Due to social distancing, all of the events that students look forward to at the end of the year were cancelled. Our seniors would not get another chance to have their senior prom, so we pulled out all the stops to make our first district-wide prom. We made a full hype-plan for our social media accounts, building up to the event. This included an Instagram daily challenge so students could count down with us, contests for thousands of dollars worth of donated rewards for participating, and announcements of celebrity guests the prom will have.
The look and feel of the event was based on a summer club with a DJ combined with prom. Created a social media campaign for Twitter, Facebook, and particularly Instagram. Created stickers and an AR (Augmented Reality) Instagram Filter. Designed animations and overlays for the introduction, interludes, and ending of the stream along with gathering the celebrity videos from their various cell phone sizes and making them branded and more cohesive.
Save the Date
All seniors throughout the school district received an email that included the button below, which led to an invitation website I developed. Included in the invitation was a save the date, a form to submit music requests to the DJ for the event, a form to submit senior photos, and an Instagram challenge that the students can participate in as they count down to the day of prom with us.
Instagram Challenge
Several students participated in the Instagram challenge, updating their profiles every day with their answers to the question of the day.
Instagram Puzzle
Another way to drum up excitement for the event was to update Instagram every day with a new announcement, whether it was the reveal of a celebrity guest or another engaging question students can win prizes for answering. The Instagram posts connect to each other, so that by the day of prom there were twelve posts that slowly revealed new things students could look forward to.
Instagram Stories
Along with the daily posts, we had a story on Instagram that shared the same announcement or contest opportunity.
Instagram Filter and Stickers
Creating the AR Filter for Instagram allowed students to become guest stars for our prom, with similar purple-and-pink treatment and flashing graphics added to their picture that the celebrity announcements received in our Instagram feed. It also added a small, floating crown on their head. "This year, everyone is Prom King and Queen!"
Another way to engage students was with the stickers I developed, so that they can add to their social media posts and text messages:
Celebrity Guests
There were many celebrities who had heartfelt messages for the students of Portland Public Schools during this pandemic. DJ O.G. One, the official DJ of the Portland Trail Blazers, hosted the event.
Guests from the Portland Thorns, including Simone Charley, responded to posts and prom outfits that students were sharing with our Instagram. Tiktoker @queen.keekee who made the viral dance for the song "Savage" joined the prom to give a step-by-step tutorial on the dance. This was followed by a competition of who can submit their best performance of her dance, and she reacted to the entires while live, and chose a prize winner among our students.
This had to be entirely online, so all promotion was online and the event itself was a complex coordination feat to allow guests to speak from their own laptops and cellphones while also showing DJ O.G. One's stream from McMenamin's. The event was a four hour long stream. One challenge was to learn new tools and technologies while keeping the students excited and engaged without any form of in-person collaboration or marketing. Another challenge was that students heard "a prom but online" and found it, understandably, very cheesy in concept. Our solution was to focus the event on being a party or a concert, rather than "Just playing music and expecting us to dance alone in our living rooms" as one student aptly put it. Another specification our sample group pointed out was that streaming the event on Youtube was the ideal, and that any other platform including Facebook will likely have more barriers as some students have closed down Facebook accounts entirely.
This event had to be entirely online, so it included a robust social media campaign and the day of the event was a complex coordination feat to allow guests to speak from their own laptops and cellphones while also showing DJ O.G. One's stream from McMenamin's through our three hour long stream. Specifically, the challenge was to learn new tools and technologies while keeping the students excited and engaged without any form of in-person exchanges.
Hundreds of students watched the stream and participated in our Instagram countdown! The stream lasted for roughly four hours and we received generally positive feedback.
In the media: KGW Portland Public Schools hosts virtual prom with DJ O.G. One
Selected Works
Quarantine Digital Prom 2020Project type
Honeybee LemonadesProduct Design
I Play the FoxBranding
Learning and Leading TogetherEvent Design
The All-Star Awards CeremonyEvent Design
This is REAHL programProgram Design