Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Success of a Content Rich Program

SOLVE empowers everyday Oregonians to become stewards of their local environment and keep our state beautiful, clean and natural.

They have so many different ways to get involved and they wanted to be sure that was reflected in the program for their Celebrate SOLVE Annual Breakfast last week.

The big question was how to do the breadth of their work justice and have a dynamic program that kept their audience's attention.

What SOLVE did was create a content rich program that was able to reflect the diverse work of their organization, and they did 3 things exceptionally well:

1. They used volunteer voices through their program.
Their volunteers were able to speak eloquently and passionately about why SOLVE matters, and they also provided specific examples to the audience in a compelling and engaging format.

2. The Powerpoint presentation that accompanied their program helped paint pictures and tell stories.
As speakers shared their experiences in nature, images of these locations appeared on screen, connecting the audience on a deeper and more meaningful level.

3. Their Special Appeal speaker got at "the why" of SOLVE.
A junior high school student who works with one of their youth-programs told her story about encountering SOLVE and then feeling empowered to make the world around her a better place.

SOLVE's program arc built off of their audience's growing awareness of the organization's mission, scope and values. They didn't just tell their audience what they do, but also why they do it. In the end, people left more engaged with the work and empowered to do more.

The 2012 Celebrate SOLVE Annual Breakfast Team
Photo by Cal Pearson


And an engaged and empowered audience is the first step for a successful event next year. Hats off to Lara, Michelle, Melisa and the rest of the team at SOLVE for a job well done!