Let’s walk through this, shall we?
Gala set up.
We had a sponsor breakfast Monday morning. Up early to host a breakfast for some of our amazing sponsors.
About half-way through breakfast, the phone calls start.
Volunteer with a car is waiting to load at the apartment. Can’t get in.
Interns stuck in traffic having trouble getting into he city.
Other volunteers can’t find boxes of the supplies.
Hotel waiting for us to unload in the space.
No cabs in town. (it’s pouring rain).
Printers need new documents.
etc. etc. etc.
There were about 300 boxes of supplies and sponsor products at our UPS store.
We had to get them to the hotel.
That’s apparently harder than it sounds on a rainy day in NYC
I was hiding in the UPS store while poor Becky literally tried to get run over so a taxi would stop for us.
We eventually got to the space.
The rest of the day is a bit of a blur.
If anyone said, “Can I help?”
They were immediately handed a list of huge responsibilities.
Becky and I didn’t talk or really see each all day.
Sarah (in from Houston) worked all day. She admitted later that she was pretty sure we weren’t going to pull this thing off.
Larry and Candi (in from Iowa) gave up their whole day as well. I think we sent Larry to the hardware store 17 times.
Ceci (one of the Event Leads) = unbelievable talent. Beautiful heart. Amazing person.
Candi saved the day on a number of displays.
We were still virtually coordinating volunteers, interns, host committees, sponsors, printers etc.
I’m new to the whole NYC event prep stuff.
I learned all sorts of new terms like “step and repeat” and “pipe and drape” and “#%@%*.”
5 minutes before the doors opened, we were still in our jeans and hanging pictures.
Good times.
