Real stories. Real people. Free unlimited deposits & withdrawals!
The Idea Bank is a space to share YOUR experiences and stories–specific examples of ways you are using events or have seen events used to create positive changes. This forum was designed to collect best practices from all aspects of the events industry, with the goal of educating and inspiring one another. It’s a way to help fully appreciate the power we hold to channel valuable resources where they will produce the most good and to influence the way others think and act, for positive benefit.
To give some structure to the posts, you might want to use the following short template when telling your story:
- Event name & type (association meeting, sporting event, destination wedding, etc.)
- Primary Objective(s) of the Event and primary stakeholders
- Change or Cause targeted
- Strategies used to engage participants and produce a positive impact
- Results and outcomes of the initiative
And now perhaps your greatest challenge: do all of this in 200-300 words, if at all possible! This will ensure that more people have the time to read and digest what you have to share. I may also be using your input to inspire future blog posts.
So: how have you already seen these ideas put into practice? And what thoughts do you have about other ways we could leverage the power of our events to make the world a little better place? Just use the Comment box below to deposit your ideas. And feel free to respond or reinforce other posts, as well!
EventsForChange 
December 9th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Our event was called Shine and the objective was to create an outreach event for women that would inspire and encourage and that would be fun and non-threatening for women at any stage of their spiritual journey…even if it hasn’t yet begun! We succeeded in getting many of the women from our church to invite someone from their life outside of church. We started the evening with a silent auction that only offered donated services. There was a wide variety of services that included photography sessions, mowing a lawn, teaching someone to make a pie from scratch, computer training and small business consulting. We used this approach to help build new friendships while supporting a good cause (the proceeds went to an orphanage founded by a family from our church).
We served a catered dinner and the program was real women sharing their personal story. They had been asked to share because we believed their story had the ability to encourage and inspire others. There were six stories told throughout the evening using different styles (i.e. interview, video, monologue). Follow-up surveys showed in the weeks following Shine the attendees started doing things to encourage people in their lives… helping a neighbor paint the interior of her house, hand delivering flowers to her doctor who was going through a tough time, meeting neighbors, writing inspirational notes to friends, and intentionally trying to be a better mother, friend and wife. One woman from out of town was going back home to share the concept and see if they could do a similar event at their church.
The key to the success of the event was the stories…they were real, they were relevant to others and they were inspiring!