Kia Ora,

One week after the event and I am still in awe of what the team has achieved and the support that we received from the community and local businesses. It has been a fantastic roller coaster ride for the whole team at Twestival Auckland 2011. Twestival Auckland manage to raise $4100 in one night to donate to the New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal. Not bad for a group of people who have never used twitter before much less organized an event on this scale. 

The money will go into the 2 grants set up by New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Commission which was established for people affected by the Christchurch earthquake: an Emergency and Hardship Grant and a Bereavement Grant.

Emergency and Hardship Grant:

The New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Commission will offer an Emergency and Hardship Grant for people living in their homes without power or water or sewerage, or people forced to leave their home because of damage or because they have no water or power or sewerage.

Bereavement Grant:

$10,000 for the immediate family of confirmed decease

Source: Earthquake Grant http://www.redcross.org.nz/earthquakegrant

We know that money will be put to good use and will hopefully ease the suffering of those who were hit the hardest by the earthquake.

***

I am very proud of the team and we definitely made an impact on the Auckland community with our vision to raise funds for our charity of choice. Not solely through Twitter and the Auckland Twitter community but through people who have no idea what Twitter or Twestival is about. I must say there are more people out there that know what Twestival is now and are actually excited to see what we will be doing next year.

This event would not have happened without the support of  our sponsors, volunteers, performers and the committee members and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was a part of Twestival Auckland 2011. I don’t think I am able to cover all the wonderful things that the volunteers and supporters had helped us with on the day of the event but I am sure as hell going to try!

A big thank you to the committee members who spent a lot of their time and effort on this event:

 

 

Bronson Chin @b0ngkers

Carmen Loo @loocarmen

Collin Lo

Cynthia Healey @cynnikawaiidayo

Ferren Wong @ferrenwg

Jacquline Hsu

Joanne Cheong @JOANN3_C

Joey Sim @JoeyEbiko

Tania Ang @MissTMA

Ying Swan @gooeykablooie88

* Special mention to Cheryl Lim @MissCherylLim for volunteering her time to help us create awareness, sell tickets and raffles to the general public for Twestival Auckland. She was simply great to work with in the final days leading up to the event and on the event day itself. 

 

 

Volunteers

Testimony to the efficiency of the stage hands, we started half an hour late and anticipated that the set up between sets would compound on that. However, the change of sets were done so smoothly and efficiently that we were actually running ahead of schedule. Craziness! 

A big hug and thank you to:

Collin

Benji

Timmy

Jack

King

Mitch

* Special mention to Daniel, Collin and Benji for helping us set up during the day. Carrying all those sofas like the big strong men that you are ;)

 

Any event that has alcohol in the equation should have ample security on board to ensure the safety of the public. We definitely had that and our security personnel were very impressive. All of them look mighty intimidating in their all black ensemble. It helped that they were all big and burly and definitely put off any would be mischief makers.

Thank you very much to:

Nick Luke

Jacob

Lou

Lance Sio

Samson Makore

Sonny Peihama

 

We had volunteers who were working as security and runners (heavy lifting and ensuring the event was running safely). They were handsomely decked in hi-res vest kindly sponsored by Amere Safety.

Many thanks and good karma to:

Bill Chu           

Chee Yen Phua           

Albert Chu

Cody Chu

Levi Chu

Daniel Ruttley

Shaun Chun

 

Few people could resist the front desk team as they cajoled attendee’s to part with their money and all for a good cause! The front desks were also in charge of ensuring the overall cleanliness of the venue during the event. They were the face of the event and help set a professional but friendly tone to our event. 

Hugs and kisses to:

Cheryl lim

Naomi koeh

Felicia teo

Angeline loh

Illina

Christine ho

Zati

* Special mention to Felicia who help us set up and stayed till the very end. Truly a dedicated volunteer.

 

What would this event be without our lovely sponsors who were more then happy to be a part of Twestival Auckland. 

Stuff.co.nz  http://www.stuff.co.nz/

From the day that Ferren @ferrenwg approached Stuff for sponsorship to the day of the event Stuff have been most accommodating and helpful. Not only did they give us advertising space on their wildly popular website (85 million hits in February alone) they also gave us valuable advice throughout the process. Special mention to Hayley Collins for her assistance (I’m sure Ferren bugged the hell out of you) and Fei Bian Goh for his insightful ideas and comments.

