Running a live event with the Live Screen

A room full of your community, a giant screen, and a total that climbs every time someone gives — few things in fundraising create energy like a live event built around the Live Screen. But the screen is a stage, not a strategy: the events that produce a real giving surge are scripted around it. Here's how to run one.

What the Live Screen gives you

Click Launch Live Screen in your campaign header and a full-screen jumbotron opens, built for projectors and TVs: a huge animated total raised that counts up as gifts arrive, your progress bar (with a second shimmering segment once you're past your primary goal into bonus territory), a countdown timer to your deadline, a "Scan to Donate" QR code, and a sidebar with Top Teams and a Live Activity feed of incoming gifts — donor, amount, team, and dedication message, with special star treatment for major gifts. The page needs no login, so it opens cleanly on any venue AV computer.

That combination does something no speech can: it makes giving visible. When Mrs. Katz's $500 slides onto the screen thirty seconds after she scanned the code, everyone in the room learns that their gift will be seen too.

Before the event: stage it properly

• Rehearse at the venue. Open the Live Screen on the actual event computer days before. Go fullscreen, choose the light or dark theme to match the room, and — critically — walk to the back row and scan the QR code from there. If the farthest seat can't scan it comfortably, you need a bigger screen or a closer one. (The screen keeps the computer awake automatically, but test the projector's own sleep settings too.)
• Time-box a match to the event. This is the highest-leverage move available: create a match pool in Donations → Matching with Active From / Active Until set to the event hours. The matching banner's countdown and the room's energy reinforce each other — "for the next two hours, everything is doubled" is a sentence built to be said from a stage.
• Brief your emcee. The screen only creates urgency if someone narrates it. Script three or four scheduled "screen moments" into the evening's run: opening total, match activation, milestone celebrations, final countdown.
• Seed the feed. Arrange for two or three committed donors to give in the event's first five minutes. An active feed teaches the room how the evening works; a static screen teaches them to ignore it.

During the event: script the room

A rhythm that works for a two-hour program:

1. Opening (minute 0–10): Emcee explains the screen and the scan-to-donate code: "Point your camera at that code — watch your name appear right up there." First seeded gifts land; the room sees the mechanic work.
2. The match reveal (first third): Announce the sponsor and activate the window. Say the multiplier plainly and repeat it at every subsequent moment.
3. Milestone beats (throughout): Every round number is a stage moment. "We just passed $80,000 — Top Teams, look at the Friedman division go!" Read dedication messages aloud from the Live Activity feed; nothing prompts the next dedication like hearing one honored.
4. The tier ask (middle): Call out one or two of your Zechusim & Tiers levels by name and meaning — limited dedication opportunities, announced as "only three left," reliably move in a room.
5. The countdown close (final 15 minutes): Point at the timer. Name the exact gap: "$6,400 to unlock the bonus goal — that's 18 gifts of $360, doubled, before that clock hits zero." Then let the screen do the closing.

Tip: Give phone-shy guests a second path: supporters can text your campaign PIN to the Pledgix number and receive a direct donation link back. Put both instructions on the printed program. (Pledgix Go campaigns use their own purchased dedicated number instead of the shared line and PIN; political campaigns can't use the phone channel.)

The MC Control Room

The Live Screen has a companion console built for whoever is running the room: the MC Control Room, at /your-campaign/live/control on the same portal as the screen (there's also a launcher in your campaign settings). It's phone-friendly, so the emcee or producer can drive the screen from anywhere in the hall: pause and resume the spotlight show, put a message up on the screen, open a timed matching window, run a challenge, replay a donation honor, and fire moments live. The page itself opens without a login — easy to pull up backstage — but the buttons only work for a signed-in campaign manager.

Behind the scenes

Station one person on the campaign Overview tab for the whole event — not on stage, just watching Recent Donations and the match pool's remaining capacity. They feed the emcee real numbers ("we're $2,000 from the milestone") and catch problems while they're still small. If the pool is running low with an hour left, that's a decision point: quietly add capacity from your reserve sponsor, or have the emcee announce "the match is almost gone — last chance for double impact," which is itself a powerful close.

After the room empties

The event isn't over when the chairs stack. Within an hour, send the total to everyone who wasn't there: "Tonight, 240 people in one room brought us to 85% — help us finish from wherever you are." An event surge shown on the campaign page is momentum your remote audience can join. Then feed the evening's best moments — the total, the top teams, a photo of the room watching the screen — into the next morning's outreach.

Tip: The Live Screen (with its scenes, spotlight, presentation decks, and Control Room) is available on Pledgix Pro and Political plans by default — the Pledgix team can enable it for other campaigns on request. If you're planning an event and don't see Launch Live Screen, talk to Pledgix support before you book the projector.