Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 1
Speakers:
Dan & Amanda
Don Distasio & Kris Kim
Mark Payne
Kate Hinds Morrison, Meaghan Neary
Powerpoint: Ona
Prizes: none
5:25pm VOG: Our program will begin in 5 minutes.
6:30pm Welcome (Dan and Amanda)
Music plays for about 30 seconds.
All Lights DOWN
Play: Avatar of Dan and Amanda begins to play, Dan and Amanda interrupt
the avatar as they come onstage.
Stage Lights UP, House Lights DOWN
DAN: Welcome to the 2011 Relay For Life Eastern Divisional Summit. I am
Dan Wald and this is Amanda Gordon.
This year, we’re talking about Relay For Life: The First Social Network. While
we appreciate the welcome from our digital alter-egos, we thought it might
be slightly less impactful to have them lead the summit. And that’s exactly the
point. Instead of computers, data, bits and bytes, Relay For Life is a network
built of friends, family, passion, and hope. That is a network that can never
go down or freeze on you.
This weekend is focused in part on building your network, but that’s just the
beginning. This summit is about strengthening our Relay network, taking an
in-depth look at how we built it, why it has been such a critical piece to our
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success in this global movement, and how we can best leverage this
incredible connection of people to save more lives even faster.
AMANDA: Implementation is the key to everything we're rolling out and
discussing this weekend – after the Summit we will post all materials to Relay
Central and each region will be given flash drives to hand out to their
attendees a few weeks after the conference. It will contain all the videos,
scripts, and handouts from this weekend’s Summit. We want you to take this
information back to your own region and talk to them about building
relationships and networking the Relay way.
DAN: And while the key take away of this weekend will be about networking
and building relationships face-to-face, we don’t want you to forget about all
the great benefits to technology. When working with committees, team
captains, volunteers and staff, we encourage you to be high touch and high
tech. If you are active on twitter and have your own account, we hope you
will follow us @EasternRocks and tweet in during the summit with hashtag
#easternrocks.
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AMANDA: Thanks Dan! You know, encouraging people to use their existing
accounts to tweet about their own Relays is a great way to share information
with all their followers as well. Now we also have another great technology
tool called polleverywhere.com which will allows us to poll our audience on
different topics relating to Relay, specifically the 5D’s. Let’s do a quick
practice now.
DISPLAY POLLEVERYWHERE PPT – SLIDE ONE
So let’s poll the audience Dan and see which region is the best in Eastern! All
you have to do is text your answer to 22333. We will be posting some
questions during breakfast and lunch so we’re asking you to please
participate!
House lights UP
Music plays during roll call
DAN: Now that we’ve started a little rivalry going with the regions, let’s see
who we have with us today…where is the Western NY Region? Lakes NY
Region? Southern NY? Central NY? Hudson Valley? Westchester? Bronx?
Manhattan? Nassau? Suffolk? Queens? Brooklyn? Northern NJ?
Northwestern NJ? Metro NJ? Central NJ? South Jersey? Jersey Shore? Staten
Island? Asian Initiative? And our host region Capital NY!!!!
House lights DOWN
Music ends
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6:35pm Welcome (Don and Kris)
AMANDA: Now to kick off our Eastern Division Summit, please welcome to
the stage, Don Distasio & Kris Kim, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Operating
Officer for the Eastern Division!
Brief Music intro
Don and Kris Speak
6:45pm State of Eastern Division (Dan, Mark Payne)
DAN: Thank you Don & Kris! And now, to tell us a little of what’s been
happening in the ‘Eastern’ portion of our Relay Network - please welcome
Mark Payne, VP of the Eastern Division Relay For Life Business Unit.
Brief music intro
Mark Payne :
1. Relay This Way!
I wanted to first thank the Relay For Life staff and volunteers that, once
again, showed growth in Relay For Life income for the Eastern Division!
As we continue to work to integrate BP’s and key strategies to enhance
our Relay For Life events – we hope you will find this weekend
rewarding! So before we look forward, let looks back briefly at the 2011
season.
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2. Here is a photo from Colts Neck, NJ – here is a cake this man designed
for the Survivor’s reception! It has been a privilege to experience the
many events across the division this year. You can see such pride and
tradition demonstrated in these photos – putting their own spin on how
to Relay!
3. For many, it’s the one time a year- teams gather and mark Relay For
Life as something they can count on – bringing their network of friends
together once again.
4. And here’s “ Buddy” with Relayers in Hoboken, NJ- promoting Relay For
Life Nationwide through television show ‘Cake Boss’
5. and Delta Airlines held Relay For Life activities in Queens and also, in the
Metro Area -- our NYC
Hope Lodge raised over $40,000 at their Mini-Relay. So many Stories
and so many experiences this year- and we hope that you use this
weekend to share what makes your event special- and that you will
come away with some new ideas to impact growth in your hometown
Relay!
6. The goal of the Customer Satisfaction Survey continues to be to increase
retention of Participants and teams at Relay For Life through improving
the overall experience. Great News! EA is #1 in customer satisfaction
Nationwide. Well, tied, but we’ll take it.
