Celebrations play a vital role in promoting positivity and creating social bonds. They contribute to the richness of human experiences and help build a sense of meaning and connection in our lives.

CELEBRATE EARLY

At Make a Mark, we never want to wait until the projects are complete to celebrate. Publicly congratulating the accepted nonprofits and makers (creatives) is always a beautiful celebration of the local community. We do this by sending emails, but also by announcing the chosen nonprofits on our website and in a blog post. After this, we send a press release to local media outlets.

After a few years of events, we decided to host a Kick Off Party. It is an event for all the makers, nonprofits, as well as sponsors and community members. This is an opportunity for us to come together as a community and celebrate one another. In our Chattanooga location, a brewery donated a space for two hours in the evening with beer and snacks. We formally introduced the nonprofits in the middle of the evening, but the rest of the time was unstructured to allow people to get to know one another. Simple, affordable, and a nice thank you to all.

CELEBRATE OFTEN

Finally, at the end of the make-a-thon, we all gather together for Drinks + Demos, as mentioned in previous lessons. This is the time of the day to celebrate and showcase the amazing nonprofits and the tremendous projects. We wanted this to feel communal, not like a pitch competition. This is also the time to give a heartfelt thank you and share our appreciation and joy, often ending in tears.

However, with many moving parts, demos were not perfect at first. We learned a few techniques that have helped us along the way. We've found that shared slides, like Google Slides, make the process seamless so time is not spent waiting for people to swap out their computers and plug them into a projector. Demos are usually about five minutes per team to ensure that we can showcase everyone promptly.

An hour or two before demos, organizers create a shared presentation in Google Slides where teams can add a few slides showcasing their work and then make rounds, coaching the teams through ideas for their slides. We love having the makers tell us about their nonprofit and show us the process and iterations before unveiling the final product. Before Drinks + Demos begins we take a few minutes to lock down the shared slides and reorder the teams so that the evening would flow intentionally. We like to put the strongest projects at the beginning and the end.

Demos are led by a vibrant emcee who can engage the crowd between presentations, but along the way we realized that this often needs to be an organizer, someone the makers and nonprofits have already bonded with. This part of the evening is always informal, jovial, and emotionally moving. Drinks + Demos is always about community and leaving everyone with the feeling that they are part of a new family.