When COVID-19 disrupted all travel plans and eliminated social gatherings, a number of our clients faced difficult decisions about how to adjust their programming and rethink their events. Some clients had grant monies that had to be spent on a tourism industry that disappeared overnight. Others had to rethink events that are their main source of funding. To help alleviate these stressful situations, we worked with our clients to identify ways to modify their events and still achieve their goals.
Virtual Tourism Planning
The El Paso Museum of Art had planned three art getaway events, inviting regional tourists to come to El Paso and experience all EPMA has to offer along with event-specific programming. The first event occurred before the pandemic began, the second two were scheduled for May and August. We worked with EPMA to create an Art Getaways section on their website to transition the Art Getaways into a virtual experience with online programming. The new content included video mural tours, online art workshops and virtual tours of some of the EPMA galleries. We implemented an aggressive digital advertising campaign to raise awareness and drive traffic to the website. The content was available for the duration of the Art Getaway weeks and then the features were removed from public view. However, you can still get creative with some virtual art workshops still listed under the EPMA Art School.
Virtual Event Planners
The Plaza Classic Film Festival is a celebration of cinematography, local talent and fun way to beat the El Paso summer heat. The 2020 Plaza Classic faced complete cancelation in the wake of COVID-19. We consulted with the Plaza Classic team to discuss options and ways to turn the event into a virtual experience. To convert their event into a virtual one, we reconfigured the Plaza Classic website to fit the new schedule and integrated the platform they used to show the drive-in movies. We also lent our design capabilities to create the flyers for the various drive-in locations.
Virtual Fundraising Solutions
The Down Syndrome Coalition for El Paso hosts an annual fundraiser called The Whole Hog. It helps fund the programs, resources, scholarships and more that they offer to individuals with Down syndrome and their families. But it’s hard to have a hog roast when you can’t share it with many people. So the DSCEP looked for ways to turn their biggest fundraiser into a socially-distanced BBQ drive-through party. We updated their website with new functionality to reflect the changes to their fundraiser, including new purchasing options and simple fields to select ticket quantities and donation levels. If you’d like to support the DSCEP and roll away with some phenomenal BBQ, you can buy tickets for the October 10 Socially Distanced Drive-thru BBQ.
If you’re looking for ways to transform your events or fundraisers into something virtual, Hello Amigo can help you evaluate your options and discuss ways to achieve your goals. Send us an email and we can “meet” virtually.