There are two primary areas that EA stands to improve event quality:
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1. Event Quality and Program: Ceremonies and educating committees
on the purpose of games and activities at Relay
2. Committee Support: Ensuring Team Captains have the knowledge
and skills to manage their team
7. Our College Program had a banner year in 2011! Raising $2.7 million in
total, an increase of over $500,000! A few of our most seasoned college
events experienced double – digit growth in 2011! SYR, NYU, Cornell,
RPI, Hofstra and Montclair State to name a few.
The NEW Get the Fun, Get the Funds, Get the People slogan really
resonated with this audience. As many of you already know – the
primary tool used for fundraising is online-and it is not surprising to
announce that our online program had a 10% increase in 2011
Congratulations!
8. This year, We strongly recommended the use of the Team Fundraising
Club
Results were impressive: Of a total of 16,409 teams in EA, 5,140 of those
teams reached ($1,000 or higher)!
Here is a view of how the levels finished out the year!
With a strong emphasis on responding to customer feedback - We look
to both the Individual Fundraising and Team Fundraising Club as an
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integral part of our Program and continue to understand the importance
of recognizing those who participate in the Relay experience –
We need to continue to work consistently in our approach toward
recognition with our Increased online presence, our online milestone
badges, and incentives offerings ---All serve as visible signs of consistent
recognition.
9. All Star Slide
The 2011 class of the Relay All Star Club has 769 members each raising
$2,500 or more- totaling
$3,308,224 to date! Compared to last year, we grew by well over 100
members, by over $600,000!
The significance in the program speaks to the passion and commitment
of the members.
As you can see since its inception – the program continues to grow each
year in income and membership. Congratulation to our All Stars in the
audience!
10. Influencing Growth
In 2011, we surpassed an organizational milestone -- the cumulative net
income Nationwide since 1985 reached over $4 Billion! In EA, we
represent a smaller fraction of that total- but are eager to tap the
potential that is before us! Did you know the RFL in EA sits at 80 cents
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per capita, nationwide--- the average is $1.26. ---1 in every 89,209
people in the EA who participate. We would like to provide everyone
the opportunity to Relay right in their community. In some of portions of
New York and New Jersey, the potential in Relay’s historic ‘community’
core has only just begun to be tapped. In others, RFL will need to be
viewed as a series of portfolio segments responding to the level of
maturity of the program and the scope of market potential. We all
know that RFL is one of our most effective entrées into the organization.
We want to position you as a champion of Relay For Life expansion and
know that when we grow Relay For Life, we will all Save Lives Faster!
11. RAT Team Intro (up to you if you want to show the slide)
I would like to acknowledge the great work of our Relay Advisory and
Training Teams this year. The team has been very busy!! Let me pass the
microphone off to two key volunteer members of our leadership team..
Thank you all for coming- and enjoy the weekend!
Ona and Stephen speak about Advisory/Training Team Volunteer
Leadership Opportunities.
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General Session 1
7:00pm
All Lights Down
Video - Vision - Relay Story
Stage Lights Up
7:05pm Youth Movement (Amanda, Kate and Meaghan)
AMANDA: I’ve been Relaying for 10 years, and my world is all about
fundraising, ceremonies, survivors and caregivers, but watching that video
helps me get back to exactly what we’re doing here – saving lives faster.
As you heard in the State of Eastern, the youth movement is generating
excitement throughout the Relay world and the American Cancer Society. To
talk about an exciting new initiative to engage elementary and middle school
audiences, please welcome Eastern Division Advisory Team members:
Meaghan Neary and Kate Hinds Morrison.
Brief Music Intro
KATE: I’m Kate Hinds Morrison, Advisory Team Member and Relayer for 15
years in my community. But I’m not up here to talk about my experiences as
an Relayer - I’m here to talk about some really important people - people that
have the potential to grow our Relay Network beyond anything we could have
imagined - the youth of Relay.
MEAGHAN: I’m Meaghan Neary and unlike a lot of people in this room my
Relay experience started only a few years ago when I entered College. I went
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to Relay my freshmen year and was not very happy with how the event was
run, so I decided I needed to get involved. Over the past few years of working
with Relay on the collegiate level I have come to realize how important youth
are to Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society. People my age and
younger are our future, and we need to take the right steps to get them
involved.
Slide 1 - Kate
GS: Student Segment Overview
Slide 2 - Kate
Did you know?
There are 55.6 million students in public & private elementary and secondary
schools.
35 million kids in prekindergarten through 8th grade
14.8 million kids in grades 9 through 12
5.8 million students are expected to attend private schools
And there are 18.4 million students in 2 and 4 year colleges
Slide 3 - Meaghan
Currently Nationwide, we have:
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90 High School Relay For Life events
Approx 490 college Relay For Life events
And over 350,000 students on youth teams in our community events
What does make you all think? We have a ton of potential with our youth or
student market – we want to create lifelong volunteers!
We know it’s important not only to teach kids about giving back to their
community, but that we also have an opportunity to teach them about
healthy living and to give them the chance to fight back in their own way.
So with all this opportunity, where do we start?
