ILP Annual Dinner 2020 – A Virtual Venture!

ILP’s annual dinner event is quite the undertaking even in normal times. It is a sit-down dinner that caters to 400+ of our dear donors, well wishers and volunteers, besides new patrons who are interested in hearing our message. Enter a team of committed ILP volunteers who put in motion the proceedings that culminate in an inspiring event every year!

The planning phase starts about 3 months prior to the event. The first major hurdle is getting the date right due to all the year end festivities. The next hurdle is to come up with an engaging and entertaining yet novel form of presenting ILP’s message without overwhelming the audience. The team brainstorms for hours to get this right and every year tries to outdo the previous years’ formats. And every year yet again the bar is raised! The theme around each year’s event also spotlights the food that is presented at the dinner and the entertainment. One committed coordinator is identified who has everyone marching towards the event day on schedule. For every aspect of the event – invitations, meet & greet, entry info kiosks, stage decor, audio / video, food and tabling, entertainment, message communication, finance – separate task forces are formed and each team strives to put their area over the top by the target dates.

The excitement and camaraderie is palpable and our orchestra of wonderful volunteers come together to choreograph the event perfectly. They get together and hand create beautiful stage and kiosk decor, develop dinner brochures and presentation materials and rehearse message delivery. All their hard work culminates in an event that is a warm hug in gratitude to our ILP community. At the end of the event everyone goes away touched and recharged and committed towards the cause of educating thousands more children in India in the coming years. 

That’s how we did it until 2019! Now fast forward to 2020. The team was presented with the prospect of pulling off an event of similar proportions without meeting each other or the ILP community of donors, volunteers and well wishers. ILP was also in the hole as it was shut out of the usual fund-raising avenues this year. It was imperative for the team to come up with an event that was still compelling and engaging and the message succinct and effective so that it would leave a lasting impression of what ILP was about and convey warm gratitude to our well wishers. 

The team not only took up the challenge, but also succeeded beyond imagination in presenting a beautifully choreographed remote ILP annual dinner 2020 event in these COVID times. There were many roadblocks of course and all new – learning to host remote, recording, broadcasting. The team recreated every aspect of our prior annual dinners remotely and strove for as close to a personal touch as possible. The task forces were back in action for invitations, meet & greet, entry info kiosks, stage decor, audio / video, food and tabling, entertainment, message communication, finance – except everything had to be done remotely and online and needed to accommodate more messaging to compensate for the fact that the event was remote. The “foods” team went to extraordinary lengths to come up with a dinner menu that would lend well to transportation and being remote as well. 

The messaging team had the hardest job of all – of elegantly communicating the need to educate hundreds of thousands of children in India in hard to reach places and cities along with the overarching need for monetary support to the masses due to COVID restrictions as well.  And they nailed it perfectly! This year we reached close to 500 participants and raised funds well beyond our goals at the annual dinner! Team ILP is touched and our hearts well with gratitude. 

Our mission to educate the most vulnerable continues THANKS to you all – our wonderful ILP family of donors, volunteers and well wishers. We wish you all better times in 2021! Stay safe!