As you know from my previous post, MSI was involved in a pretty amazing event this past weekend (May 15^th & 16^th) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Working closely with the staff of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM), MSI helped to put on a successful Celebration Event for the Center. 

During the months leading up to this momentous occasion and throughout the course of the weekend, MSI was charged with handling a large portion of the online aspects surrounding the event, including a live webcast, the creation of a CIHM blog, incorporation of event content into the Center’s website, online banners for sharing the CIHM’s event information and social media coordination between Facebook and Twitter. 

Much of this strategic social media plan was developed to support the team’s vision for an ongoing global discussion that started online and was then carried through to the audience at the Celebration event and beyond.  Reflecting the tone and message of the event and the Center’s mission, followers were asked to share their thoughts on how, together, we can create a healthier world by completing the statement, “Imagine…”   Through this dialogue, MSI helped the CIHM build buzz before, during and after the event.  In addition, the MSI team helped to successfully stream the live webcast of the exclusive event with His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama on Sunday afternoon to extend the reach of the day’s message throughout the world.

Since I was (so sadly) unable to attend the event myself, and since this was an incredible, multifaceted team effort, following are some insider insights from the MSI’ers who made this event such a success and watched it come to life last weekend.

Gaelen Bell

“There were a lot of moving parts to this weekend and the CIHM staff organized it perfectly, a truly well-oiled machine. After all, it’s not every day that your job description includes arranging transportation for the Dalai Lama. Also, on MSI’s end, we knew with everything else going on during this weekend (it was also commencement ceremonies for the university) that our implementation of the social media and interactive components had to be spot on in order to reach and dialogue the audience who would be excited and supportive of this weekend’s celebrations.”
 

Alana Waters-Piper
“With nearly 1,200 people in the theater, we were also able to share this momentous event with an additional 700 streams connected to a live webcast and untold others following the Tweets, re-tweets, and Facebook comments posted by our team and the CIHM staff. With a project this large in scope, there were many components with new challenges that required solutions on a daily basis.”

Shirley Paolinelli

“During Sunday’s event, audience members were each given a postcard to fill out, finishing the statement, ‘Imagine if…’ with their own thoughts on making our world a better place.  Their responses were collected by volunteers, including myself, and incorporated into the ongoing PowerPoint presentation on screen for all to read.  Particularly touching and meaningful to me were the ‘Imagine if…’ responses from the Wisconsin Children’s Choir, who performed at the beginning of the event.”

The archived video of the event’s dialogue between His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Dr. Richard J. Davidson, and Daniel Goleman may be found here. 
 

From left to right: Dr. Richard J. Davidson, Director of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds; His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama; Dave Weiner, President and CEO of MSI.