Slide 4 - Meaghan
We decided to divide the student market into segments – elementary,
middle, high school and college. We then looked at what had our most
opportunity for growth.
Mini-Relays have been successful for many years, not only in elementary
schools, but in secondary schools, corporate campuses, business and senior
centers. Let’s give a hand for all the wonderful Mini-Relays that were put on
in Eastern Division!
Our goal is to support our community Relays and create lifelong volunteers!
We decided to evolve Mini-Relay for elementary and middle schools –
Slide 5 - Kate
Welcome Relay Recess and Relay Field Day!
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Relay Recess (RR) is targeted toward elementary school market, while Relay
Field Day (RFD) is for Middle Schools. These products provide the resources
to educate students and their parents, promote the prevention messages of
the American Cancer Society and raise more money for our Relay For Life
events.
Slide 6 - Kate
These products differ from a community Relay in that the school determines
the length of their participation in both the implementation of cancer
education activities and the event length.
The programs include some specific components –
Fundraising: Fundraisers can be ongoing or happen on the day of the event.
Classes are “teams” and raise money together and/or individuals can raise
funds themselves. There are MANY ways to fundraise!
Community Service, Leadership & Character Development: An opportunity to
get kids interested in philanthropy at a young age, uniting students, school
personnel, and parents with their larger community to create a world with
more birthdays
Another component is Cancer Education. Relay Recess provides classroom
activities that focus around nutrition, physical activity, sun safety and tobacco
prevention.
The school determines the number of days to hold the activities, and the
number of hours for the event
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They can be held at places such as:
Football or Practice Fields, Gyms, Playgrounds, Classrooms
It’s important to note that RR and RFD are not substitutes for a schools
involvement in a community Relay, but rather an additional way to involve
them with the American Cancer Society.
Slide 7 - Meaghan
Here's just one example of the new look and materials we'll have for Relay
Recess as it rolls out in October –
All Lights Down
Show video
Stage Lights Up
Slide 8 - Kate
Besides that great video, we’ll have another video especially for students and
their parents and other tools and resources to help you with the ask (and to
help schools host a successful RR event)!
●
Coordinator’s Kit and Teacher’s Kit: This is everything a school and
coordinator need to know to get started – from motivating the school,
starting/recruiting teams, sample schedules,
●
Classroom cancer education activities
●
Fundraising ideas
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●
General Session 1
Take home information for parents and kids focused on healthy living.
Websites: In Fall 2011, staff can request RR websites (RFD will be available in
Spring 2012). We have a huge opportunity to engage kids online, and we
know that kids can be superheros in the fight against cancer. We’ve come up
with some new and fun characters to help us launch Relay Recess
Slide 9 - Kate
Our cancer fighting superheroes !
Slides 10,11,12 - Meaghan
Here are a couple of screen shots of the site’s pages (advance through all
slides).
* Important notes on the websites: As you can see, these sites will look
different than the community sites. They also have many (additional) privacy
protections and there is minimal customization for the staff and Coordinator.
Slides 13 - Kate
We have a lot more coming your way to support our youth market. We are
developing life long engagement with ACS through our model. Relay Recess
to FD to HS to College to C2C to Community is our way to build our current
and future volunteer base, our donors and supporters, and even our staff as
many college Relayers are joining the Society as staff.
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We hope you are just as excited about all of the great things happening with
youth market, and we look forward to a great year! Thank you and look for
this information which will be posted on Relay Central!
Brief Music as they leave
7:20 Closing (Dan and Amanda)
DAN: As you can see, we have some exciting things going on in Eastern
Division. Later in the Summit you will hear more about what’s going on at
Relays around the country and around the world. Relay has truly become a
global movement and it’s because of people like you, spreading the word,
building relationships and networking face – to – face with other Relayers
that we can all save more lives faster!
AMANDA: We will now take a short break for 10 minutes, please stay tuned
for our Late Night Recognition Ceremony – On The Track. Regions
participating in “Relays Like This” should change into their Relay gear at this
time.
Music plays throughout the break until Stephen gives the signal to start
Recognition Ceremony
7:30 Recognition Ceremony Begins
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FRIDAY NIGHT (~ 8:30pm)
After Recognition Ceremony:
AMANDA: We thank you all for coming and spending your Friday night with
the Eastern Division Relay For Life! We hope you are all energized and
pumped up after that amazing recognition ceremony because we have some
amazing things planned for you tonight. Everyone is always asking for more
opportunities and time to network at these Summits so we are giving that
opportunity to you now!
First - if you didn’t get a chance earlier, stop by our Best Practices Expo!
Relays from around NY and NJ have brought some of their best practices to
life and are at the Expo to share them with you. Everyone who participates
gets a chance to enter in our raffle!
DAN: Second - everyone received a “Relay For Life” Wall Sheet in their
registration packets. We encourage everyone to go down to the Pearl Street
Ballroom and post on each other’s walls.
Third, for college and high school students beginning at 9pm there will be a
late night chat – you wont want to miss this.
