forever young / צעירים לנצח

Global Shabbat

DECEMBER 8-9, 2023 | 25-26 כסלו

This December, thousands of Jewish teens around the world will celebrate Global Shabbat—BBYO’s biggest Shabbat experience yet.

Each year, Holocaust survivors, business professionals, faith leaders, cross-cultural activists, politicians, and entrepreneurs join with Alephs and BBGs worldwide to share inspiring stories and take part in a meaningful, teen-led Shabbat experience. This year’s Global Shabbat will be embraced and elevated around the world through a diverse array of thoughtful programming designed to bring the community together around the strength that Shabbat brings to our communities.

In response to the tragic events that took place in Israel on October 7th and the rise in antisemitism globally since that day, we have seen our BBYO communities Responding to the Moment. Keeping this in mind we have created a resource to help you build thoughtful programs, services, and conversations that will allow you to respond to the moment this Centennial Global Shabbat.

Submit your event to put your city on the map.

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Planning

Making meaningful moments for Global Shabbat will require some planning. Below you will find our best tips, ideas, and resources for planning your Global Shabbat events.

If you still have questions after reading through the steps, no problem. Feel free to contact the International Sh'lichim for planning support. Don't worry, we've got your back.

However you want to bring your Global Shabbat experience to life, there are dozens of ways to bring meaning and community to Jewish teens around the world.

Apply for a Grant

Meaningfully bring the theme of Global Shabbat to life with these resources and tools.

Be sure you have all of the supplies you need to run a Shabbat. Many of these general Judaic pieces can be borrowed from family members or synagogues if you ask, but feel free to order a set for your chapter too! Be sure to order these items at least two weeks before your event!

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Global Shabbat grant opportunities are now closed. If you have any questions about your grant or want to inquire about other funding opportunities, email jewish@bbyo.org.

Step 0: Learn

Before you dive into the planning process, be sure to learn what's important to the success of your event. Review the goals and parameters of the initiative you're working toward, and understand key opportunities for innovation to elevate your experience from good to WOW.

Understand Event Goals, Parameters, and Opportunities

  • What is the purpose of this initiative?

  • How can you maximize creativity and innovation in working toward stated goals?

  • How can this effort be layered into your programming calendar to enhance your funnels?

Review Objectives and Define Success

  • What does success look like for this experience (including metrics tied to program engagement, quality, innovation/risk, etc.)?

  • How will achieve that success?

Step 1: Ideate

Once you clearly understand the task at hand, IDEATE together with teen and staff leadership to build a unique experience that will best serve your community's needs within the context of the initiative. Do a community mapping exercise, clarify key responsibilities, and establish ambitious (and attainable!) goals.

Map Your Assets

  • What are the unique opportunities (and challenges) afforded by your community - including people, places, experiences, etc. - and how can you take full advantage of them to elevate your event?

Define Leadership Roles

  • What responsibilities are key to the success of this experience, and how will you divide the work (among specific teens and staff) to define expectations and share the load, while also leveraging individual skills?

Set SMART Goals

  • What specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals will enable you achieve your stated objectives to maximize success?

Step 2: Strategize

With a clear vision to guide you, take time to STRATEGIZE everything you'll need to enable success. Solidify basic logistics, design your program budget, seek out partnerships, outline a clear marketing strategy and swag, designs, all while further elevating your program plan to produce a truly 'high res' experience.

Confirm the Basics

  • What are the key Who, What, When, Where and Why components of your event?

  • What program plan will you use to drive progress toward your desired outcomes?

Elevate Your Outline

  • How will you push your event concept beyond the status quo to build an experience that is as inclusive as possible and that will defy all expectations?

Create a Budget

  • How can you get creative to maximize your experience while minimizing dollars required?

  • Where might you apply for additional funding to go above and beyond for your program?

Identify and Engage Target Partners

  • Considering the nature of your event, what local/national organizations can you engage as community, program, and/or brand partners?

  • How can you leverage parents, alumni, and other stakeholders to help?