 

519 Event Centre  http://www.519.co.nz/

What would our event be without a venue? After searching for a venue for almost a week we finally manage to find one that was not only available but were willing to hire it to us for free. They did charge us for sound and lighting services but we are very grateful that they were willing to take on board a little know organization to host an event at their venue. They really helped us out in a bind and we are very grateful. Many thanks to Cecilia who was our contact at 519 Event Centre. We would also like to thank Monday who was our main sound and light person for the night.

 

 

Indigo Moon Productions  http://www.indigomoon.co.nz/

Twestival Auckland official videographer for 2011. It was a pleasure working with Vanessa on our video that is currently in the running for best video at Twestival Global. She also came to cover the event and was there from the time we set up till the end of the event. Vanessa has an eye for detail and special moments and I know her coverage of the event is going to make it look spectacular!

 

 

Snap Me Photography  http://snapmephotography.com/

Our official photographer for the night and one of our main sponsors. Zhi covered the event with the help of his friend Vincent. They took photos of everything and everyone at the event. I can’t wait to see photos and if it’s anything like our team photo then it’s going to be fantastic!

* It was great to see professionals hard at work. However, it was inspirational and humbling to know that all this was done for free to support the Twestival Auckland 2011.

 

ZA  http://www.facebook.com/ZaNewZealand?v=app_4949752878

$1000++ worth of gifts was definitely the crowd puller when we were selling the raffles and tickets leading up the event. This would have not been made possible without the wonderful support of ZA and Shiseido. Getting the ‘ok’ from Joanne Leong the Communications and Marketing Manager of Shiseido was a breeze as she was happy to support our event that was helping to raise funds for Christchurch.

* Special mention to Amy Huang for being so accommodating and wonderful to work with.

  

Bachcare  http://www.bachcare.co.nz/

Bachcare is another sponsor who whole heartedly embraced and supported Twestival Auckland and was more then happy to sponsor us a prize for the raffle draw and what a prize it was! Bachcare sponsored a 3 day 2 night weekend gate away and it was one of the main attractions for the night. We sold a lot of raffles to people who wanted to win this prize. Even one of our committee member Ken bought $100 worth of raffles to see if he could win it. He didn’t get it and the person who did win shared with us that she had spent $60 alone on raffles. It was great to see active participation by the crowd regarding the raffles as everything would be going to Red Cross.

* Special mention to Natalia who made it so easy for us to work with Bachcare!

 

Graphix Explosion  http://www.graphix.co.nz/

Twestival Auckland approached Graphix Explosion Auckland late into the game but the owner Craig Devlin was very supportive and sponsored us not one but two banners for the night! He covered the cost for the printing and the materials and made sure we had the banners by Thursday. Thank you very much to Graphix Explosion!

Living Tea  http://www.livingtea.co.nz/

Living Tea is an up and coming company to look out for. They were more then happy to sponsor 2 gift packs for the raffles. The gift packs were beautifully packed and had everything a tea lover would need. Living Tea was also one of the main attractions during the night and many raffles were bought in hopes to win the coveted gift packs.

* Special mention to James and Marie for being such wonderful sponsors. 

 

Costume Magic  http://www.costumemagic.co.nz

Costume Magic were a joy to work with. They were very accommodating and supplied us the costumes for our team photo (we had hope to win this competition but this went very deservingly to KK Twestival). Costume magic also sponsored us the second time around when we needed a costume to attract the crowds to our booth. We hired a green dinosaur which was the star attraction and received many lovely comments and hugs from the public. Thank you Costume Magic!

Popular Dino of the Day! 

 

New Gum Sarn 

A sponsor with a big heart Jason was very receptive when we approached him to be a supporter for the event. We wanted to show our appreciation to the performers and volunteers but did not have the funds to do it and New Gum Sarn came to the rescue! A big thank you to Jason owner of New Gum Sarn for sponsoring all the bottled water and snacks for the volunteers, staff and performers.

 

Special thanks to our other sponsors:

Amere Safety

Ammado

Auckland Night Market

Botany Lutheran Church

Giapo

Fleur- De-Lys

Music Planet

Party Zone

Premium Beverages

 

A big shout out to the performers that performed at Twestival Auckland 2011. Without them it would have been another boring fund raising night. The crowd loved the performances and said they did not know that such talented acts were going to be performing. It blew all their pre conceived notions out the window and set a standard for next years Twestival.

