Scaling glamour. Delivering hope. Our partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

You’re invited to the Academy Awards Pre-Party to benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation! Tickets for the party can be purchased on Ticketmaster

The Oscars is, of course, an iconic awards show that attracts a yearly audience of millions. It’s also the occasion of glamorous entertainment industry parties and events that offer their own distinct allure. I’m excited to announce that Webex is partnering with the Elton John AIDS Foundation to make this year’s festivities more inclusive – though no less glamorous.

Webex hosts pre-show special open to supporters

On the evening of April 25^th, the night of this year’s historic virtual Oscars ceremony, Webex will be sharing one of the most iconic pre-parties of the awards season live with film fans far beyond the confines of Hollywood. The Elton John AIDS Foundation’s Academy Awards Pre-Party has always been an exclusive, Super-A-list event: an exclusive draw for celebrities and their VIP guests. Now, through the power of Webex, all the glamour and spectacle of this pre-party will be available live and online. The party is inclusively open to a much wider virtual audience: people willing to provide financial support to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Every donation goes towards supporting AIDS awareness and research.

This year’s event will be hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris, alongside Elton John and David Furnish, and features a full evening of entertainment, including a performance by GRAMMY-winning artist Dua Lipa. But it’s not just about spectacle: this particular Oscar pre-party has always been about delivering hope. Every year since 1992, Elton John has hosted the party to raise money for his AIDS Foundation. AIDS is still with us today with 38 million people living with HIV globally. And this year, the Foundation focus on raising money for at-risk young people living with HIV, specifically.

Webex helps to scale the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s mission

Historically, this private event has been held onsite at the Oscars and had been limited to 1,000 guests. This year, the party is moving off-site in a serious way: through a special arrangement with Webex, this year’s fete will be hosted an unprecedented four times to accommodate different time zones and regions’ Oscar broadcasts. The “guest list” in 2021 has been expanded to accommodate 100,000 guests per region. This opens up the possibility of having as many as 400,000 attendees. Every one of you will now have an opportunity to be included in this event brought to you by Webex.

We’re honored and humbled to be part of this partnership: for us, it makes a lot of sense. At Webex, our purpose is to power an inclusive future for all – by breaking down barriers across geography, language, personality and socio-economic levels to give everyone tools to achieve greater personal expression, as well as build more engaged relationships. The pre-party is a great example of how Webex empowers incredible organizations like The Elton John AIDS Foundation to scale their mission to collaborate with a broader range of interested – and interesting – people.

Webex and the future of hybrid events

While it’s true that humans will never stop meeting in person, we believe that the future of human interaction is hybrid, with a genuine sense of presence for all participants – that is the instinctive knowledge that there are people occupying the same three-dimensional space as you. And in the future, we’ll see even more sophisticated hybrids that focus on that sense of human togetherness. This pre-party with the Foundation –and other events like it — is only the first step in this endeavor. Webex is committed to continue to deliver further innovation and growth for businesses looking to scale and be more inclusive in their future collaborations.

Join me at the pre-party on April 25^th to raise awareness about AIDS and support the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Glam is highly recommended, but optional.