Apex For Youth Inspiration Awards Hybrid Gala
On June 9th, 2021, Apex For Youth hosted their 29th Annual Inspiration Awards Gala to support and raise funds for underserved Asian and immigrant youth from low income families in NYC.
This year’s program celebrated “Power in Community, Resilience in Unity and Strength in Love,” featuring a star studded line up of incredible Asian Americans. Presenters included Journalist and Author, Lisa Ling, Actress, Producer and Activist, Gemma Chan, Actor Henry Golding and Non-Profit Leader, Entrepreneur & Former Presidential Candidate, Andrew Yang, sharing stories of strength in the AAPI community. This year’s Inspiration awards honored CEO & Founder of Rise, Amanda Nguyen, Actor & Producer, Daniel Dae Kim, Filmmaker John M. Chu and Golden Globe Winning Actress, Awkwafina for their incredible impact, leadership and empowering voice of this generation.
In addition to the livestream, more than 500 guests gathered across nine restaurants in NYC to celebrate the 2021 honorees, applaud the student speaker, and feast together in person. Another 300 Apex fans in Hong Kong, LA, Chicago, and Toronto hosted viewing parties, contributing to the wildly successful QR-code paddle raise conducted by President & Co-Founder of Goldhouse, Bing Chen. Overall Apex raised $1.75M towards their vital work supporting Asian youth.
It was a remarkable night of gathering, reflecting and celebrating Asian American voices and stories to recognize the crucial work of Apex for Youth.
Empire worked closely with Apex to develop, design and run the show for the livestream, coordinate and record speakers remotely, facilitate the livestream, manage video editing and production and provide technical production and support at 8 NYC locations.
Empire is a leading producer of virtual, hybrid and live events and has been proud to serve leading not-for-profit organizations and foundations for nearly three decades.
For more information and to view the livestream visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFdkQbMM5-c
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
