Read about the first ever online DOFE ceremony
Why aren't the usual ceremonies taking place this year?
After the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic during the spring, we considered all options and were convinced that the ceremony would normally take place in the autumn.
But this is not possible in the current situation. Here are the reasons that led us to the decision to hold this year's ceremony online.
1.Declaring a state of emergency and banning events of more than 10 people indoors
A state of emergency has been declared in the Czech Republic since 5 October, for a month for now, but it is very likely to last longer. With the state of emergency also came various measures, the one that affects us the most is the ban on events of more than 10 people indoors and more than 20 people outdoors. This is in place for now until 18 October, so we are not allowed to hold events while the current conditions last.
2. The situation continues to deteriorate
In the Czech Republic and in neighbouring countries, the situation is getting worse. So there is no indication that everything will be all right by the end of October, when we planned the first one, the Golden Ceremony.
3. We don't want to put you at risk
Even if we imagine that the action could be carried out, it is unthinkable for us to endanger the health of anyone in the DOFE community. Ceremonies have the magic of bringing together prominent figures, alumni, and leaders from across the country, but that is currently more of a threat than a reward and experience. You are the most important thing to us and your health and safety is therefore our priority.
But we still want to celebrate with you and so we've come up with a way we can all enjoy it "together"!
How do we recognize all graduates of the DOFE program in the Czech Republic?
ONLINE CEREMONIES
We have years of experience in organizing in-person ceremonies for hundreds of graduates, but not professional online ceremonies. The first DOFE online ceremony will not be an ordinary Zoom meeting, but we will arrange a professional online stream with a moderator.
A unique program and guests who would find it difficult to come to the Czech Republic, or difficult to coordinate one event date with them.
We want to show that even in the Czech Republic it is possible to organize an online ceremony for a large number of people together with guests, which would be very difficult to bring to one place. We are trying to arrange a live entry with His Royal Highness Prince Edward and video entries of DOFE patrons and other personalities.
DOFE IS COMING TO YOU!
The online ceremony will be preceded by a DOFE GOES FOR YOU! event, during which we will distribute certificates and badges to all graduates so that they can ideally have them with them during the ceremony itself, if possible. So within three weeks we will distribute the packages to all DOFE Local Centres and hand them over to the called hands.
Safety is a priority, so we will contact you prior to arrival and the handover will take place in accordance with current hygiene regulations.
ONLINE DOFE - PARTICIPANT AWARDS
Certificates and badges will be delivered to the mailboxes of our online dofans (those who have enrolled online and their school/institution does not offer the programme). Therefore, all online dofactors need to have their address filled in correctly in the ORB (so please also ask the leaders to check) and to have everything completed and complete (the leaders should update their program implementation status in the ORB), and to have this all done until 6. 11.. All participants who will have a record in the ORB on 6 November that waiting for the ceremony, will be automatically registered for the online ceremony and we will prepare certificates and badges for them. We will send these out to the address they have on their ORB, so it is really important that the address is correct.
Basic information about the online ceremony
Date of the event: Wednesday 16 December
Time: 15:00 – 16:30
Online live stream on YouTube and Facebook from the professional studio, which will be watched by hundreds of people from all over the Czech Republic at the same time.
All participants will be automatically registered for the online ceremony if they have completed and entered everything in the ORB (in the status of waiting for the ceremony) and we will also prepare certificates and badges for these participants. We will send you a list of these participants to check and complete if necessary. Graduates of all three levels of the DOFE program will be recognized at the online ceremony.
DOFE IS COMING FOR YOU, or how do the certificates and badges get to the graduates?
1. Why will we be handing out certificates and badges in this way?
Certificates and badges must be delivered to graduates for completing the program. Since the graduates cannot come to the ceremony, the ceremony will therefore come to them. Therefore, at each center that has DOFE graduates in 2020, the director or regional manager will bring a package with certificates and badges to you during the DOFE ride.
2. When and how will it take place?
Within three weeks we will come to you all in our brand new D O F E car and hand over everything you need.
We'll also be sharing the itinerary on social media, and at the end we'll do a video recap of the event to watch at the ceremony. The brief presentation of the certificate to the centre coordinator will ideally take place outdoors under strict hygiene measures with a drape and gloves, and the exit of each centre will be a photo with the coordinator and possibly the graduates. It will therefore be a personal visit and a personal thank you to each coordinator for their support during the covid-19 pandemic.
Tentative schedule (to be specified on 11 November)
7 - 11 December: Olomouc, Moravian-Silesian, Pardubice and Hradec Kralove regions
30 - 4 December: Pilsen, South Bohemia, South Moravia, Zlín Region and Vysočina Region
23 - 27 November: Central Bohemia, Karlovy Vary, Ústí nad Labem, Liberec Region and Prague
16 December: Online CEREMONIES
Thank you for being with us, together we can do it!
We look forward to seeing you there and also at the online ceremony!
A presentation with information about the online ceremony can be found at Here.