 

Grace Ikenasio

 

What can I say? Cynthia introduced the team to Grace and we were blown away! She totally rocked the national anthem in Maori AND English. It was a rare opportunity to see such talent up-close and personal. The Twestival Auckland team and the public were witness to a special performance. We hope to see Grace on a bigger stage with hundreds of people attending just to see her perform in the near future.

 

Samutsari Traditional and Modern Performers

 

When we first approached Virginia who manages Samutsari we couldn’t help but feel touched by the support and enthusiasm she had. She wanted to support our cause. She not only got her group together to perform for us (not 1 but 3 sets!) she also promoted the event within her Filipino community. We, at Twestival Auckland are humbled with the support that this group has given to us. It was a fantastic 3 sets of song and dance. The crowd loves the dances, the costume, the beautiful women and the music. However, my personal favorite would have to be the second set where a trio comprising of a guitarist, a violinist and a singer performed a very beautiful song in Tagalog entitled “Tanging Yaman”

 

 

Caribbeanz Southern Stars Steel Band 

One of the crowd favourites I can still remember Joanne @JOANN3_C coming up to me excitedly and say “I love this band! How did you get them?”.  The Caribbeanz Southern Stars have been known to support fund raising events. It was not difficult at all to enlist their help and they were more then happy to lend us a hand. They really added a chillax mood to the event. It was wonderful too see such a culturally diverse group of people performing on stage. Popular oldies like Pokare Ana, Brown Girl in the Ring and City Fest got the crowd tapping their feet and the little ones swaying to the music. With band members ranging from as young as 12 years old to the grand age of 75 years old Caribbeanz Southern Stars had appealed to everyone.

The band leader Camille had a few kind words to say regarding Twestival Auckland "Hi Audrey, You guys did a great job yesterday. It was very well organized, right down to the volunteers. Amazing event and preparation! Well done."

 

Atlanta Fall   www.atlantafall.com

Now this band surprised everyone (except my self of course). They blew the house away with their passionate and energetic performances. As I walked past our security I overheard one of the bouncers said how ‘mean’ their performance was (‘mean’ is Kiwi slang for: great, fantastic, wonderful, awesome). I couldn’t agree more to that statement. They just set the stage on fire with their talent and it was great to see such a great act lending their support to Twestival Auckland.

 

 

Auckland Youth Symphonic Band  http://www.awo.co.nz/aysb.html

 From the AYSB conductor Roderic:

 

"Hello Audrey,

Congratulations on a highly efficient and well organised event. The players were thrilled with the venue and the reception of their playing – “Very easy going.” ; “Casual and friendly.”

 Please pass on my thanks to your terrific team, for their  help, friendliness and co-operation. They were marvellous. Thank you for your  superb organisation."

 

It has been a pleasure working with Rod, the dedicated conductor of AYSB. I have never seen this group perform before and they blew me away! I started to tear when they did their first piece called ‘Celebration’. They performed music from Pirates of the Caribbean to more classical scores that I couldn’t really place my finger on. But you can be assured that they really brought a calm and relaxing tone to the night after the invigorating performance put up by Atlanta Fall. Seeing so many youths in one room performing beautiful music was definitely an experience that I don’t mind having again and I am sure the crowd felt the same way.

 

UMNO

 

The performers from UMNO were beautiful ladies and all hailing from my birth countryMalaysia. They had a performance quirkily called Patendu Patende. It’s a folk song that originated from Terengganu (one of the 13 states in Malaysia). The style was a mix of all traditional dance styles from all over Malaysia. I am sure the crowd enjoyed the performance. Everything was different from the music to the costumes (beaded head scarfs and their colourful dresses called baju kurung). Although I am from Malaysia I must confess that I had not seen such a performance before. I am glad that UMNO performed for Twestival Auckland. They added more spice to an already delectable night.

 

The Nukes  www.thenukes.co.nz

 

 

Source: The Nukes

 

 

A fun and entertaining ukulele wielding trio from out west!  I had the fantastic opportunity to see them perform live twice. The first time was during a fundraising that we participated in for Save the Children NZ Haiti Fund. Second time was when they graced our Twestival Auckland event with their presence. The Nukes are well known in the Ukulele community inNew Zealand and internationally for their fun loving lyrics, comedic breaks and awesome riffs and raffs on the ukulele and banjo. They manage to get audience participation from the crowd which is a feat since it was quite a tough crowd that night! The Nukes ended the night with a bang by playing Bob Marley’s song Three Little Birds and invited the volunteers and committee members on stage to sing the song. Memorable and meaningful, it tied the event together and reminded everyone that we were there that night to help raise funds for our whanau (family) in Christchurch.

