by Jen Hagan
This past weekend the Event 360 team kicked off the 2022 Susan G. Komen 3-Day Series in Boston! It has been three years since we have been able to execute the entire series. We had 800 walkers, 175 crew members and raised $2.7 million dollars to end breast cancer. The energy was high! This is an extremely loyal community and the participants were excited to be back in person inside their Pink Bubble. 
We kicked off the week with a pre-event meeting with the whole team. It was so great to be in person with our veteran tour staff as well as a few new faces. There were also some familiar faces with several Event 360 alumni coming back to work with us over the weekend. Everyone was rested and ready to get this thing started!
This is our second year holding the event in a hotel. The Marriott Copley Place in Boston housed all of our participants as well as the programming throughout the weekend. In the hotel, we try to emulate our traditional 3-Day camp elements by creating a Main Street area in the ballroom along with the dining area. The Main Street area includes places for participants to pick up any awards, rest and relax in massage chairs and do a little shopping at the store.
Friday morning began with our Opening Ceremony. The participants headed out on the route, led by our emcee Kimberly Reinika, who is living with metastatic breast cancer, along with the rest of our survivors and thrivers!
Day 1 started out sunny but hot, and by 3:00 pm thunderstorms started rolling in. Our team had to jump into action quickly and coordinate sweep vans and any other available crew members and staff to hop into cars to begin pulling the walkers off the route. We closed the route around 4:00 pm and made several other sweeps to make sure the route was clear. Our Command Center was abuzz with phones, tracking participant numbers and vehicles, identifying areas along the route where walkers and crew needed to be picked up. We were able to bring all participants safely off the route within an hour and the participants were able to enjoy a warm, dry “camp” when they arrived.
Day 2 was a beautiful day and our route gave walkers the opportunity to pass by institutes where Komen-funded researchers work, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. They also passed by some iconic Boston locations such as the “Cheers” bar and Fenway Park. We concluded the evening with our emotional Honor Ceremony which reminds us of why we walk. It was standing room only!
Day 3 took us by MIT, another institute where Komen-funded researchers work, the Boston Marathon Finish line, the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument. We wrapped up at a beautiful closing site, the Lawn on D with the always emotional survivor Victory Walk.
Our Event 360 team was on point all weekend, which could be seen through the feedback pouring in from participants on our social channels. It was a huge success, even though we were still kicking off the rust a bit, and we learned a lot. Now we can take these learnings and implement them as we move on to the next three events in Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego. Overall, it felt so good to finally be back with the team in the Pink Bubble!
Jen leads our Susan G. Komen 3-Day project. She oversees all aspects of the project to make sure we are executing on the strategy, budget, timeline and especially client expectations. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in recruitment, fundraising, project management and non-profit marketing. Doing good in the world is her passion. In her free time you can find her volunteering for her favorite local charities.
