A “Do-Good” Friday Event Focus with Liz Glover Wilson

Non-profit organizations are always searching for help and support from their local communities. This week’s Event Focus Friday interview comes from Liz Glover Wilson, who founded Elizabeth Rose Consulting, LLC in 2003. The company’s mission is to support non-profits in achieving their goals to have a positive impact on our communities by managing special events, volunteer coordination and fundraising. They have successfully produced events for dozens of organizations who are truly making a difference in our society and for our environment.

Since I was a child, charity work was always a big part of my life. Over the course of my career, which was primarily as Corporate Events Planner, I found myself always drawn to fundraising events and the environment. After nearly 14 years, it felt natural to take the leap and bring all I learned along the way to the fundraising world. Now my boutique company brings a blend of event and fundraising services to support non-profit organizations. We support anywhere from 4 to eight clients annually.

Headshots Make a Difference

We’ve long known the impact professional headshots can make to enhance a company’s image, but we recently found out that great headshots can also make a big difference to a not-for-profit organization, too.  In this case, the organization was the International Special Events Society (ISES) and the occasion was the Biz Bash Expo.

At this year’s Biz Bash Expo, we partnered with ISES to ramp up membership recruitment at their booth.  Every year at the Expo, ISES hosts a booth where they offer information and on-the-spot membership sign-up.  Typically, people have taken the information and deferred the membership application.  This year, ISES wanted to encourage memberships at the Expo by offering a free headshot to those who signed up, complete with professional make-up.

The membership drive was a huge success!   ISES garnered 15 new memberships at the Biz Bash Expo, a record for the New York Chapter and perhaps, they think, for the entire organization.  Seems on-the-spot headshots were the perfect incentive. Read the rest of this entry »

How to Shoot a President…With a Camera, That Is!

Yes, that’s me standing next to George W, and not the one you see in Madam Tussaud’s – although I’ll admit it’s hard to tell.

Last week we had the pleasure of working on the annual fundraising event for the Jewish Enrichment Center (JEC), along with the amazing folks at Global Events, Gotham Hall, Bentley Meeker and Foremost Caterers – plus the former president’s staff and Secret Service detail.

These grip-and-grin photos don’t just happen spontaneously; they are fully staged, with plenty of pre-planning.  This was by far our most carefully produced step and repeat session.  Happily, all the advance work paid off, because the results are spectacular.  We were able to take 150 images of the President with the VIP supporters of the JEC.  After the portrait session with President Bush, the photos were printed onsite and placed into engraved silver frames for the special guests to take home after the program.

What made this photo session unusual for us was the black curtain blocking all the guests from the portrait station, so no one saw President Bush until their turn for the photo.  There was also a Disneyland-worthy line that snaked around as people waited for their private time with the former president.  These parameters were arranged through Bush’s secretary of special projects.  She had the final word on where the president would stand, how big the line needed to be and how to quickly distribute the prints. Read the rest of this entry »

Tickled Pink Again This Year

Every year we are pleased to be a part of the Tickled Pink fundraiser, which is organized and chaired by teens in their fight against breast cancer.  The event has grown significantly since our first involvement three years ago.  It was started by a dear friend and past client Iris Dankner, with her daughter Niki, after Iris survived her ordeal with the disease.

Together, Iris and Niki created a unique opportunity for teens to learn about fundraising in general, while also supporting a cause they believe in.  The gala evening that Niki and the teens produce helps build awareness and celebrates life.  As the event has progressed over the years, it is now being overseen by The Susan G. Koman Center for a Cure, with the Dankners’ ongoing assistance and support.   Read the rest of this entry »

Event Photography with a Mission: When Cause and Cachet Come Together

5^th Avenue Digital provides event photography for many organizations that support numerous worthy causes, but few have the high wattage cachet of the International Crisis Group .  The Crisis Group is now generally recognized as the world’s leading independent, non-partisan source of analysis and advice to governments and intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations, on the prevention and resolution of deadly conflict.

Crisis Group was founded in 1995 to act as the world’s eyes and ears for impending conflicts, with a highly influential board that mobilizes effective action from the world’s policymakers.  Their work is applauded and supported by former President Bill Clinton and other influencers from international political and media arenas, who were on hand to commemorate Crisis Group at their annual gala.   5^th Avenue Digital provided general photography coverage and step-and-repeat photos for the event, held at The Pierre.

With Clinton and George Soros among the political bigwigs, the gala also was attended by Robert Redford, Charlize Theron and other Hollywood luminaries, all lending their star power to the cause.  In the many years we’ve been providing photography for events of all types and sizes, we’ve seen and photographed numerous celebrities.  Few have the charisma that draws attention like Bill Clinton.  He’s the star satellite of any event.

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Maximize Your Event Photos for Future PR and Marketing Needs

We often talk to event planners who want quality photography for their events, but have trouble justifying the expense to their client or board.  Instead of investing in a professional photographer, they assume that assigning an associate to point-and-shoot will give them decent photos and save them money.  In some cases, this might be true.  But many planners haven’t recognized that professional event photos can serve more than one purpose, and can actually save the client money in the long run.

This point was proven yet again with an event we photographed recently for the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR).   Their savvy Director of Marketing and Communications, Erin Chen, called me about photography for their event at the New York Hilton, saying she wanted more than the typical “stand and smile” photos they usually get.  She was looking for artistic, emotionally evocative images they’d be able to use for marketing.

Erin explained that they’d wanted to use last year’s event photos on their website and in their printed materials, but the photos they’d gotten “were just too boring.”  She was looking for something more: shots of the room décor and guests engaging with each other, but incorporating interesting angles, close-ups of faces and expressions. Read the rest of this entry »

The Best of 2009 Photo Gallery

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Tickled Pink! reaches out to Teenage Girls – Breast Cancer Awareness and Funds

Click Here for pictures from Tickled Pink

Tickled Pink!, a benefit for the Greater NYC Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure aimed primarily toward teenage girls and their mothers, was held on April 3, 2009 at the Diane von Furstenburg Studio. Read the rest of this entry »