Develop an Action Plan

  • What steps are required to turn your program idea into a reality?

  • What tasks and support are needed to make that happen, and along what timeline?

Define Your Marketing and Social Media Strategies

  • How will you leverage your network using all available communication channels to promote your event far and wide?

  • Who will own each touchpoint, and along what timeline?

Determine Pre/During/Post Swag Offerings

  • What relevant, sophisticated, and desirable swag will you offer before/during/after your event to surprise and delight your guests?

  • Where are there opportunities to bulk order items to keep costs low?

Step 3: Hustle

Good things come to those who HUSTLE. Use branded templates and an all-in approach to promote your event early and often. Create smart online systems to stramline registration. Dig deeper to recruit more teens across all social circles, and make sure the press (and the Order!) hear about what you have planned.

Prep Marketing Materials

  • How can you leverage (and customize) available promotional items to build major buzz about your event through a variety of digital, print, and live sharing platforms?

Launch Online Registration

  • How will you use BBYO's online registration portal to promote your event and encourage pre-registration for planning purposes?

  • What other fun information could you collect to inform surprise-and-delight opportunities?

Deploy Your Marketing and Social Media Plan

  • How can you activate your recruitment plan in a way that builds real FOMO among your target audience, and what exciting incentives can you offer to encourage hustling toward pre-registration?

Engage the Press

  • How can you pitch the community impact of your event (to elevate BBYO's brand) in a way that will attract local/national media to take note and either attend or cover the experience?

Celebrate Internally

  • What information can you share about your event to help BBYO build a strong global narrative touting the reach and impact of our Movement's most influential programs?

Step 4: Execute

As you gear up for the big day, get ready to EXECUTE. Send out final reminders, walk through the event with your steering committee, prep supplies and swag for distribution, and BBYO-ify your venue. Steward prospects (and members) with intention, and surprise and delight your guests to leave a lasting impression.

Confirm Final Logistics

  • What unanswered questions remain, and how will you address them?

  • How can you use final pre-event reminders and confirmation messages to enhance overall buzz throughout your network?

Prepare the Leadership Team

  • What program moments should be scripted in advance (versus free form), and how should leadership team members plan to handle any issues as they arise?

Transform Your Space

  • How can you use branding and signage, as well as lighting, A/V, risers or other fun seating options, reserved VIP areas, and other venue elements to bring your space to life and enhance its fullness?

Steward Guests from Start to Finish

  • What expectations can you set and systems can you put in place to easily identify prospects (and under-active members) to ensure that all new attendees are well taken care of from the time they arrive to when they leave?

Leave a Lasting Impression

  • What fun surprises, snacks, and/or other program enhancements can you offer to ensure all attendees leave eager for more BBYO?

  • How will you share upcoming event information so everyone knows what's next?

Step 5: Retain

Take advantage of the shared energy and momentum from your event while it's fresh to make sure attendees keep coming back for more. Coordinate an individualized follow-up plan to gather input to inform future programs, say a heartfelt thanks to all involved, and close out the MRIHA model by making the Ask!

Collect Feedback

  • How can you use technology and/or individualized outreach to gather input from prospects and other attendees to help improve your community's WOW programs in the future?

Say Thank You

  • How can you customize available branded templates to personalize your follow-up outreach to all key guest segments (prospects, members, parents, partners, stakeholders, etc.)?

Make the Ask

  • How can you coordinate targeted 'Ask' outreach to invite all prospect attendees to join BBYO in a timely and effective manner?

Branding

Make your event look flawless from when you begin promoting your event through all of the thank you follow ups. Below are some examples of what you can find in the Global Shabbat Branding Kit. We encourage you to get creative and utilize these tools to elevate your experience and make this special weekend feel like it's happening everywhere. These tools are also available on BBYO's Canva Team.

Access Tools
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#BBYOGlobalShabbat

Share all of your Global Shabbat posts with the hashtag #BBYOGlobalShabbat to showcase all of the incredible events happening around the world. Maybe if you're lucky you'll get a shout out from @BBYOInsider.