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AMANDA: We also still have the survivor/caregiver tent still open so you can
make your special buttons, even if you don’t have a picture, please go down
and decorate a button. At the ACS CAN Tent you can help us celebrate ACS
CAN’s 10th anniversary by signing our “Celebrate with Action” banner that we
plan to have displayed proudly In Washington, DC during Lobby Days. The
more signatures we get, the more our elected officials will take notice. Also
you can create a “Chalk It Up To Research” Milestone. Tell us how research
has affected your life, and why our elected officials need to continue to vote
for funding. And most importantly, you will be able to sign up for ASC CAN.
The easiest way of letting your voice be heard.
DAN: And for a little bit of fun and entertainment we have our film crew
down there waiting to catch your Relay memories on camera. So take a seat
on the Relay Couch and you may see yourself on a screen in a General Session
near you! We also have a photo op area where regions can take group shots,
Oh and of course - to lure everyone down to the Pearl Street ballroom, there
will be some late night snacks available, so go network and have a good time!
AMANDA: Hey Dan, I really like all this great stuff we have going on! Speaking
of “liking things” we have a little “Relays Like This” competition going on
tonight too! I’d like all the regions participating in Relays Like This to send
their representative up to the stage now. Music Plays as they come up
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DAN: These Relayers have gone all out to show you their purple pride! Please
give them a round of applause! (read off regions that are participating)
Each of you were given two “likes” or votes. So we will ask these Relayers to
go outside the General Session room and you can “like this”(point) or “like
that”(point).
AMANDA: Thank you again and have a great night! We will see you
tomorrow morning for breakfast at 7am, there’s a lovely waffle bar waiting
for and your regions! This is also your regional planning time so check out
your room assignments. And our General Session 2 will begin promptly at
8am.
Music plays as people leave
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General Session 2
Speakers:
Dan & Amanda
Emily, Alexa, Joe
Ben Huggins
Marty Coelho
Powerpoint: Meaghan
Prizes: Ona
7:55am VOG: Please take your seats, General Session Two is about to begin.
Music plays as Dan and Amanda go to the stage.
8:00am Welcome (Amanda and Dan)
AMANDA: Good morning everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your evening and
are ready for your full day of networking! We’d first like to announce the
winner of our regional competition Relay “Likes” This. With over ____ likes,
the winner is….
Music brief
Ona gives winner their prize
DAN: Congrats ___ region! Every person in this room has a Relay network.
For some of you it may be just one person you traveled here with or bonded
with last night. For others it may be the ten or fifteen friends you met at last
year’s summit, for others it may be the people you work with on a daily basis.
One of our goals this weekend is to help you expand that network, to make
more Relay for Life connections in New York and New Jersey.
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General Session 2
AMANDA: Relay’s greatest advantage has always been the passion of its
volunteers and staff, but it’s when we can come together as a nation – as a
world – that’s how we really make an impact. This vision of saving lives faster
is what ties us together. One key point of this changing culture has been the
skyrocketing success of youth involvement in Relay. The fresh thinking and
unwavering passion of these young folks is truly inspiring. I’m proud to have
youth in my Relay Network, like Emily, Alex and Joe.
Music brief intro
8:02 Collegiate/Scout Team (Emily, Alex and Joe) – 10-15 mins
EMILY: (SLIDE 3) Did you know that one in every four Relayers is part of the
youth market?
(SLIDE 4) Or that the youth market generated a $2 MILLION increase in 2010?
A $2 million increase? Impressive, right? Can we have all of the students at
the Summit stand? They’re the reason for that increase.
(SLIDE 5) My name is Emily Tier, and I just graduated from Binghamton
University in the Southern NY Region.
(Others introduce themselves.)
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General Session 2
EMILY: (SLIDE 6) Together with elementary, middle, high school, and college
students, we form the youth market. This youth market has never existed in a
world without Relay For Life. I was born in 1989 – four years AFTER Dr. Gordy
Klatt first took the track. (I turn 22 in two weeks, and I’m one of the “old
people” in this group!) We may be young, but we’re determined that future
youth will exist in a world without the NEED for Relay For Life.
(SLIDE 7) I serve on the National Collegiate Advisory Team, a group of
volunteers that works to support the development of the Colleges Against
Cancer program and of collegiate Relay For Life events across the country. In
order to help the American Cancer Society gain a better understanding of the
continued growth and success of the youth market, we formed the National
Collegiate Scout Team.
Over the past two Relay seasons, the Scout Team traveled around the
country to 11 top-performing collegiate Relay For Life events and spoke with
staff partners, committee members, team captains, and participants, asking
them why they love the Relay For Life events on their campuses.
(SLIDE 8) Though all of these schools host all-around successful events, each
stands out for a different reason. Virginia Tech, for example, raises more than
any other collegiate event. In 2011 alone, the Hokies raised nearly $630,000!
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At Loyola University Maryland, over 40% of the campus participates in Relay,
while students at the University of Minnesota raise around $40,000 through
on-site fundraisers alone. Incredible, right? Overall, though, the events that
we visited provide a snapshot of the college market: we visited schools with
large and small enrollments, with urban and rural campuses, with strong
athletic programs, and with well-respected academic reputations. Some
events have been around for only two years, while others have been around
for a decade.