*Special mention to fellow tweeps who have help us spread the word for @TwestivalAKL

KK Twestival @KKTwestival for their online support and offering to help whenever they can. 

Joanne Diandra Chin @Jodianchin For helping us out on the social media side across the ocean. 

Mei Ng @MeiNg for her copy writing genious

Anele Bamber @Serentonin For always retweeting our tweets, giving us words of encouragement and being an awesome person!

Social Media @SocialMedia_NZ For helping us spread the word!

John Lai @IAmJohnLai For coming and imparting on very wise advice and suggestions :)

Joyce Wong @joycethefairy For pasting our link on her wildly popular blog

http://www.twentythirdchoke.com/ For the write up on his blog regarding TwestivalAKL

Chloe Tiff @ChloeTiff For constantly supporting us even though she is in Kota Kinabalu

 

Last but not least thank you very much to the beautiful people of Auckland who took time off from their busy schedules to attend the event and donate their hard earned cash to our charity. I sincerely apologize if I have missed anyone in our thank you shout outs. Please know that it was not done intentionally.

 

God Bless you all. 

 

Sincerely,

 Audrey Chin @DaAudz & The Twestival Auckland 2011 Team @TwestivalAKL

 

One more day to Twestival Auckland 2011, what can we say?

The @TwestivalAKL team has been working extremely hard to make sure that this Thursday will be a great event for you guys! :) In the past 2 days, 4 new sponsors have hopped on board; Living Tea, New Gum Sarn, Fleur-De-Lys Ltd and Bachcare!

Now we all know that more sponsors = more raffle prizes, and so we are so excited for the raffle draws! There is so much to be won, including food & beverage hampers, GIAPO gelato vouchers (If you haven't tried GIAPO, you have to. Seriously.), over $1000 worth of Shiseido products, mystery gifts and many, many more. The one that most excites me is a 3 days, 2 nights weekend getaway by Bachcare at 'Holiday Home 127', located right by the gorgeous Otama Beach! This prize is valued at $410 and can accomodate up to 6 people! (Pictured below)

Now how can you resist that? So hop along to Twestival Auckland this Thursday, and if you haven't bought your tickets, you can do so by clicking on the blue "GET TICKETS" button on the top right hand corner of this page. Since we are so close to the event, here's a few things the @TwestivalAKL team would like to remind you of:

• Buy a ticket, before it's too late! :) If you can't make it, please donate.
• The event starts at 6.30pm on the dot! So come by a little earlier for a drink before the show starts.
• Bring along some spare/loose change! With each Twestival Auckland ticket, you will receive a complimentary raffles ticket. At the event, we will sell additional raffle tickets at only $2 each. Get some to increase your chances at winning the fabulous prizes mentioned above!
• Wear RED & BLACK to the event to show your support for Christchurch!
• Remember that all proceeds (donations, tickets and raffle sales) will go to the NZ Red Cross Earthquake Appeal 2011, so come along, have fun, and do your bit for the people of Christchurch!!!

SAMUTSARI TRADITIONAL AND MODERN PERFORMERS

Composed of young boys and girls and adult women and men we present folkdances and folksongs as well as modern dance enterpretations and popular songs in English and in our Filipino language.

Our first dance is of Spanish flavour called Polka Bal, an adaptation of the European polka danced to the stringed music of the rondalla and the second one is a Rural dance called Pandanggo sa Ilaw, with girls balancing oil lamps or glasses with rice wine on the back of their hands and on their heads as a thankgiving for a good fishing season. In between costume change we have a folk song entitled Tanging Yaman meaning only riches with guitar and violin accompaniment followed by the very popular "You Raise Me Up" which is very apt to the occasion having lost a few lives in the earthquake.

09 Bboys

Composed by two different dance crews to come together and share the love of dance for Christchurch!!!

UMNO Dance Performance

The UMNO Dance Group will perform a dance called the Patendu Patende. Its members are Syarifah Anis Hamaiza Syed Osman Abadi, Zufarhana Zukarnain, Nurul Izzah Abd Halim, Wan Aida SIrrana Wan Ramlan, Nabilah Ismail and Nursyafiqah Amirudin. The song originated from Terengganu and the dance is a mix of all dance styles from all states in Malaysia (canggung, zapin, lilin, inang, jawa, sumazau, joget, etc).