A few days have passed since Plymouth Twestival 2010 and I am starting to regain some much needed energy. After some time for reflection, I would really like to share with you my thoughts and feelings about Thursday evening. Before I do so it would be appropriate to see the official video for the event, produced by Machine Media.
Twestival March 2010 from Sharney Adams on Vimeo.
Firstly, a massive thank you goes out to everyone who was involved. This includes guests, bands, sponsors, volunteers and even people who couldn’t make it (but still donated by buying an apology ticket or helped to spread our message) – it was a massive team effort and everyone played their part. As a group we made it happen.
There were two things that I really wanted to happen on the night: I wanted to raise lots of money for Concern and I wanted everyone to have a good time.
We certainly achieved the first. At the time of writing we have raised £5,647 and there still may be some late donations to come in! When the target figure of £4,000 was put out to the volunteer group there was a mixture of positivity and nervousness. I am so glad we reached and broke it.
I am pretty sure that most people had a good time. The bands were great, with Francis and the Drakes and Kitty and the Lost Boys putting in some top performances. It was a shame the lead singer from The Delahays became ill during the evening but a massive thank you for commiting your time and helping so much with the preperation. Graham Barton ensured that the auction was very entertaining and he really drove up bids, the entertainment provided by Dominos Plymouth and What A Giggle was superb and very different, and there were also plenty of people mixing and really enjoying each others company. To be honest, I think there are some improvements to be made in terms of scheduling for next time. It would be dangerous to sit here and think that there is no room for improvement – there clearly is – and lessons will be learnt to ensure that the next Plymouth Twestival is not just fantastic, it is fantastically fantastic.
In terms of donations, Plymouth finished as the 3rd highest city in the UK and the 10th highest in the world. This is out of hundreds of cities that took part. This is another reason to feel proud; little old Plymouth made itself pretty big on the map.
The slogan for Twestival is ‘Social Media for Social Good’ and we have definitely used social media to make a difference. The money we raised will provide more than 100 children living in extreme poverty to access out of school learning for a year. At the recent Likeminds conference in Exeter, Jon Akwue delivered a keynote speech on how social media can change peoples lives – he was right and we have helped prove that. Without social media, our impact would not have been so large. Volunteers were found using social media, as were sponsors, the bands, and many of the guests. Social media really allowed us to spread our message and genuinly use ‘Social Media for Social Good’.
As one of the organisers, I feel very proud of what we’ve achieved.
If you were part of Plymouth Twestival 2010, you should feel very proud too. In fact, feel proud if you were involved with any of the Twestivals.
Feel free to share your Twestival experiences by commenting below.
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