(SLIDE 9) Despite their differences, all of these Relays bring in the dollars, and
they’ve experienced sustained increases in their fundraising totals. These
events are models of the passion and drive found on campuses across the
nation, and our ultimate goal was to understand why these particular events
are so successful. We focused our research around three simple questions:
How do they get the people? How do they get the money? How do they get
the fun?
After the visits, the Scout Team members met in Orlando, Florida, to discuss
our experiences. After running through Downtown Disney in Relay t-shirts,
screaming about purple power, we poured over our notes and pictures, in an
attempt to learn the methods behind the Relay madness. We asked
ourselves, “What can other events - collegiate and community - take from
these high-achieving Relays?”
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JOE: Once the Scout Team answered this question, they shared their findings
with students, like Alexa and I, from across the country, at the National
Collegiate Leadership Summit in July.
(SLIDE 10) Creating a Culture
We learned that successful collegiate Relays all contain a common element:
these Relays are well-known, established events ingrained in the cultures of
their campuses. No two events looked the same. Virginia Tech brings on their
infamous Hokie pride, while Loyola University Maryland is a service-oriented
school that focuses on that aspect of Relay. Greek life is huge at the
University of Minnesota, and the committee capitalizes on that part of their
culture, organizing inter-house competitions to boost team, participant, and
fundraising numbers. The culture of the University of Georgia is deeply rooted
in the competition of their athletic conference, and they use this sense of
competition to drive their event planning and motivate their participants. The
American Cancer Society provides us with a great package in Relay For Life.
However, each of the schools visited by the Scout Teams has successfully
adapted the Relay formula to fit their campus cultures. Schools that organize
ceremonies and schedules to suit their students are achieving the greatest
impact.
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ALEXA: At these schools, Relay has become THE THING to do on campus.
Relay is a unique event that has the power to unite the most diverse
campuses in the fight against cancer. The Scout Team spoke to some inspired
and inspiring students during their visits, and they eloquently shared the
impact that Relay has had on them. A student at Loyola told us that Relay “is
one of the biggest events on campus; people are always talking about it and I
finally decided to join!” Another student reported that she participated
“because of the unique sense of unity it brought to the campus community.”
A student at Yale confessed that Relay “is one of the only university-wide
events that I attend,” while a student at Virginia Tech asserted that “this is
the most significant thing I have done in college—I feel apart of something
bigger.”
JOE: (SLIDE 11) The Relay Experience Personal interactions can bring the
campus together and make Relay a meaningful event for everyone, setting
Relay apart from the stigma of “just another community service event.”
These schools have set a precedent for personal recruitment by going doorto-door sharing their personal stories with prospective participants. People
experience an event, but are changed by a movement. This Relay movement
is motivating, inspiring and captivating. We all know this. By personalizing the
experience during the recruitment process, these schools are effectively
sharing this motivation, inspiration, and captivation with others. Through
this, the movement becomes part of the campus culture.
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ALEXA: The spirit of and for Relay on each of the campuses visited truly
enhanced the experience for all those involved. At each school, we found
fervor and impressive enthusiasm for Relay. What if all of your participants
exuded the enthusiasm in this room right now? This room holds some of the
most motivated volunteers from across the country, and the energy at these
collegiate Relays mirrored this enthusiasm! Some of these schools have
taken innovative steps to boost spirit. First and foremost, Relay on these
campuses is a year-round movement. There are events throughout the
school year to enhance mission and promote Relay For Life. They might host
“Save Your Balls” Dodgeball tournaments or hand out turkey sandwiches in
November for anyone who steps up to quit smoking COLD TURKEY. Some
schools might use a “Spirit Committee” to push the Relay message
throughout the year. The idea of the spirit committee was born at UGA and
many schools across the country, including half of the schools visted by the
Scout Teams, have now adopted the idea. This committee is formed by
enthusiastic Relayers who spread the Relay message at campus events yearround. They run through the stands at sporting events in their Relay gear,
host the kick-offs and rallies, and plan other fun events. Because of the
actions of this committee Relay is a prominent event at the forefront of
campus involvement.
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JOE: (SLIDE 12) Fundraising Challenges Campus committees are responsible
for coming up with some of the most creative and inspired committeesponsored fundraising challenges. Fundraising is the most important yet
most variable aspect of Relay. Many campuses find fundraising to be
intangible and a difficult goal to control. However, many committees,
including those at the scout schools, have taken fundraising success into their
own hands and created some amazing fundraisers to catalyze success.
ALEXA: One such fundraiser, founded at Virginia Tech, has spread across the
country. Relay Madness was modeled to capitalize on the competitive nature
of NCAA’s March Madness. Teams are bracketed and each week teams have
the opportunity to advance through the tournament by dominating in certain
weekly challenges. Some schools advance teams based on weekly
fundraising progress while other schools have designed different challenges
each week: most fundraising emails sent, most money raised online, most
Luminaria sold online, most money turned in at bank night, etc. At many
events, the final 2 to 4 teams go head to head with onsite fundraising at
Relay.
