Serata Virtuale: Our Latest and Greatest Virtual Event
Every year on the last Saturday evening in February, the Howard County Library System holds their signature fundraiser, Evening in the Stacks. This year, the event is going virtual, and we’d love to give you a behind the scenes look of what’s in store! Spoiler: it’s shaping up to be one of our best virtual events yet!
Serata Virtuale
This year’s Evening in the Stacks is centered around an Italian theme! (Serata Virtuale translates to Virtual Evening, if your Italian could use some brushing up.) We’ve put a lot of time and effort into making this event special, but ultimately it would not have been possible without all of the event sponsors! Their help has made our vision for this event a reality, and we can’t wait for the 27th! So, what exactly is the vision for Serata Virtuale?
The event will virtually transport guests to Italy while they stay safe at home. Stops include a cooking class with Chef Francesca from Agriturismo Diacceroni in Tuscany, wine tasting experience from Tenuta Torciano vineyard near San Gimignano, a Tuscan truffle hunt and a Southern Italy dance party.
Behind the Scenes
Here’s a look into the work our team has done along with the Howard County Library event team in preparation for this evening event.
For starters, our committee meetings look very different. We haven’t been able to meet in person and work together with the event team, since the library is closed. So instead of meeting around the conference tables, we have all been gathering on Microsoft Teams, which actually has been wonderful for all of us to communicate quickly and stay on top of all the details.
Early on we suggested adding another member to our event team and brought in expert Caryn Sagal from Sagal PR. She launched a huge PR campaign featuring interviews on local TV networks, radios stations and her press release launched a multitude of articles highlighting the event. One TV spot features our event host for the event, Elsa M. host of Midday Maryland speaking with Tonya Aikens, president & CEO of Howard County Library System.
Having a fabulous pr campaign means we needed a landing page for all of these leads. So we designed the pre-event website to start detailing the event features and, of course, with a link to ticket sales. Over the weeks that followed, we’ve been supplementing the site with all the PR, detailing the event elements as they have solidified and creating images for that site that serve as content for the social media campaign that the client launched on their Facebook and Instagram accounts in order to promote this one-of-a-kind event.
As far as the event itself goes, we’ve been hard at work and what seems like daily communication with the event team at the library collaborating and assembling all the parts and pieces that go into the creation of a virtual event. We continue to iron out all the logistics to ensure our event runs smoothly from start to finish. In addition to acquiring, designing, and coding the event platforms, our prep work has also included:
Rewriting the sponsorship level benefits to parallel our virtual event elements and working with the library to fulfill the benefits promised to each.
Developing the event timeline, turning that into the run of show and scripting all the parts so the event flows succinctly.
Determine the ticketing levels and associated experiences.
Developing the online ticket platform and in turn collecting the data to eventually upload into the event platform.
SWAG! Outline and help secure the contents for the box full of Italian goodies and event memorabilia including our Serata Virtuale bingo cards.
We continue to work very closely with the library in-house graphics team so all of the event materials, advertising, and content coordinate.
It was very important to incorporate local food and wine vendors in order to support our local businesses, despite being a virtual event.
We are working closely with the caterer, La Prima Catering, to communicate and keep track of all the guest meals.
We’ve scheduled tech check ins with our event host, Elsa M., and our three guest authors who will be answering live Q & A during the event.
It was so exciting to coordinate our filming on location in Italy for our four tour stops and we can’t wait for you to see what we have planned.
Editing the videos for broadcasting with the talented staff at the library involved designing the box frames and lower thirds for viewing.
We’ve put together a top notch back channel team consisting of chat moderators, a Q&A moderator, a timing facilitator, an event producer, assistant producer, a lead facilitator and a technical director leading their team of audio and video broadcast experts.
Virtual events run a lot smoother when there’s a plan in place, and our team has created a Run of Show to ensure the evening flows seamlessly from start to finish. Since we have so many moving parts and fun activities in store, creating this plan was a must.
In addition to enjoying delicious Italian cuisine prepared and delivered from La Prima Catering, attendees can expect to participate in a virtual photo booth, enjoy an Italian playlist featuring traditional and current popular music, play along with our Bingo cards that come along with the rest of the swag, participate in Cocktails for a Cause featuring a wine pull and Tuscan sunshine drink kits, enjoy contents from the swag boxes filled with goodies while traveling safely throughout Italy and learning from three guest authors!
We will hope to see you on the 27th! And let us not forget that while we are all enjoying this virtual event, our real goal is to raise funds for Howard County Library System for learning activity kits for K-12 students, and Chromebooks and hotspots for residents without internet access. Check it all out here.
If you are now wondering how you can create your own engaging virtual event, check out our podcast below, where we discuss this HCLS fundraiser, along with the state of the party planning industry and tips on hosting your own virtual event.
Book Your Virtual Event with Expert Virtual Event Producers at Innovative Party Planners!
Innovative Party Planners is your resource for event design and planning in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia. To learn more about our event planning services and how we can help make your event one of a kind, contact us by calling (410) 998-9999.