Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeepers
Co-founded in 2017 by the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation and Project Everyone, the Goalkeepers event takes place during theannual United Nations General Assembly in New York City and brings together Headsof State and international Sustainable Development Goals “Goalkeepers” (thosespearheading various missions in their local communities) alike. Among otherthemes, this year’s Goalkeepers focused on the challenge of fighting globalinequality.
Kicking off the two-day event, the 2019 Goalkeepers GlobalGoals Awards were presented at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at LincolnCenter on September 24, 2019. The Awards program opened with an energetic dancenumber by “This is America” choreographer Sherrie Silver and performed by agroup of young dancers synchronized to original screen content.
Host Tumelo Mothotoane kept the program flowing as globalchangemakers were honored for their work. Award winners included African UnionYouth Envoy, Aya Chebbi, Child Rights advocate, Payal Jangid, mPharma founder, GregoryRockson, and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who was honored for hisprogressive sanitation work in India.
Award presenters included Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, UnitedNations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, and Executive Director of theUnited Nations Children’s Fund, Henrietta Fore. Simultaneous translation wasutilized to translate between Hindi and English to ensure the audience couldenjoy the entire program.
After the Goalkeepers Awards program guests entered theAtrium space overlooking Central Park to enjoy cocktails and custom food bars.Guests interacted with custom activations including an art installation made ofover 75,000 bottle tops, collected and painted by women in Salvador, Brazil,and an impressive 68’ long custom mirror wall, encouraging social sharing bythe guests to spread the word about their favorite goals.
The next morning, over 400 guests were welcomed back to the mainGoalkeepers event by a stunning multimedia vocal performance by Ogi Ifediora,performing to looped tracks of herself and screen content by renowned TreatmentStudios. Once inside the Appel Room, programming began with keynote remarks byNew Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden and Spanish Prime Minister PedroSanchez, followed by a seated conversation with both Prime Ministers along withBill & Melinda Gates.
Throughout the day other speakers delivered impactfulmessages, including Stanford Professor and Bias expert, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt,Lydia Murithi, Dr. Joia Crear Perry (all in conversation with Melinda Gatesdiscussing bias), Aliko Dangote and Zouera Youssoufou (in conversation withBill Gates discussing ways to change the odds instead of evening the odds fortoday’s less fortunate, especially the children), as well as Richard Curtis,who spoke regarding the 2020 call to action.
Session moderators included Journalist and United NationsGoodwill Ambassador, James Chau (Bill Gates’s session) and British journalistand broadcaster Tulip Mazumdar (Melinda Gates’s session).
Providing even more of an audience reach this year, asegment of the program was filmed for the BBC World Debate. Moderated by ZeinabBedawi and featuring Mo Ibrahim, Sigrid Kaag, Kay James, and John Fugelsang whodiscussed inequality throughout the world. This segment wasbroadcast the following weekend on BBC.
Between and after content sessions and as breakfast, coffeebreaks, and lunch were enjoyed, guests were invited to experience activationsin the Atrium including the “Goalkeeper’s Library” where the titles from theGoalkeepers community were available for the guests to take. In addition to theLibrary, guests were able to select a #togetherband, allowing themto showcase their favorite goal in a fashionable way.
Empire was proud to work with the Bill & Melinda GatesFoundation, Project Everyone, and many other partners to present Goalkeepers2019.
To learn more about the Goalkeepers event, please visit: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/goalkeepers/
Additional information about the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals can be found here: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