JOE: Another online challenge is $48 in 48. The committee hours challenges
participants to raise $48 in two days. This is great for mobilizing those $0
participants as it shows them just how easy online fundraising is while getting
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them halfway to the goal of $100. Campuses across the country have
adopted many variations of this, most notably $10 in 10 in which participants
try to raise $10 a day for 10 days to reach their $100. This is a perfect
fundraiser for Facebook because $10 is an easy and reasonable number for
people to donate… especially college students on a budget.
ALEXA: Finally, many schools have been capitalizing on their rivalries.
Collegiate Relays are spreading at a rapid pace and, with over 500 events,
your rival probably hosts a Relay. During March Madness, Syracuse released
a video to Georgetown whom they would be playing in the tournament
challenging that not only would they win the game, but they would also raise
the most money for Relay by the time the teams met on the court. Well,
Georgetown circulated the video to all the participants and countered by
creating and sending their own video accepting the challenge. This was a
fantastic example of schools working together to boost event fundraising for
both schools and ultimately for the American Cancer Society.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 2
EMILY: How do we know that these strategies are working? Check the
numbers.
●
(SLIDE 13) Over the past six years, the number of collegiate events
increased by 89%. In 2005, we had 275 events. In 2011, colleges around
the country hosted 520 Relays.
●
(SLIDE 14/15) During the same period, the average number of teams per
collegiate event increased by 54% and the average number of participants
increased by 49%.
●
(SLIDE 16) While we were creating events, developing teams, and
engaging participants, we also raised more dollars, increasing net income
by 103%, from about $11,625,000 to about $23,575,000.
Through our travels, we’ve learned that successful schools are able to
develop events that blend the ideals of theirs school with the ideals of Relay
to make Relay the “thing to do” on their campuses. We hope you’ll take bring
some of our findings to your Relay Networks! I sure did. I’m Emily, I’m a
student, I’m a (I’ll think of something creative by Friday), and I’m a Relayer.
I’m proud to have people who’ve Relayed in other countries in my Relay
Network, including Ben Huggins, Nationwide Relay For Life Advisory Team
Chair.
Music brief intro
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 2
8:17 International (Ben Huggins) – 10-15 minutes
All Lights Down
PLAY VIDEO – SA Relay Video
Stage Lights Up
BRING UP PRESENTATION – BEN WILL ADVANCE SLIDES
Music brief intro
8:30 Relay The Brand (Marty Coelho) – 30 mins
AMANDA: Thank you Marty for that wonderful presentation. I think
everyone is now ready for a great day of learning how we can make our
Relays the best experience ever. Before we let you go for your breakout
sessions let’s take a moment to remember why we’re here this weekend. The
American Cancer Society decided they wanted to make a long term
investment in you by inviting you to this Summit. And we hope that you will
be able to take what you learn back to your community and help us save
more lives faster. Take a moment throughout the day to think about how
you can take what you learn here and implement it at your own event. Your
breakout schedules are on the back of your nametags, feel free to talk to any
committee member with any questions or concerns you might have!
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 2
DAN: As you just saw the Relay network is no small deal. Everyone in this
room is connected in some way and we hope that over the course of the day
you will be able to expand your network. Take the time out to sit next to
someone you might not already know, giving yourself the opportunity to add
another person to your Relay network. I’m Dan Wald, I’m a caregiver, I’m a
volunteer, and I’m a Relayer. I am honored to have all of you incredible
people in my Relay Network.
For our next gen session: Tweet us about how you incorporate advocacy
into your Relays! Use #easternrocks
Music as people leave
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 3
Speakers:
Amy Delia
Dr. Katt
Ona, Sherry, Jo
Powerpoint: Amanda
Prizes: Kate Hinds Morrison
12:44pm VOG- Please take your seats General Session 3 is about to begin.
12:45pm Researcher (Amy, Dr. Katt)
Amy Delia- I am truly honored to be standing here this afternoon and tasked
with introducing a very special guest.
Thanks in large part to the growth of Relay – and the work of all of you – since
Dr Klatt took to the track back in 1985, the American Cancer Society has a
broad and successful cancer research program.
We are leading the way in advanced and innovative approaches to solving the
cancer burden. Since 1946 the Society has invested $3.6 billion in research.
We fund researchers early in their careers, giving a start to the careers of
brilliant young scientists with tremendous ideas and hopes but often not a lot
of opportunities to break into the cancer funding arena.
But why does it matter that we support all of these early investigators?
Our funding is critical to maintain the pipeline of innovative young scientist
working in cancer research – they will be the ones to find the cures to
pancreatic and brain cancer in the future.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 3
You might ask… Has this been successful? Across those 60 years of support
our grantees have included 44 who have gone on to win a Nobel Prize in
recognition of their impact on science
And if you look at the roster of Directors of NCI Cancer Centers around the
country, you find that ¾ of them are run by former ACS grantees meaning our
funding of young scientists and physicians impacts thousands of patients
across the country every day.
Our researchers have played a role in every major cancer breakthrough –
including developing screening tests like mammography and the Pap test, and
launching new drugs like Tamoxifen.
The American Cancer Society is currently funding 95 grants at institutions in
NY and NJ totaling over $51.7 million dollars.
