The invitation began long before New Year’s Eve
How do you communicate a conference with John Bevere preaching and Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes and Tiffany Hudson leading worship? My answer starts about six months before anyone steps into the arena.
Pastor André Valadão invited me to lead communications again for Virada Orlando 2023–2024. As director of content at Lagoinha Orlando and Lagoinha Global, I had the privilege of coordinating the journey from lead acquisition and ticket promotion to content direction, the live experience and the post-event story.
This edition brought a new challenge: two days at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, on December 31, 2023, and January 1, 2024. One day centered on Brazilian artists and ministers; the other brought American voices into the program. We needed a communication plan that could carry both days with clarity and continuity.
According to the event count shared with me, we had approximately 13,000 attendances each day: about 26,000 across the two days. That is a cumulative attendance figure, rather than a count of distinct individuals.
Before: build the story people are being invited into
We had produced a strong archive during the previous Virada. That gave this campaign something valuable to work with: real moments that helped people understand what the invitation meant.
We called this stage Discovery. For roughly six months, we developed an organic content rhythm with posts going out almost every day. The work connected the purpose of the conference with the people we hoped to reach, then gave interested people a clear path toward registration.
Organic content and paid campaigns belonged to the same strategy. What people watched, shared and responded to could help us make more informed creative decisions for the campaigns. I wanted the promotion to grow out of a story the audience already understood, with a clear next step.
“The invitation starts months before the doors open. The story keeps moving after people go home.”
During: make room for the moment, then tell its story
For a conference like this, speed depends on preparation. We worked with a staff team of approximately 25 people, supported by volunteers. Designers, filmmakers, photographers, video editors, copywriters, motion designers and social media contributors needed to function as one connected team.
My responsibility was to keep the communication moving through that team. Capturing a powerful moment was the beginning. It still needed selection, editing, copy, design and review before it could reach someone’s phone.
Our production flow was organized around each artist’s segment. For each block, we worked on three complementary formats:
- A video recap that carried the feeling and key moments of that segment.
- An Instagram carousel that gave the coverage an editorial sequence.
- Photography that documented the people, worship and atmosphere.
The goal was to publish as close to real time as possible. When people got home, the experience was still fresh. They wanted to see it again and share what they had just been part of. Our coverage gave them something meaningful to carry into that conversation.
More than 10,000 media assets. One shared purpose.
By my production estimate, the coverage generated more than 10,000 media assets. I am referring to the media files produced and gathered across the event, rather than 10,000 published posts.
That volume required an organized workflow. The right material had to reach the right person while the moment still mattered. A recap editor, a designer shaping a carousel and a social media contributor preparing the release were working on different parts of the same story.
For me, the scale was meaningful because of what we were serving: thousands of people gathered to worship Jesus and hear the Gospel. Sharing the good news came first. Every creative decision needed to remain connected to that purpose.
After: give the experience somewhere to go
The third pillar was the post-event journey. A conference ends on the calendar, but the photographs, messages and moments continue to travel through people’s lives.
The previous edition had already shown me the value of an archive built with intention. The work we captured could help sustain the story after the gathering and give future invitations a foundation in something real. That made post-event communication part of the plan from the beginning.
For church teams, this is a useful question to ask before the event: what should people be able to revisit, share or respond to after they leave? The answer helps shape what you capture and how you organize it.
What I carry from this experience
Virada Orlando 2023–2024 remains one of the most incredible events I have had the opportunity to help coordinate. I remember the complexity of the assignment, the commitment of the team and the privilege of serving a gathering centered on Jesus.
We were telling a story our generation could take part in. My hope was that those stories would help people hear the Gospel, encounter Christ and find freedom in Him. That purpose gave the months of preparation, the live coverage and the post-event work their meaning.
If you lead a church communication team, consider planning your next gathering through these three stages: the invitation before, the experience during and the story afterward. Give each stage a purpose, a team and a realistic workflow.
Our previous Virada column shares how the real-time approach began in 2022–2023. To explore how this thinking could serve your own team, see our church communication and social media work.
A first-person account by Fábio Bindá. Team size, cumulative attendance and media volume are figures supplied by the author. Event dates and venue are documented in the official Virada Orlando event archive.