Center for Hearing & Communication Virtual Gala
On October 17, 2020, Empire was honored to produce the Center for Hearing and Communication’s Virtual Gala, “Communication Without Limits.” This inspirational lineup of speakers and entertainment helped raise money to provide comprehensive services to those affected by hearing loss, deafness, or listening challenges.
The Gala honored Alex Lacamoire, award winning music director, arranger, orchestrator and composer best known for his work on Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and In the Heights. Actor, singer, and songwriter Joey McIntyre emceed the program, sharing a personal story about his son who was born with a hearing loss and the way CHC transforms the lives of so many families like his who are coping with the challenges of hearing loss.
Heather Baker, CHC board member and recipient of CHC’s services, shared a personal and moving story of how CHC impacted her life, while CK Swett, the auctioneer encouraged all to donate throughout the night raising over $700,000 to date! Other highlights include hearing health messages from ABC Anchor, Bill Ritter; actors Richard Kind and Kassie DePaiva; Grammy award-winning trumpeter, Chris Botti; singer Caroline Vreeland and NBC Weather Anchor, David Price. The CHC kids sang a special tribute of Hamilton’s “My Shot” and held a fun and inspirational Zoom call with Alex and CHC kids, where they shared their experiences and celebrated their limitless abilities.
There were special appearances by Hamilton cast and crew, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbueler, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kurt Crowley, Lin - Manuel Miranda and others with surprise messages for Alex, and performances by ELEW and a beautiful finale of Alex and Joey singing “You Will Be Found,” from Dear Evan Hansen.
Empire worked closely with the CHC team to create the overall event and run of show, video packages, oversaw technical production and livestream, speaker and talent logistics and facilitated captioning and interpreting for all guests.
Empire is a leading producer of fundraising virtual galas and proud to support the Center for Hearing and Communication in their commitment to improving the quality of life for people with hearing loss and auditory and listening challenges.
To learn more and donate to the Center for Hearing and Communication, please visit chchearing.org/
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