That is a HUGE investment in the future of cancer research and is thanks in
large part to every single person here today!
Very honored to introduce one of those grantees, Dr William Katt from
Cornell University!
Dr Katt has a $150,000 grant to examine how a small molecule inhibits cancer
growth. He and his team are looking at how to improve various properties
associated with the molecule that could turn it into a drug that would be a
great benefit to cancer patients.
Music brief intro
Dr Katt Speaks (15-20mins)
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 3
1:05pm ACS CAN (Ona, Sherry)
VOG: Please welcome, Eastern Division Relay For Life Advisory Team
member, Ona Sherman.
Music brief intro
Ona-Thank you Dr Katt for sharing with us your amazing research. My name
is Ona Sherman and I am the Regional Advisory Team’s Fight Back/ Advocacy
team leader. The favorite part of my position is helping people see how being
a part of the grassroots “network” we call ACS CAN, can help insure our ability
to fund researchers such as Dr Katt. I would like to introduce Sherry Tomasky
(insert actual title) She is a very important part of my Relay network.
Music brief intro
Sherry- (presenting ppt)
Sherry- introduces Jo Romano -ACSCAN volunteer about how she recruited
over 60 CAN members.
Music brief intro
Sherry and Ona- Celebrate CAN Club events and recruit CAN members (fill out
forms) and the importance of recruiting advocacy chairs
Sherry: Smoke Free College Campus Initiative
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 3
Dan: Thank you so much, you will now be going to your breakout, but first we
would like to pull some winners for the Expo Raffle and read off some tweets!
READ SOME TWEETS ON ADVOCACY
EXPO RAFFLE PRIZE
For our next general session, tweet to us about what caregiver activities you
incorporate at your Relays. Use #easternrocks
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
Speakers:
Dan & Amanda
Lenny
Shanda, Renee, Mary, Kate M
Powerpoint: Kate HM
Prizes/Reuel Cut Out: Meaghan
VOG: Please take your seats, General Session Four is about to begin.
Music brief intro
House lights down, Stage Lights up
3:10pm – Welcome (Dan and Amanda)
DAN: I’m Dan Wald and I’m a caregiver. Like me, you may have provided
daily care to a friend, family member or loved one. Dan will include one/two
personal comments here
AMANDA: I’m Amanda Gordon and I’m a caregiver. And, like me, you may
have provided support or assistance to a friend, family member or loved
one. Amanda will include one/two personal comments here
Whatever the care of support provided, the role you play as a caregiver
during their cancer journey is amazing, humbling and very much appreciated.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
DAN: Our Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) revealed low scores in the
caregiver experience – in part because they did not have an understanding of
what being a caregiver meant nor were they witness to, or engaged in, any
form of recognition or activities. So we have put a definite focus on
caregivership at this Summit in order to help people understand the breadth
of what being a caregiver means and to help them self identify.
We all know the word caregiver encompasses a huge target audience. Is
everyone a caregiver? No. Nor do we believe everyone would be
comfortable with that meaningful title. But there are a number of us here
and in our communities back home.
AMANDA:
138 –that is the number of you with us here today who said Yes – I am a
caregiver; that is half of you sitting in this room. An amazing number. Thank
you for all you have done or continue to do as caregivers.
DAN: Can we ask caregivers here whose loved one was tragically lost to this
terrible disease to stand? For each of you, please know how much your being
a caregiver means to us and that, as you continue to cherish your loved one,
we cherish you.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
AMANDA: Can we ask the caregivers here today who are currently providing
care to a loved one with cancer to stand? Thank you for being here to give of
your time, passion and energy especially knowing that being here means you
are away from the loved one you are currently providing care for.
For all our caregivers, we THANK YOU (initiate a round of applause)
DAN: This weekend you are experiencing ways to recognize and engage all
caregivers – including those of us whose loved one is no longer here. We
hope these activities – the special Caregiver Welcome tent last night, creating
a My Caregiver button, this video today and the caregiver activity planned for
this general session will give you ideas about how you can integrate
caregivership into your Regional trainings and further integration into local
committee, team captains’ meetings and events themselves. READ TWEETS
ABOUT CAREGIVER ACTIVITIES
AMANDA: Together as Relay volunteer and staff leadership we can begin to
set the stage of creating an atmosphere of appreciation, recognition and
support for all our caregivers.
Lights down
VIDEO: Caregiver
Lights on stage
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
DAN: I would now like to introduce a very energetic, off the wall guy, who
loves being involved with Relay and the Eastern Division Advisory Team. He is
a caregiver, a survivor, a volunteer and a Relayer. Please welcome Lenny
O’Donnell.
3:20pm Caregiver/Survivor (Lenny)
3:30pm Caregiver Activity (Committee)
Music: Martina McBride song, playing softly in the background, Each person
reads their part then passes the mic to the left
CAREGIVERS GO THROUGH THEIR OWN CANCER JOURNEY. THEY ARE THERE
TO LISTEN TO YOUR FEARS AND TO DRY OFF YOUR TEARS.
