Summary | Media Coverage | Switch to Online |
This was the 3rd annual "You Are Not Alone" (YANA) event that I've led and organized.
Click here to read a pre-event blog post about the event
It was BY FAR the most impactful of the three! And for that I am truly grateful.
YANA was honestly one of my 2020 highlights...I really enjoyed it!
YANA summary - Saturday Dec 19, 2020 from 8am to 9:15pm MT
- 4 classes/experiences
- 30+ speakers from 6 countries...a truly global event
- 1 acoustic concert
- all the classes, experiences, speakers and acoustic concert were live streamed via Zoom to the YANA Facebook event page
- nearly $2100 in draw prizes
Media coverage
Since 2015, Rob Murray at MountainFM has interviewed me for every mental health awareness event that I've led and organized. His consistent support of both me and these events means SO much! Click here to listen to him interviewing me about YANA.
Switch to 100% online
A month before this event, I had intended to make this event a drop-in style in person event. As it was the previous two years. A kind friend of mine offered me use of their company's space for YANA in an ideal location. Once the pandemic numbers started spiking in this area, I decided to shift the event to 100% online.
So many people saying yes
Once I determined that YANA would be 100% online, I was a little bummed out and disappointed. Then I had a brainwave...I could invite family and friends to be involved with the event virtually. Perhaps with some of them from other countries! I started reaching out to various family and friends to see if they'd like to speak, teach a class, lead an experience, or perform an acoustic concert. I had guessed that maybe 20% of the people I messaged would be available and interested in taking part in YANA live. To my surprise, I kept getting people saying yes! I'm guessing that over 80% of the family and friends who I contacted said yes.
Event time extended
Because of so many people saying yes, I extended the event time. Originally it was from 10am-6pm MT. This changed to 8am-9:15pm MT. I was very happy and grateful that so many people expressed an interest to be involved!
Draw prizes
One of my friends who had agreed to speak live during YANA had to back out. Plans change and things come up. It's all good. She kindly offered a very generous draw prize! Then two other local companies reached out to me and did likewise. Once I confirmed speakers and people leading classes/experiences, I asked if any of them would like to donate a draw prize. I'm humbled to say that we ended up with nearly $2100 in draw prizes!
A HUGE THANK YOU to these generous local and non-local companies for donating draw prizes: Banff Wellness Retreat, Banff Domino's Pizza, Frankie D's Donuts (Canmore, AB), Tiaho (Banff, AB), Suzanne Culberg (Sydney, Australia), WalkNWisdom (Calgary, AB), Dan Safkow (Laguna Beach, USA), Trish Tutton (Banff, AB), All Thrive (Calgary, AB), Trauma Sensitive Yoga West (Canmore, AB), and Harmony In The Workplace (Legal, AB)
Custom t-shirt
Defending Awesome here in Banff has been creating custom logos, as well as t-shirts or a cap, for every mental health awareness event that I've led since 2015. I had the idea to have them create a custom shirt which I would wear during the entire YANA event. I came up with the wording and layout...and Defending Awesome made it happen. Check out the video below to see the shirt being made!
Speakers being emotional before their talk
I asked each person (or people) to enter my Zoom a few minutes before they went live. It was mainly meant to make sure that they knew the format, and also to see if they had any last minute questions. That being said...two different speakers were crying when we connected in my Zoom before their talk. Of course I asked them what was going on. And I assured them that they did not have to speak. I was both inspired and impressed that they both chose to still speak. Despite what they were going through 🙂
Inspired by people being so real
As I was listening to the different speakers, teachers and presenters, it was inspiring how real they were. For some of them it was the first time that they had shared so honestly in public before. Which was way outside of some of their comfort zones! It truly means a lot to me that everyone involved with YANA was so honest about their experiences with depression.
Learning for me!
During the talks, classes and experiences I learned many things - about personal experiences with depression that my family and friends had (some of which I didn't know of before), new tools and strategies for managing my mental health, and ways to enhance my self care. There was at least one nugget that I received from each person who participated in YANA. And for that I am truly grateful.
Tech issues
Technology mishaps are out of our control. Unfortunately during the YANA event I had some major ones. Shortly after my first talk at 8am, a few people messaged me to make me aware that they could not see the live video. To me this made no sense since the YANA Facebook event page was public! I looked into the Facebook event page settings and everything looked ok. I let it go since there was nothing I could do about it. After a few more speakers, I had others messaging me saying that they were really enjoying it. At least some people were able to watch live!
In the mid to late afternoon, different people messaged me to say that they we no longer able to watch the videos live. I have no idea why this happened! I made the decision starting at 6:45pm to start streaming all the videos from my Zoom to my personal Facebook page.
I found out after the event that unfortunately from 3pm on during YANA, nobody except me was able to watch any of the videos live. And sadly those live videos were not able to be processed on Facebook. I have no idea why for either of those issues!?
VIP acoustic concert and private yoga nidra class
Because of the aforementioned tech issues I had two WONDERFUL experiences all to myself! The first was a 30 minute VIP acoustic concert that my friend Andrew Staygold did. It was nice to sit back, relax and enjoy his show! After his concert, my friend Dr Monika Herwig led a Yoga Nidra experience for self love and healing. It felt so good to be able to slow my body down and reap the relaxation benefits from this experience. It had been a very full day for me!
Managing my energy during the event
Despite YANA being a very full for me, I am happy and grateful to have stayed energized the entire time. During breaks I hydrated well, ate healthy snacks, and most times also did some energy work. In my case that was entraining with Universal Sphere®.
Feedback from others
During and after YANA, I was fortunate to receive very positive feedback from a wide variety of people. It was received from people involved in the event as speakers/teachers, companies who donated draw prizes, from family and friends watching part of the event online, and also from people watching that I don't know.
Lots of organizing
As more people said yes to being involved before the event, it became apparent that it would be a good amount of my personal time and energy spent on communications and logistics. I had a feeling it would be like this...however did not fully know to what extent this until it happened! That being said, I would happily lead and organize a similar online event again!
What I'd do differently next time
Lots of lessons from my first ever multi-faceted all day online event...next time I would:
1. Use a different online platform. Zoom live streaming to a Facebook event page ended up being problematic.
2. Record every speaker/class/experience/concert on my computer. In case the live stream does not get processed.
3. Have more time between each speaker. For chunks of the day there were 5 minutes in between speakers...which was not enough and made me at times too concerned with timelines.
4. Organize the event further ahead of time to potentially spread the word more.
5. Reach out to more media.
Would I do this event again?
Yes! Keep an eye peeled in early November for an announcement about the upcoming 4th annual "You Are Not Alone" in December.
Videos
Despite the tech issues mentioned above, I was still able to upload 20 live videos from the event, and one pre-recorded video! Some of the speakers whose videos were not processed by Facebook will be redoing them with me this week. Those videos will be uploaded and put into this recap blog post.
All 21 videos related to the 2020 You Are Not Alone event appear below. Consider sharing any video with someone you care about who may benefit and/or be inspired by it!
Scott Walker - Welcome and Lift Me Up tool