Stronger Together
To support the MICE ecosystem, Expo AV-INSYNC managing director, Gerard Rodrigues, staged a virtual concert to raise funds for freelance professionals affected by Covid-19 .
Gerard Rodrigues, Managing Director, Expo AV-Insync
At the start of the pandemic, as events were cancelled or postponed, we recognised that our valued freelancers were in a very bad financial situation. Quickly, we discovered that many of them are either sole income earners or have other family members that rely on them as their only source of income. We knew we needed to act.
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Together with my client, The Bandwidth, a group of professional bankers/ lawyers who are also professional musicians (and host an annual concert to raise funds for underprivileged children in Singapore) we created web-based concert during Singapore’s Circuit Breaker period to help raise funds for our industry peers.
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Dedicated to the theme ‘Apart yet Together’, the concert featured online registration and payment gateways and funds were properly dispersed via local charity, Ray of Hope.
The Bandwidth — Apart Yet Together web concert was launched in May with a 1.5 hour music segment that included live interviews with the band members to explain the purpose behind this strong initiative, as well as the importance of freelance professionals in the MICE industry.
We managed to attract 540 online viewers, most of whom are loyal fans of the band, and we proudly raised more than S$61,000 over a two-week period.
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To date, we've helped more than 30 freelancers continue their daily lives without the added strain and worry of being able to cope day-to-day. Prior to this, many of them were facing issues around securing part-time work, had trouble qualifying for certain government grants, or simply struggled to put food on the table for their families.
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The Bandwidth — Apart Yet Together concert was a wonderful group effort, especially since freelancers are the backbone of our events.
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Like many of our partners, Expo AV-INSYNC had to reinvent the wheel during Covid-19 and we successfully launched our very own live streaming platform for events and conferences, Zodiac Live. We had to quickly go through internal testing and beta testing to ensure that it was smooth and seamless. However, nothing beats the face-to-face interactions and meetings.
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SACEOS is the trade association for MICE and Events in Singapore
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