Five Tips for Planning a Successful Twestival

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If you’ve never attended your local Twestival, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to come together with like-minds for a great cause. With a small donation, attendees are granted access to an exciting event with food, drink, live music and raffles – and all in support of a specific charity or non-profit.

The Twestival I attended this year in Rochester, NY raised more than $4000 for the local YWCA – and that’s money that will provide 123 courtesy nights for the organization’s Emergency Housing Program, according to @ROCTwestival coordinator Matthew Ray. Last year, Twestival Global collectively raised $450,000 for Concern Worldwide, an international NGO helping fund educational projects around the world. It’s a great testament to how technology can be leveraged for making a difference in the world.

This year, my global Text colleagues in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore had a hand in planning their local Twestivals – and I caught up with them to compile some of the key takeaways from their respective events. Special thanks to Radiance Leong and Jeremy Seow for their insights.

• Be wary of involving your clients and other brands for donations – Twestival is about people coming together and raising funds for a chosen charity – it’s not primarily an opportunity for profiling your client’s brand or product. Be aware that the Twitter community has the power to can create considerable backlash for a brand that is seen as leveraging a good cause for its own business agenda. In general, counselling your clients about not monetizing a charity event is very important. Some brands look at this as a way to increase their Twitter followers – so be sure to remind them of the root cause of the event, and save their promotions for another day.

• Location, location, location – The success of the event can weigh heavily on the choice of venue. Choose a location that might be known for teaming with social media aficionados or PR agencies for events. Do research on what venues might be frequented by social media influencers in your area, and go from there. Also consider transportation to the venue – is it easily accessible by public transit, or only a short drive? If the event is held out of the way, attendance might be hard to secure.

• Be smart about the money – One of the ways to find success in fund raising is by taking a pledge of “Proceeds – not profits” and making sure everyone on the planning team is agreed in this. This means that all 100% of money collected from Twestival is donated to the charity of choice, with nothing being paid for the expense of the event. This also means that the team must source for venue, food, drinks, projectors, A/V equipment – literally everything needed for the event. While this sounds challenging, at this point, many businesses have already heard of the Twestival concept and are more than willing to participate. In some cases, you may even be turning down offers from sponsors because so many want to contribute! That said, with the selection of food, drinks, high-valued goodie bags, etc., attendees are usually more willing to pay an entrance fee, which can also be donated to the cause.

• Visibility – In many cases, before a brand agrees to sponsor an event, they’re going to ask about what visibility they will see from it. And not to mention, your sponsors are doing you a huge favor by agreeing to provide products or services for free – so be sure to show them as much love as you can! Besides the usual banner placements, consider having programs, booklets, or other collateral made where you might be able to showcase their logos. Allow your sponsors to contribute individual blog posts to your city’s Twestival blog, and include their logos on the sidebar of the page. Share news and sponsor shout-outs via Twitter, in addition to sending out a pre-event media alert and post-event press release to relevant local media.

• Consider how your brand or sponsor may be able to continue helping the cause – Think of the Twestival as more than an event – it’s a campaign, and a social movement. Getting out the core message that it’s more than just a donation drive allows volunteers to raise their hands to work directly with the organization beyond just that evening. For example, in Singapore, BMW is taking their prize commitment a step further by doing more pro-bono work for this year’s cause, CARE.SG, post-Twestival. Many other Singapore-based bloggers have also step forth to help CARE.SG either through volunteering their time or services. Remember, money isn’t everything for some charities – so look at their needs and how else you can help first.

Text 100 Colleagues at Twestival Singapore

Did you attend or help plan your local Twestival? What tips and takeaways did you find from the event?

Photo Credit: CaKe Images LLP - www.mycake.sg