24 Trailblazers Partner Up for #PartnerStrictly Dancing
You are not mistaken, you did read that correctly, this is a Strictly Come Dancing inspired event but with contestants from the Salesforce Partner ecosystem. 24 Trailblazers, many of which you may know, are putting on dance shoes, squeezing into something shiny and donning fake tan, all to raise money to change the lives of young people who have been dealt a bad hand.
This event has all the main ingredients of the spectacular Strictly show that adds sparkle to our Saturday: a live audience (you), instruction from professional dances, industry respected judges, a winning couple, even opening showreels!! What makes our event extra intriguing is that we will be dancing with each other.
When we take the floor there is no, experienced professional pushing us round the floor, trying to cover up our mistakes, making us look good. We are out there with our partner, who we met only weeks ago, giving everything we have. We will be so far out of our comfort zones we might need directions back to work on the Friday. This is entertainment gold, and surely worth of a monetary donation. You really don’t want to miss it.
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Partner Strictly Key Facts
6pm, Thursday 8th November 2018
Troxy, 490 Commercial Road, London
24 Trailblazers from the Salesforce Partner & ISV community
4 different dance Styles Jive, Cha Cha, Waltz and Tango
1 Group Dance
Championship Judges including Darren Bennet and Lillia Kopylove
Expected Audience on the night 1200
1 Winning Couple based on money raised and Dance performance
Who are you fundraising for, I hear you ask?
SportsTraiders is the official Event Charity. They are a youth-focused charity offering young people, the kit and support they need to discover and fulfil their sporting ambition and potential, whatever their background, ability or disability. The aim is to make clothing and sport equipment affordable to all, and at the same time generate a sustainable source of funding to help disadvantaged young people participate in sport. They channel all the money we raise back into grass-roots sport within the community area from which it was donated.
In the last 9 years SportsTraiders have collected and redistributed 487 Tons of clothing & equipment. Some kids don’t get a chance to participate in sport or physical group activities simply because they don’t have any shoes other than their school shoes. This compounds the feelings of exclusion that they already feel yet is easily fixed . Sport has such profound benefits on confidence, discipline and both mental and physical health. Why wouldn’t you do everything you can to eradicate that type of inequality?
Lance Haggith and SportsTraiders’ also help young people who have not yet developed the skill to process they things that have happened to them and as a result either hurt themselves or those around them. Your past does not dictate your future. Intervention at a young age as meant that these young people have gone on to take a different path. Often people how received profound help come back to help those that are behind them on the path. I know personally that it can also help to make sense and leave behind what has happened. You can enable that gift, the gift that you give will not only help one person but all the people around them.
One of SportsTrader’s projects helps girls some as young as 7 to stop self harming. One of their initiatives recently introduced one young lady to boxing. At that point she had already attempted to take her life 3 times. At the boxing club she made new friends and found a safe space where she can open up and not be judged. This seemingly simple step has given her a new outlook.
An introduction to boxing also helped 8 year old Ben (not his real name) who had experienced a history of physical abuse at the hand of his father. He had started to bully children at school. Boxing gave him a way to channel is anger and introduced him to additional male role models. His father is now in prison.
These are only a few examples of the impact that SportsTraiders are having through programs with schools, councils and special needs groups. You can amplify their impact.
How are we preparing?
I hope you will be impressed to hear that we are trained diligently over a good few week to give the best the performance we can, or at least to not fall over. We started training for the group dance the week before Dreamforce, long ago enough now for us to have forgotten it. For the last 3 weeks we been learning our partner dance, in our selected dance style group.
I am learning with #TeamJive, who I have to say are are great group. We all learn together so we can support and encourage each other, this has been one of the unexpected benefits. My partner for the event is Warren Metcalfe. Jive was not his first choice of dance so I am very grateful he was willing to give the Jive a go.
I want to thank Warren Metcalfe, Rebecca Pooley, Paul Hutchinson, Jess Payne, Mitch Round, Samantha Whitmore and James Boutel thank you for your energy and enthusiasm in all our session, Also a massive thanks to Eddie Slattery, our professional coach, who is patient and positive all the time.
I also want to say a big thanks to Accenture Technology and the Cloud First Team for the time and support to take part in this. I so excited to have you their supporting on the night.
How do I get tickets?
Tickets are available from the Partner Promotion Events website. There are tables available if you would like to enjoy a full 3 course meal throughout the event. Table seat can be purchased individually or in groups. Alternatively you can purchase seats in the balcony. These are unreserved so you will not get formal seat numbers. Both can be purchase online from the link below.
This is a really great event that you don’t want to miss. I hope you see you in person on the night. Please support me and anyone else you know taking part. We are all starting to feel the fear and seeing our fundraising totals go up really spurs us on.
Click here to Donate Now
