How To Plan A Virtual Gala

The pandemic has changed the complete way of hosting events. The regular events that were considered fun and instilled excitement in people are now converted into virtual events and audiences have eventually started losing interest in the entire concept of virtual and do not connect well, even though virtual events can be as engaging and memorable.

Nonprofit organizations often look up to fundraising events and back in the normal days used to host a lively and exciting gala event. Now since social distancing is the need of the hour and people cannot get together for events, the organizations are adopting the virtual route to conduct a gala that people can enjoy from the comfort of their homes.

If you are a nonprofit organization and are intimidated by the thought of conducting a virtual Award ceremony and are clueless about how to start and what to do, then you are at the right place!

In this blog, we shall be guiding you about how to plan a virtual gala event and how to make it exciting for your audience.

Steps To Plan A Virtual Gala And To Make It Successful

Don’t Prolong The Gala

We cannot lay enough emphasis on this point and that reflects the importance of this tip. A prolonged gala event will ultimately lead to loss of engagement and invite monotony into your event and we are sure you would not want that.

Even if people love your concept and actively participate in raising funds for the cause you are supporting, they would not stay for more than 60-90 minutes in your virtual gala and would ultimately start leaving the event which may lead to embarrassment for you.

Keep this in mind and plan the event in a way that does not extend the mentioned time frame.

Set A Goal

Irrespective of a regular gala fundraising event or a virtual gala, you must have a particular amount in mind that you wish to raise. It is obvious since you are the host, you will have to create a budget and make a few expenses but since it is virtual, more than half of your expenses will cut down.

The good news is that whatever you plan will be successful since the money raised will be sufficient in comparison to your budget and expenses.

Give Your Supporters A Party Box

For this step, you can first create a theme for your virtual gala and send a party box to your supporters by post and ask them to open the box while the virtual event in progress.

Set a time and tell all your supporters to open the party box and give them a surprise! You can include vibrant decorations according to the theme like colorful balloons, party hats, a token from the sponsors, funny masks, or even include a bottle of wine to make the event more lively and fun.

Include A Social Wall

To increase the engagement of the Gala and to boost the enthusiasm of your attendees, you can display a social wall.

Encourage your attendees to utilize the items in the virtual party box, pose for a picture, and to post it on social media by mentioning your organization or by using a specific hashtag. Apart from this, they can post about the highlights of the event or click pictures with their family members while attending the event and post the content on their social media handles.

You can use the social wall to create a custom post thanking and giving a shoutout to your lovely sponsors too. This will make them feel special and valued and overall leave a good impression on them.

You can seamlessly collect the content using a social media aggregator and display it on a social wall. Your audiences would love it when they see themselves being featured and it would further increase their engagement in the event and other supporters will also participate.

Last But Not Least, Promote The Event

Promoting an event is extremely important especially when it is virtual. Once you are set and done with other details, you need to widely promote your event. You can use various mediums like social media platforms, other marketing channels like emails, ads through various other means, and if your budget allows, you can send a handmade invitation to all your supporters and they will surely get touched and excited about your gala.

Summing It Up

An annual fundraising gala is of prime importance to all nonprofit organizations but the pandemic has drastically changed the way galas are conducted. Even though it is conducted virtually, it has many benefits too.

Here were a few ways leveraging which you can surely conduct an amazing virtual gala and increase the engagement of your supporters. Just keep the above-mentioned points in mind and you will surely see the enthusiasm amongst your attendees and sponsors!