At the recent micebook V Awards 2022, TTA and Shine Cancer Support won the award for Best Use of Small Budget for Shine Connect 2021. We take a closer look at the winning entry…

Shine Cancer Support is the UK’s only non-profit dedicated to supporting people in their 20s, 30s and 40s living with a cancer diagnosis. TTA has partnered with the charity since 2015 to deliver the annual Shine Connect conference.

Open to any young adult with cancer and their family or partner, carers and healthcare professionals, it’s an opportunity for beneficiaries to meet their peers, share experiences, hear from cancer experts and learn more about important, rarely discussed topics.

TTA’s brief for 2021 was to make every Shine Connect bigger and better than the last and build on the lessons learned from the first virtual conference in 2020. But with in-person fundraising across the charitable sector hard-hit by the pandemic, the agency only had a shoestring budget of £2,385 to cover everything–from the technology platforms to speaker fees and event promotion.

The six-day, patient-led programme, spanning 23 manageable sessions, covered topics ranging from precision oncology to the queer-inclusive cancer experience, how to have a good death as a younger adult and navigating sex after a cancer diagnosis.

By blending live streaming and pre-recorded content with real-time video Q&A sessions in private breakout rooms, the event balanced excellent technical delivery with organic human interaction – critical for those emotionally isolated through their diagnosis, compounded by prolonged shielding.

Conference registrations totalled 346 participants – expanding reach by 10.5% on 2020 – with 2,680 engagements in the event app. Judges said TTA and Shine made an impossible budget stretch to provided invaluable support to 350 families throughout the pandemic and should be commended.