When COVID-19 hit, the events industry around the world grounded to a halt. Hundreds of awards nights, corporate events, and celebrations were cancelled or postponed indefinitely. Some of these events serve an invaluable purpose in recognising the achievements of outstanding people, which is an important part of career progression, employee satisfaction and culture building. Not to mention they're a chance to get dressed up all fancy and party in a big room with your colleagues and community!
One of the events affected by COVID-19 was the Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards, and if there was ever a time to recognise and congratulate our amazing essential health care workers, 2020 was the year to do it. So with cancelling the awards out of the question, we worked with NSW Health to design a Digital Event solution that adhered to all COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions and took the party online!
THE GOAL:
The NSW Health Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards is an important annual event that acknowledges the significant skill, passion and valued contributions of nurses and midwives from across NSW Health.
In 2020, NSW Health needed a solution that would allow Nurses and Midwifes to be celebrated in a Covid-safe capacity, and so we worked with them to create a Digital Event which would be enjoyed in an online format by their community and the public.
The content needed, included:
interview content with the 24 award nominees, located around NSW, and captured in a Covid-safe way, and kept uniform in order to maintain high-quality content throughout the entire event
winners’ acceptance speeches from the winners across the 7 award categories, captured in-advance and with excitable energy, in a Covid-safe way
concept development and production of additional video content to piece into the show in-between category announcements
additional graphics and digital assets to tie each segment of the event together
a series of social media assets ready to release weekly in the lead-up to the event
expertise and guidance in directing each nominee on camera, helping them to feel safe, comfortable and confident
a team experienced in capturing sensitive story content, due to the nature of some of the work of the award nominees
THE DELIVERABLES:
A complex series of interview packages for 24 finalists + 8 winners
Supporting social media promotional content of each finalist + winners package
3 x entertaining “interlude” videos
Content to compliment the Awards credits
A complex package of graphics, stings, titles and breakers, including animation
THE PROJECT:
We knew the solution for the 2020 NSW Health Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards had to be something pre-recorded where all the organisation and logistics was done prior to the event date, and with a number of contingency options, should there be a sweeping second-wave of Covid cases across NSW. We wanted the final event to be released live, so that the nursing and midwifery community could enjoy the award announcements together, and so that we could maintain the anticipation and excitement in the lead-up to the event, as there has been in other years. By pre-producing the entire event, it could be live streamed simply and seamlessly at the set date and time of the original awards night.
To successfully transfer the event to the digital space, we decided to really focus on what makes an awards night special and we kept coming back to the people. It's all about celebrating and applauding the efforts and commitment of regular people doing outstanding work. So instead of the few seconds of recognition an award winner gets when walking across a stage to collect an award, we opted for in-depth interviews with every finalist and asked them to share their story. The result was an incredibly moving, candid and authentic peek into the lives of our nurses and midwives - giving us even more of an understanding of why they deserve to be celebrated.
This was no mean feat, with over 24 finalists needing to be interviewed in 17 different locations across NSW, from Ballina to Wagga Wagga, and everything in between. Not to mention the Covid restrictions on travelling our team to each region. And added to that, we had the most humble interviewees we've ever had the pleasure of filming. In fact, there wasn't one nurse or midwife who was looking forward to having to talk about themselves! We took the time and care to ensure everyone felt comfortable and as relaxed as possible before arriving on set. With only one team member allowed in each health district out of Sydney, we created a remote interview set-up from Sydney, with our videographer travelling to each location for filming. This way we could keep everyone safe, whilst not having to compromise the quality of the content in any way.
With the incredibly humble nature of the finalists, and given the sensitivity of some of the stories they had to tell, we took time and care to ensure everyone felt comfortable and as relaxed as possible before arriving on set. We utilised our unique and advanced on-camera interviewing technique to ensure each interviewee was comfortable, open and confident.
Finally, we conceptualised two uplifting (and super cute!) videos featuring the wonderful students of The McDonald College, to piece into the show as additional entertainment.
THE OUTCOME:
The finished product is an entire awards show, running just over an hour, and made up of short interviews from NSW Health Executives, candid and moving finalist interviews, award winners reactions and speeches, sponsor collateral, and all branded digital assets to bring all of the content together!
All that was left to do was hit 'play' on the big day. And best of all, NSW health were able to release sneak peeks of the content across their social platforms in the lead-up to the event, to build anticipation and excitement. Check out the full Digital Event awards video here:
Here’s what our client had to say:
“We engaged Keyy Productions to create video packages featuring the finalists in the 2020 Excellence in Nursing & Midwifery Awards. We needed the videos to be warm, celebratory and genuine and we needed them to look beautiful with high production values. In addition to the finalists and winners video packages, we briefed Keyy to deliver three additional videos that were pure entertainment, to provide some lighter moments for the Awards show. They created three videos that absolutely delighted those watching the show. These additional videos ended up being quite a highlight of the Show.
The Awards show was streamed as-live around NSW and the feedback from those who tuned in was hugely congratulatory. Everyone was deeply impressed with the quality of the show. Previously, the Awards had always been a live event in Sydney (and not streamed at all), but based on the success of the 2020 Awards, we will continue to produce an as-live streamed Awards Show each year.
Keyy created beautiful videos that used music and a highly stylised format that showcased NSW nurses and midwives perfectly. COVID restrictions created some anxiety as to how we would be able to achieve the results we needed, but Keyy developed a production plan that worked within the limitations but without them impacting the finished product. The timeline for production was tight, but Keyy delivered to deadline.
The project was complex and logistically challenging. It also involved creating multiple individual packages that needed to fit into the Awards show seamlessly. Every step of the way I was confident in the work Keyy were doing, creatively and logistically. Their communication was faultless and their professionalism on the road interacting with nurses, midwives and their superiors, was impressive. The feedback we got from the nurses and midwives being interviewed by Keyy was overwhelmingly positive. They made their subjects feel safe and at ease in front of the camera."
The best news, is that a digital event lasts forever, so the entire Nursing and Midwifery community can share the event with anyone they choose, and NSW Health can continue to repurpose the footage for years to come, serving a variety of marketing and HR purposes.
We loved being able to help celebrate the Nurses and Midwives at a digital version of the 2020 Excellence Awards and can't wait to do it again this year!
Contact us to enquire about creating a Digital Event for your next awards night or company celebration!
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