I’ve just finished about a half of my placement, and it is still just a lot of fun.
Last week I spent two entire days on the phone, so I was tired of talking by the end of it… It was hard to go home and talk to everyone!!
Apart from Red Nose Day, SIDS and Kids WA does quite a few events as fundraising. Two of the events they are currently organising are basically being run by others, so I did a bit of background work for them in the second two days of the week. Did you know that there are very few circuses/people who can display circus skills in Perth? I found just about all of them, and that means maybe three!!
And then, on Easter Thursday came some very good news!!
We have the opportunity to run a new event in conjunction with Red Nose Day! And because everyone is so busy, I can basically organise it under direction of my supervisor.
I am really excited by it, but feel a bit like I’m swimming in the deep end. I mean, I missed my own 21st so never even had a 21st party to organise. I’m sure I can do it, but I just need to calm down and think about it for a few minutes before rushing into anything. I am really looking forward to being able to say, “Wasn’t that great?! That was half me!!”
3 comments:
Well! Really nice way of thinking Merinda. I know what its all about working on a special day. During one on my internships, i was in the tourism sector, I had to work on Christmas eve and for New Year's eve too. It was very hard for me, as I was away from family and friends. But something interesting in such situations, to prevent you thinking about all those enjoying the moment, you are even more motivated to work, which at the end increases productivity, and allows you to say, "wasn't that great? That's half me!
I completely understand! I have been asked as part of my new role to coordinate the State Landcare Awards - the pinnacle event for WA Landcare, estimated 200 people attending and I felt really overwhelmed. It is also my job to handle all of the media for the event as well which is a major task in itself as they expect considerable coverage.
Luckily I was sent to an event cordinators workshop held exclusively for the Landcare organisers and we were all able to discuss the event together. There was only one coordinator there who had previously organised the event so we were pretty much all in the same boat and therefore could feel comfortable asking questions. The thing I have learnt so far is that there really isn't any such thing as a silly question and if you have something nagging you - ask about it!
Look to previous events for what went well and what went wrong and speak to people who really know the organisation to become inspired. If you google Event Coordinator Checklists or even just Event Checklist there are some fantastic resources that help you to check everything off your list and make sure you don't forget anything.
I am creating an Action Plan to assign deadlines and responsibilities as well as a Crisis Continguency plan to make sure anything that goes wrong can be rectified.
On the day a good kit to have with you should have - emergency copies of all speeches or required materials (hard and soft copies), a black marker, gaffa tape, some sweet lollies and water for anyone feeling ill or faint, electrical cords (or AV cords) that may be required and a program for the day that outlines all of the events and there timings.
Good Luck and blog me if you need anything (I will do the same!)
Thankyou both for your comments! I thought I replied before, but somehow it mustn't have worked...
Olivier-
Yeah, it is nice to be able to say "I did that!"
AGreen- Landcare-
Thanks so much!
That workshop sounds great! Was it useful? I really would have liked to be involved in something like that.
I have slowly got on track, and I'm pushing forward. The event management stuff is really testing my logical thinking- which can never be a bad thing! I still have quite a bit of time until the main event, so I am working slowly through everything. Because it is the first event of this kind that SIDS and Kids is holding, I am having to borrow methods from everwhere else and make up the procedures. But it seems to be working though!
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