World Youth Day USA Guides Stateside Pilgrimage Leaders Guide | Page 40
Technology
Site Location
Effective utilization of technology during a
Based upon the audience, schedule, and
stateside pilgrimage can greatly deepen the
budget, it is important to determine the best
connection between the international and
location to host the stateside event. Consider
local pilgrimages, and acknowledge the digital
all the options: your parish or diocesan center;
landscape in which many youth and young
a local retreat facility; a university campus; a
adults live today. World Youth Day has
large open outdoor space; a place accessible
recently embraced technology as a significant
to the potential audience for this event; a
component of the preparation and execution
location well-known to the community;
of the overall event. Consider some of the
someplace with a connection to the theme,
ways to use technology:
patron saints, or culture of the international
event; a place special to the life and ministry
Incorporate a live-feed (or video
of the hosting parish, diocese, or movement.
recording) of an event with the Holy
Availability of any of these possible locations
Father into your own event.
may impact significant components of your
event. With that in mind, it is important to
Utilize Skype, Face Time, Periscope, or
secure your location as early as possible (and
other video conferencing to talk with
have a few backup sites in the event that the
pilgrims from your area who are at the
initial plans fall through or if weather could be
international WYD celebration.
an issue with any outdoor location).
PLANNING TIP
Be active on social media using and
Consider a host location that has
a vested interest in reaching out
to your youth or young adult
audience or a community from
which you can build a strong
base of volunteers or audience to
invite (i.e. university, retreat center,
large parish, local shrine, etc.)
searching for related tweets with the
World Youth Day hashtags (#WYDUSA,
#WYD, #WYD2016, and #Krakow2016)
on Twitter, Facebook, and other social
networking sites – and encourage your
stateside pilgrims to participate by sharing
their own local celebration and experience
online through hashtags. Also consider
To assist you with narrowing down the
developing your own event hashtag and
options for an ideal site for the stateside
use it in your promotional materials.
World Youth Day celebration, carefully look
38