IF YOUR BATTLE IS WON AND YOU HAVE BEATEN CANCER. THEY CELEBRATE
WITH YOU ON EACH AND EVERY BIRTHDAY.
BUT IF YOUR BATTLE IS LOST, A CAREGIVER WILL NEVER FORGET YOU, THEY
WILL NEVER LET YOUR MEMORY PASS, THEY WILL MISS AND STILL LOVE YOU
ALWAYS.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
I WOULD LIKE TO READ TO YOU A POEM THAT REMEMBERS THOSE WE LOST
TO CANCER.
WE MISSED YOU IN JANUARY AS THE NEW YEAR STARTED AND THE SNOW
COVERED THE GROUND.
WE MISSED YOU IN FEBRUARY. MANY AROUND US WERE CELEBRATING
VALENTINE’S DAY WITH HEARTS, BUT OURS WAS BROKEN WITHOUT YOU.
WE MISSED YOU IN MARCH. WE SAW SHAMROCKS AND LEPRECHAUNS AND
REMEMBERED YOU WERE OUR POT OF GOLD.
WE MISSED YOU IN APRIL AS SPRING ARRIVES AND SNOWS RECEDED.
WE MISSED YOU IN MAY AS WE CELEBRATED MOTHER’S DAY AND AS
FLOWERS BLOOMED.
WE MISSED YOU IN JUNE, AS SPRING BECAME SUMMER, FATHERS WERE
CELEBRATED AND RELAY SEASON ARRIVED.
WE MISSED YOU IN JULY, THROUGH RED, WHITE AND BLUE, THROUGH
COOKOUTS, FIREWORKS AND PARADES, ALL WE WANTED WAS TO HUG YOU.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
WE MISSED YOU IN AUGUST WITH THE SUN SHINING AND THE WATER
SPARKING BLUE.
WE MISSED YOU IN SEPTEMBER, AS CHILDREN BEGAN A SCHOOL YEAR ANEW
THEN CAME OCTOBER, WITH LEAVES FALLING AND JACK-O-LANTERNS ALL
AROUND. WE MISSED YOU THEN TOO.
TURKEYS IN NOVEMBER MADE US CRY AGAIN. WE ARE SO THANKFUL TO
HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED YOU FOR AS LONG AS WE HAD TOGETHER, BUT
YOUR CHAIR AT OUR TABLE WILL BE EMPTY FOREVER MORE.
IN DECEMBER, HOLIDAY DECORATIONS WERE DISPLAYED AS THE YEAR
WOUND DOWN. I LOOKED FOR YOU EVERYWHERE BUT YOU WEREN’T TO BE
FOUND.
AND SO ONE YEAR ENDS AND ANOTHER BEGINS ANEW. IN OUR HEARTS YOU
WILL REMAIN.
WE LOVED YOU ONCE, WE LOVE YOU STILL. WE ALWAYS HAVE, WE ALWAYS
WILL.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
PAUSE
WE ALL HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON. YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE YOU WANT
TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST CANCER…
Music: Lean on Me starts playing to lift mood
ALL Lights down, Meaghan to bring cutout of Reuel on stage
3:40pm VOG: Now the State of Relay with Reuel Johnson. Music stops
Lights on stage then lights down for video
VIDEO: State of Relay
Lights on stage
AMANDA: There is a single key behind the building of this Face to Face Relay
Network – it is people willing to make the ask. Relayers asking people to join
their committees, to join their teams, and to give contributions. Are you
willing to wear your heart on your sleeve? Are you willing to talk about the
sorrow and joys of their cancer journeys? This is what strikes a chord.
Everyone will at some time in their life face cancer, either personally or
through a loved one, friend, or co-worker. The first Relayers’ stories are our
stories and if people see themselves in those experiences, they will join us.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
DAN: Think about the people you saw during our time together. Look at all of
the connections those few people made. Now they have connected with you
and you will go out and connect with others and the message will grow and
grow.
Why is this important? We are here to save lives, but we need to save more
lives faster. It is our moral imperative. We don’t Relay to end cancer
tomorrow, we Relay to end cancer today.
AMANDA: Thank you for attending this year’s Eastern Division Summit. We
hope you learned more about networking and how important it is to build
relationships. One of my favorite quotes that came out of the National
Summit was “Sometimes we have to unplug before we can reconnect.” And it
certainly applies to relays. You need to step back and take a look at
everything you’re doing. Reconnect with our team captains, our committee
members, and our staff partners. Strengthen those meaningful connections
with the people that make Relay possible. They are the ones who will make
your Relays grow. We have so many opportunities for growth. Remember
those great youth movement initiatives – Relay Recess and Relay Field Day.
Be a champion of Relay For Life growth and expansion in communities across
New York and New Jersey.
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Eastern Division Summit 2011
General Session 4
DAN: We hope you will Like our NY/NJ Relay For Life Page and continue to
tweet us at Easternrocks as we will be posting updates from the Advisory
Team and Training Team throughout the RFL season.
A big thank you to our committee for putting on this conference, our staff
partners for always supporting us, the hotel for this wonderful venue, tech
guy and customer service. Have a safe trip home and we’ll tweet you later!
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