Crafting An Ad-Hoc Communication, Community & Business Development Strategy For A Sex Education Project
THE CHALLENGE
December 2021, I was approached by Christo & Jakob, intersectional artists and performers, who sought my help building community and visibility around the Virtual S*Exploration Project.
The Virtual S*Exploration is a co-creative and art-educational project. Together with and for young people, we want to create a performative experience in virtual reality about sexuality and identity. An important part of education is to be able to talk about S*xuality and to ask questions about one's own identity.
Christo and Jakob needed help with their impact and project strategy
how to set the right approaches and values for their upcoming project;
how to create a good program framework for the multiple projects and ideas they were running simultaneously;
social media and communication that could help them build a stronger community around them and foster collective participation;
content strategy to be able to talk about sex education, identity and sexuality topics with their desired audience;
people strategy to help them build synergy with their team members and achieve the set goals.
target group outreach and acquisition for the upcoming exhibition of the project.
project/business development strategy.
THE SOLUTION
We started working together in December 2021 and since then, we have been able to co-create synergy within the team, grow the team members, execute the most important project steps and achieve key goals.
We started by meeting for a strategy workshop to outline the vision, mission and project execution pillars.
I stepped in as a Virtual S*Exploration as a Program & Strategy Manager and helped Christo and Jakob:
facilitated multiple strategy workshops to align with the project roadmap and break down the key project execution steps.
I supported their project management structure, helping them find the right priority system and providing strategic support with their team and leadership culture (keeping together, structured and motivated a small, but diverse team).
Created a hiring action plan to expand the team and recruit pedagogy experts for the execution of the workshop → The team was able to find a sex pedagogist to join the team and support the execution of the workshop.
I helped them hire operational support and was joined by Ellie as a content operation specialist.
I outlined the content strategy and core communication approach to building the workshop pitch deck.
We worked on three different pitch decks to support the acquisition strategy of key project audiences.
I outlined an audience acquisition strategy with a defined email sequence to acquire at least 2 schools to participate in the sex education workshop.
Our Content Operation Coordinator and I focused on the content and communication strategy and execution, defining content and communication style for the project’s Instagram page, blog and website and over the project timeline.
I consulted Christo & Jakob on the networking and community-building potential of LinkedIn.
An end-of-the-year retrospective and strategy session to set the path and priority for 2023, develop the project and prepare to expand the concept into a new test audience, etc.
THE RESULTS
By the end of the year, the team had:
3 pitch decks that led us to get more funding and acquire 3 schools for the project.
6 team members operating at different levels within the project prep and execution.
our Slack channel and Notion board to improve communication and collaboration systems among the team.
5 team meetings and leadership strategy conversations.
A school acquisition funnel that led 3 schools to opt in for the virtual S*Exploration.
17 new Instagram posts, 100 followers (we began with 30), a content strategy and plan for the blog and Instagram (in progress).
100+ young people attending the first rounds of workshops between November and December 2022.
A review & renew document with a prep strategy plan for 2023.