Embracing Possible Disaster

Yesterday I learned that I have in fact entered the 'seasoned' event planner land. If there is one thing I've learned while planning events it's that something will ALWAYS go wrong. It's probably why wedding planners go crazy because they know something is going to go wrong and they know someone is going to be mad at them thinking it's their fault. The problem is, anyone who has planned events will know that most of the time the problems encountered are not at all the fault of the person planning - you can plan things to perfection and SOMETHING will still find a way to go wrong. I've learned this fact and I've dealt with this fact - yesterday I embraced this fact.

Let me start with a quick run down of what I do - most people I know still don't really understand what I do so don't worry if you are one of them. On the outside I'm a glorified event planner, but much much more goes into planning environmental outreach because they are not your standard - you stand there, she stands there, kiss the bride, and we're done. Instead, I have to first find out what a community is dealing with regarding environmental issues (this in itself is a process), then I need to find a few topics that can be informed through some kind of workshop (not all issues lend themselves to being fixed through more information - that is one fact that is painfully clear after working here for 3 years), then I need to better refine what it is about that topic we will have a meeting on, who will speak and what they will each cover in their talks, if there will be any sort of field trip, demonstration or activity to help people learn the concepts, whether we will be providing lunch and if so where it will come from, what sort of expertise groups will be invited, where the meeting can be held, how the room should be set up, what resources should be there to help them, who is actually attending, who said they were attending and are now not attending, who didn't say they were attending, but are in fact attending (registration is a royal pain in the butt by the way), finalize the agenda, make an evaluation, make enough copies of everything that you have enough but not too many (since you never know who is going to back out at the last minute, or randomly decide to come), pack up computers, projectors, cameras, coffee stuff (way more important than you may think), food stuff, drink stuff, activity stuff, extra pens and tape and anything else you may randomly need that day, and finally get all of that to the place you are having the meeting, provide appropriate introductions for the speakers, provide appropriate segways between the speakers, provide appropriate information for anyone who randomly asks, while at the same time dealing with all the last minute random stuff like not having enough trash bags, or having a weird sound in the room, or someone needing to make a call somewhere. Is that a good enough description? And mind you each of those things has it's own list within that - which makes for a pretty sweet to do list on my desk when I have 5 of them in the next 6 months.

So, back to me embracing possible disaster yesterday. As I mentioned there is always something weird that happens. For instance at the first meeting I ever hosted I made coffee with saltwater because I didn't realize that the location had saltwater intrusion and no one bothered to tell me - thus poor Al had to stand at the water fountain (which had the only fresh water in the place) filling cups to pour into a 20 cup coffee maker while I started the meeting and assured people that freshwater coffee would be ready soon. Another time a tropical storm happened to hit 2 days before the event and washed out the road that went to the event site so we had to send out an e-mail to have people park at one spot and we took them in cars with 4 wheel drive to the location. Another time we were doing a dune grass planting demonstration and the people that were selling us the dune grass changed the prices and I was supposed to be paying 2000 dollars for vegetation - yeah that would not have gone over well with purchasing. You get the picture - random, and you never know what it may be.

Fast forward to yesterday. Nicole (she does the same program in the northern part of the state and we are both doing this seminar this week, so we are helping each other out on the day of) woke up at 4:45 so we could shower and head down to where the actual meeting was in time to set up and have people arrive between 8 and 8:30. On the way down we needed to stop at Jason's Deli and pick up the 65 boxed lunches - getting these lunches was their own fiasco because of purchasing requirements and what can and cannot be bought with certain processes, and who can and cannot make lunches since the meeting was kinda in the middle of nowhere. Jason's Deli had made my day the week before when they agreed to both accept a purchase order, and allow me to pick up the boxes at 5:30am. So, Nicole and I head on over and as we are pulling in the parking lot I say 'hmmm, it doesn't look like anyone is there, maybe they are in the back'. Nope, they were not in the back, they were not in the kitchen, they were no one. NO ONE was there. So, it's 5:30am, and in 3 hours 65 people are going to be at a meeting an hour and a half drive away expecting that at lunch time they are going to be fed. And this is when I realized that I had handled a few disasters in my short time of meeting planning - I said to Nicole 'Well, let's go, we've got to set up. I'll figure out who can bring us lunches once people wake up and get to work. You want to get coffee from Dunkin Donuts?' No panic, no 'I'm going to puke', nothing, just a very calm 'keep it moving' attitude trusting in the fact that somehow, someway it was going to work out.

After 5 calls to various people once it was a reasonable hour to call people and 5 voicemail messages, I finally talked to wonderful wonderful Kim who agreed to pick up the lunches and drive them down to me which would get them there right around 11:30. Unfortunately around the time I finally talked to Kim and knew the lunch situation had been dealt with, I had to start the meeting and not all my speakers had yet arrived. Again, it's one of those moments where you just go with it and assume it's going to work out in the end. I did the introductory 15 minute talk and handed it off to our first speaker who had a half hour. The next speaker was not there yet. Neither was the one that was supposed to go after him - which means that I couldn't just slide her up to his slot and keep things moving. No the way it looked we were going to come to a screeching halt 45 minutes into the workshop. So, I sit and wait. It's 9:15 and no speaker, 9:20 and no speaker, 9:25 and Billy is taking questions and no speaker. And just about the time I'm thinking - well, I guess we are going to take a coffee break and see if Berry can talk early my speaker pulls in. They apparently stopped for breakfast on the way - wasn't that nice of them. So, I get the next set of speakers up and at 10:15 reach the morning break. There is something about the morning break where if most of the issues have been solved you know that it will go ok from here - I'm not sure what all the problems happen between the times of 5:30am and 9:30 am, but I'm telling you from experience that they do. The break ends, I introduce the next speaker, and the next, set up the panel that will discuss regulation stuff. The lunches arrive - Nicole helps Kim set them up, Kim runs out and gets me more cups, the panel goes great. We break for lunch, come back and the final speaker starts, Nicole and I break down lunch boxes and organize the front for the end, we do the planning activity and people are really into it, we finish up and they fill out evaluations, we get congratulations on a job well done as they go out, clean up, pack up, and drive back to Charleston.

And at 5:00pm we sit on my couch and each apple pie while discussing the fact we have to do this all over again on Thursday...hopefully without the missing lunch and speaker issues...but I'm sure it will be something!