Expanding Our Global Reach Through Virtual Events
In May 2020, in light of COVID-19, Emily’s Entourage had to quickly transition its annual New York gala, EENY, to a virtual format. The result was EENY: LIVE! — a virtual event reimagined for a global Entourage. Despite many hardships, one of the major silver linings of the virtual format was that it enabled a new kind of inclusivity for EE’s events. For the first time, it allowed those with CF, who previously were unable to attend due to CF-specific cross-infection concerns, to attend an EE event in the same way as all other guests. In addition, many EE supporters are located around the globe, and the new virtual format allowed them to fully participate as well. The ability to bring the CF and global community together, at the same time, enhanced the event significantly.
The event’s success was clear with 820 registrants, over 5,100 total video views, and over 10,800 total impressions, with viewers across 43 states and 34 countries. By embracing the learning curve for virtual events on an accelerated timeline (about 6 weeks from ideation to execution), we built new capabilities in virtual programming and data analytics, leveraging the opportunity to increase global awareness and outreach and capture insights about our audience.
On the heels of the successful EENY: LIVE! virtual event in May, EE transformed its signature Evening with Emily’s Entourage gala into a new, virtual format in December 2020. “The Magic Line: A Virtual Campaign to Conquer the Last CF Summit” was an immersive, multimedia experience that launched with a virtual video premiere event in December 2020 and followed with a month of compelling digital and video content about EE’s mission to speed breakthroughs for the remaining 10% of the CF community.
We are proud of the way EE responded to COVID-19, nimbly converting major events into a virtual format and leveraging the opportunity to learn new skills and embrace the silver linings. From our start to COVID-19 and beyond, the ability to transform adversity into opportunity has underlined everything that we do and stand for at EE. Desperation can spur the greatest innovation and together, we are capable of transformative change, even against great adversity. EE is the ultimate proof.
