Priorities! Priorities! Priorities!

Full transparency, I sung the title of the post to the tune of Kendrick Lamar - Loyalty ft. Rihanna. Yep. It just seemed right.

And you know what else seems right? Figuring out what about your celebrations and events right now are the MOST essential elements to have. The fact is, with remote every thing right now, we can’t do it all, have it all or quite frankly, predict how it all will shake out. So, that said—what is truly important and what is just a really nice to have?

The swiftness at which the pandemic has changed the way we operate was been difficult—for some of us, events are our livelihood and we’ve had to drastically pivot to figure out how to deliver and meet expectations. When we do our planning for events, we always consider purpose. Why are we throwing this party, hosting this fundraiser, celebrating this moment? It can be argued that those moments are meant to bring about a feeling of closeness, intimacy—togetherness. The challenge we all are feeling with the pandemic is that our preconceived ideas of what togetherness means is being challenged radically.

As we figure out how to adapt, how to think differently about gatherings and celebrations, this is the time to really assess what elements of our events are going to serve the purpose of fostering the feelings of togetherness—likely it won’t be the decor, the ambient lighting or the grab bags the but rather the connection you feel to others when you have the opportunity to truly be engaged. So as you think about what it means to have a remote celebration, think about prioritizing the small special moments of connections (regardless of whether they are in person or virtual) because those will be where the real feelings of togetherness blossom.