5 Essential Links to Prepare You for the 3-Day

The 2015 Susan G. Komen 3-Day® season has officially begun (Way to kick things off with a bang, Michigan!), and in the coming weeks and months, thousands of dedicated Komen 3-Day walkers and crew members will be checking and double-checking to make sure they’re all ready to go. To make your 3-Day® prep as smooth as possible, we (and the internet) are pleased to share five important links you can follow to get you out the door with 100% confidence.

Packing It In – Need a handy checklist to tick off and make sure you’ve got everything that you’ll need for your 3-Day adventure? We have detailed packing lists at The3Day.org/packing to make sure you and your luggage are ready to roll.

Hack-tastic – We all can appreciate a good short-cut here and there, and the 3-Day blog has two handy lists of 3-Day “hacks.” These tips and trick with make your 3-Day camping and walking a little easier.

Take a Peek – We’ve published an “Insider’s Peek” for each the first five 3-Day events. (Dallas/Fort Worth and San Diego, yours are coming soon!) These give 3-Dayers a little glimpse at what to expect from their 3-Day route. This insider information will help as you ramp up your training in the weeks before you walk so there are no surprises when you get out to Day 1.

Get Social – Do you keep tabs on the 3-Day on social media? Be sure to follow and friend us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the 3-Day blog to get real-time updates and posts from each 3-Day event. Not on one of these sites? Signing up is free and easy for all of them!

You Call, We Answer! – If you have any burning questions, concerns, issues or even a last-minute panic attack, and you feel like the internet is just too impersonal, pick up the phone and call the always friendly and helpful 3-Day coaches at 800-996-3DAY.

Headed to the 3-Day? Don’t Leave Home Without Social Media!

When I started walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® a decade and a half ago, the possibilities for sharing my on-event experience with loved ones back home were limited to calls home on not-so-smart cell phones and maybe showing off some snapshots to whomever happened to be around when I (maybe) pulled the photos off a clunky digital camera onto my computer. Today though, there are so many wonderful ways that Komen 3-Day participants can stay connected to their fellow 3-Day® friends, as well as their supporters in all corners of the world. Social media makes it all possible, and here’s how!

Follow Us Everywhere! – Did you know that the 3-Day is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? We’ll be posting to all of these platforms, plus blogging lots of fascinating stories and important updates before, during and after each 3-Day event weekend. You’re likely to see different content on each site, so the best way to make sure you don’t miss anything is to follow the 3-Day everywhere!

Facebook Connections – When you complete Online Check-in for the 3-Day, you can sign up for Bank of America® 3-Day Connections™. This convenient service links your personal Facebook and/or Twitter accounts to an ID tag that you wear on your credential lanyard while you walk. When you (and your tag) cross sensors at certain points along the route, the Bank of America® 3-Day Connections™ system will automatically update your Facebook or Twitter status with a post. Signing up is free and easy.

Hashtags, hashtags, hashtags! – If you plan to post to social media on your own throughout the 3-Day event, be sure to add hashtags so that your posts can be grouped with other ones from the same event. At minimum, we suggest you use #The3Day and your location-specific hashtag.

Not quite sure how hashtags work? Read up on them here!

Instagram Photo Challenges – Each day of the 3-Day, we will hold a different themed photo challenge on Instagram, and we invite all of you 3-Day shutterbugs to join in. Post pictures that represent each day’s theme, and add the hashtag for that day (along with the other hashtags listed above, of course). At the end of each day, we’ll choose three of the themed photos to share on the 3-Day’s Instagram page.

Join us for the first ever 3-Day Facebook Meet-Up!

Join us on Tuesday, February 24 at 5:00 p.m. PST (7:00 p.m. CT, 8:00 p.m. EST) for our first-ever Facebook Meet-Up! We’ll be chatting about how you can use the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® website to get you started on your fundraising and training, and how to stay motivated on your Komen 3-Day journey.

How does the 3-Day® Facebook meet-up work? On Tuesday the 24^th, around 4:50 p.m., we’ll post a status update on our Facebook page that says something like this:

“Welcome to the 3-Day Facebook Meet-Up! We’ll be answering your questions and sharing tips, tricks and information in this status update in just a couple of minutes. Reply directly in the comments, and don’t forget to reply and chat with everyone else who joins!”

Your 3-Day social media virtuosos, Alyssa and Erin, will be asking questions and commenting back and forth with you as “The 3-Day.” Now what fun is it if nobody chats, right? Be sure to jump in and introduce yourself to other commenters and ask and answer questions, too. You may have to occasionally refresh the Facebook page to see the most recent comments, questions, and replies.

We’ll chat for an hour, and hope you’ll join us! Any questions? Let us know!

~Alyssa and Erin