Click on the 40-second movie below and go behind the scenes at Texas 4000 for Cancer to get a glimpse of the pre-production and rehearsals on June 25 and the final run-thru and livestream on June 26 of a fabulous virtual event. Lights, camera, sound and action!
The Rest of the Story….Plan B to the rescue.
By the end of February 2020, the staff at Texas 4000 for Cancer had already been busy conceptualizing for months what the live event celebration would look like on August 22 for the Tribute Gala.
FUNauctions was honored to return for the 4th year as their benefit fundraising strategist and supporter. By the end of April, Gayle Stallings had already conducted a virtual training for the 80+ team members around the country who would have a role on event night. New to the gala team to oversee the tons of logistics and the Run of Show was award-winning Big Time Creatives, Event Management + Design with Jordan Adams and David Reed.
In order to have a preemptive Plan B in place, the option of switching to a virtual event was discussed in early April. At that time, who even knew if a large gathering of 500+ supporters in August would be practical or safe. At least the concept of doing a virtual fundraiser was on the table.
Then the number of coranavirus cases started spiking and the planned 4000-mile summer ride from Austin to Anchorage was cancelled for the safety of all the riders. Instead, this changed to a virtual summer ride from May 29-June 26. The students who had been training for over 18 months for their 3-month ride were disappointed but remained committed in their dedication to spreading the three pillars of Texas 4000: hope, knowledge and charity.
Wanting to celebrate the 2020 team and their accomplishments during a pandemic, the decision was made on June 9th to move the virtual gala to coincide with the ride’s finish on June 26th. Yes, with less than 3 weeks to showtime, everyone kicked into high gear. That also meant bringing the sound and lighting experts in from Ilios Production, who jumped in by doing the pre-production and live-streaming at their studio.
Click here to watch the full event, and keep in mind that all of this was done in only 18 days. Photos by Lisa Hause Photography.
For additional information and resources visit the FUNauctions Virtual Funraisers page.
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