, donors, etc for about 10 minutes. However, in a virtual event you will literally lose your audience if you start with this mundane content. Wrap up your event with important thank you’s and find creative ways to feature sponsors that doesn’t take up the prime time in your virtual gala. Some ideas are:
Create social media posts thanking them
Insert their names in the graphics on the bottom of the screen
Thank them additionally in a post-event email
Possible Program Order
Quick Welcome with Emcee and Auctioneer to walk through what to expect during the program.
Remind attendees why this gala is important. “Hello you cool cats and kittens, we are all here today to support the important work Carol Baskin is doing with the large cats…” (Is it too soon for a Tiger King Reference?) Your guests are smart and know why they are there, but this will help transition you into a short storytelling connection…
Storytelling connection. This could be a video or testimonial or an inspirational recap of the work your organization is doing. This should take less than 5 minutes and be engaging and inspirational.
Fund-A-Need Ask. Then your auctioneer will transition into the Fund-A-Need. This will take a lot less time than a traditional paddle raise at a live event and will sound a little bit like a QVC sales pitch. As an onscreen auctioneer, I don’t get to see bidders faces, but I get to see their data and bids coming through. During a virtual fund-a-need I thank specific donors, recognize momentum donors, continue to share about your organization and help donors emotionally connect with your mission.
Thank you and another storytelling moment. This could be a current events moment where you share positive stories about what your organization is doing in your community recently. It could be a volunteer or client highlight story. This is where you essentially say “Thank you for your support and this is what your funds are doing.” (another reminder that they can give using the link below)
Highlight Live Auction Items. Your auctioneer and emcee will highlight the featured live auction items and bring attention to the current highest bidders. The auctioneer and emcee should work together to make this segment as entertaining as possible using natural banter while being able to move it along quickly. Keep auction items to 5 or fewer.
Live entertainment. This is where you could add some live entertainment: a studio performance, a sketch comedy act, a video, etc.
Thank you to everyone who showed up. Remind them again about what their donations are accomplishing and let them know you are excited to see them when we can all meet in person again. (another reminder that they can give using the link below)
Housekeeping items, auction checkout logistics, and Thank you’s to sponsors, volunteers, staff and everyone that made the virtual gala possible.
These segments should be short and flow quickly. I highly recommend enlisting a professional Auctioneer and Emcee to help move this event along and keep the tone appropriate and help tell your story as concisely and inspirationally as possible.
What else do you want to know?
This is just one possible order for your Virtual Gala. For a more personalized gala order, based on your organization’s culture and audience, reach out to me to learn how to make your virtual gala a reality. We are still at the front edge of virtual galas and are constantly learning to make them better. Together with industry partners, we are sharing best practices in how to engage your audience and make your virtual events profitable.
