Event Planning—GRBJ’s 40 Under Forty
One of my biggest work concerns last Tuesday was about Sharpies—where they were and why there weren’t enough of them.
I was, while frantically digging in a box of unused name tag holders for said Sharpies, in the midst of hosting my first event for my new company (i.e. executing my first event ever).
I’ve helped outscooped ice cream at apple festivals until my blisters had blisters at plenty of functions before, but never had to deal with ALL the details like best placement of a potted plant (answer: blocking the uneven floor), determine when to close what bar (answer: the one in the reception room, during the award ceremony to discourage additional noise) or address a crowd of 280 and announce honorees (with two names easily mispronounceable as unflattering synonyms for ‘butt’ and one wickedly authentic Latin name).
This event was mine*—missing Sharpies, quickly disappearing mini meatballs, 12 minutes of speaking and all. (*Minus a little awesomely helpful prep work from my predecessor.)
Overall, I was really happy with how Grand Rapids Business Journal’s 40 Under Forty event played out. One of the reasons I took this job and decided to add event planning to my resume was because all the Gemini Publications events are of personal/professional interest to me.
This one was especially because of a cool venue I was familiar with and a guest list of crazy talented/locally involved leaders. I wanted to mingle, celebrate and learn more about all of this year’s honorees—and that made planning and executing the event more fun than stressful.
We hosted the annual event in an awesome old warehouse/factory converted into an event space, which was a great fit for the young/hip personalities in attendance. Guests started arriving at 5:15, and by 5:30 (official event start time) the place was packed. We had two bars, roaming waitresses with appetizers (let’s not talk about how sad I am I didn’t get to try the peppered bacon dipped in chocolate with crushed pistachios) and finger food stations set up in the reception area (OMG to the mesquite bourbon glazed beef brisket and braised short rib spoon with brandied Michigan cherries and sweet potato puree).
An hour later our CEO briefly spoke, then our sponsor, then our publisher and then one of the judges who helped narrow down 130(ish) nominations to this year’s 40 honorees. And then me. I was mostly there to announce the winners, but also to give a little pre and post spiel highlighting our new website and introducing the live musician.
I must say my semi-spontaneous public speaking extravaganza of 2012 went off better than I could have hoped. The crowd was receptive to my humor/shameless marketing plugs, I was able to fill some awkward silence with on-the-fly jokes that gained more crowd giggles, and I pronounced all names correctly enough to not get corrected (i.e. no butt terminology). Given feedback from coworkers and guests, I feel like I rocked it.
So, one event down many more to go—the next will be in early March, with a much bigger venue, guest list and I’m sure bigger event-day issues too. I already feel more prepared after last night though, at least when it comes to public speaking and Sharpies.
I was, while frantically digging in a box of unused name tag holders for said Sharpies, in the midst of hosting my first event for my new company (i.e. executing my first event ever).
I’ve helped out
This event was mine*—missing Sharpies, quickly disappearing mini meatballs, 12 minutes of speaking and all. (*Minus a little awesomely helpful prep work from my predecessor.)
 |
| A brief break for photo booth fun with a coworker |
This one was especially because of a cool venue I was familiar with and a guest list of crazy talented/locally involved leaders. I wanted to mingle, celebrate and learn more about all of this year’s honorees—and that made planning and executing the event more fun than stressful.
We hosted the annual event in an awesome old warehouse/factory converted into an event space, which was a great fit for the young/hip personalities in attendance. Guests started arriving at 5:15, and by 5:30 (official event start time) the place was packed. We had two bars, roaming waitresses with appetizers (let’s not talk about how sad I am I didn’t get to try the peppered bacon dipped in chocolate with crushed pistachios) and finger food stations set up in the reception area (OMG to the mesquite bourbon glazed beef brisket and braised short rib spoon with brandied Michigan cherries and sweet potato puree).
An hour later our CEO briefly spoke, then our sponsor, then our publisher and then one of the judges who helped narrow down 130(ish) nominations to this year’s 40 honorees. And then me. I was mostly there to announce the winners, but also to give a little pre and post spiel highlighting our new website and introducing the live musician.
I must say my semi-spontaneous public speaking extravaganza of 2012 went off better than I could have hoped. The crowd was receptive to my humor/shameless marketing plugs, I was able to fill some awkward silence with on-the-fly jokes that gained more crowd giggles, and I pronounced all names correctly enough to not get corrected (i.e. no butt terminology). Given feedback from coworkers and guests, I feel like I rocked it.
So, one event down many more to go—the next will be in early March, with a much bigger venue, guest list and I’m sure bigger event-day issues too. I already feel more prepared after last night though, at least when it comes to public speaking and Sharpies.