Skip to main content

We Had A Party


Since before Labor Day I have been working with a committee of three to plan a fund-raising event for the orchestra, and I’ll write about that here so that a year from now, when we likely will do this all over again, I’ll be able to look back at a record of the rights and wrongs committed.

This all started last summer when our general manager asked the acting event planner, Katy, to come up with some kind of dinner/dance fund-raising event. Maybe she didn’t specifically say “dance,” but that’s what I recall. Katy asked me to help, and we sat on this idea for a while. There was no time to put it together that summer, so we aimed for New Years and had a great plan for a bash. The hall we wanted to use wasn’t free, though, so we thought about Mardi Gras instead. But another money-asking non-profit hosts a big Mardi Gras event, so we aimed for a mid-winter ball instead. I don’t know why that idea didn’t fly, but then we got to summer and couldn’t put it off any longer.

We looked at different venues—there aren’t many around here that are aesthetically pleasing and crowd-accommodating, and we finally decided on the local country club. It doesn’t hold a lot of people, but we determined it would be sufficient, and their new chef has a great reputation, and they had a Saturday free that wouldn't conflict with local football games. Yes, we seriously had to consider that.

Next up was finding the right music. Part of our on-going planning (or non-planning) discussions last year included the possibility of producing a kind of live vintage radio program with an announcer and mock commercials you would have heard in the 40s and a big band. All of those ideas fell by the wayside for lack of available leadership at the time, and we decided to simplify the idea to just hiring a big band. An orchestra member recommended a great one from just 30 minutes away, The John Trapani Big Band. They were available, so we booked them.

Venue set. Food set. Music set. And that left us with promotion. We were not given a budget by the board, so we decided to go cheap, or free if you must. The orchestra’s e-mail mailing list has 1,600 names, so I designed a virtual postcard and sent it out. We included the same announcement in the newsletter and put it on Facebook and emailed it to as many of our personal friends we could dream of.

We even sent it to strangers—I mentally drove through town and made note of the larger businesses that weren’t currently orchestra supporters or on the mailing list and emailed them.  No one reserved seats from that exercise, but two businesses sent money. Then we decided to spend a little money and mailed out 450 actual postcards, then ran a press release in the local newspaper and did a live spot on the local radio station.

So, with all of that coverage, how many people do you think reserved seats for our big dinner/dance benefit? Take a guess, go ahead. OK, I’ll tell you—55, and that includes the three of us plus spouses. Not one performing orchestra member responded, not one concert sponsor responded who wasn’t already on the board and fewer than half the board members reserved seats. In fact, as many as five members didn’t bother to respond one way or the other and completely ignored repeated emails and boardroom discussions.

We came close to canceling the event and might have if the band hadn’t had a sizable kill fee, and we realized we would have lost more money by canceling than if we went ahead with it. (Actually, that was based on faulty calculations, and we lost about as much as the kill fee in the end).

So, 55 people—make that 53 because there were two no-shows—gathered for a great dinner and dancing to a 19-piece band. It was fun, it made a great impression on those people who did attend, and now people are talking about doing this again next year. Board members, those who participated, were encouraging and said we should look at this experience as the beginning of something and let go of the initial intent of making money. We had a party instead. We made friends and contacts, and that’s about as important if not more.

Will we do this again next year? From here, it seems likely, but we’ll have to figure out why so few people responded other than general indifference and lack of courtesy. We have to figure out what would get them off the couch, out the door, into their party duds and at the table with friends and music and a good cause. That’s a trick, evidently.

I will say, as a personal testimony, I wore a dress and heels. I bought a lovely new bracelet and had my nails done because they're finally long enough for such a frivolous thing. And Husband and I danced, which we haven't done since our last dance lesson months and months ago. People should get out more often because it's good for the soul and the self-esteem. Maybe that's what we should put on the invitations next year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Classic Green Bean Bake

In anticipation of Thanksgiving, I feel I must post a recipe with plenty of good old American tradition. The classic Green Bean Bake was invented in 1955 by Dorcas Reilly, a home economist who worked for the Campbell's Soup Company. A study was done determining that 50% of all Americans have eaten the classic Green Bean Bake, and 38% of those believe it is best served during the holidays, mainly Thanksgiving. So, for the other 50% and for those in other countries where this dish may be unfamiliar--my treat: The Classic Green Bean Bake serves 6 to 8 1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup 1/2 cup milk 1 teaspoon soy sauce Dash of fresh pepper 1 20-oz. bag frozen cut green beans, thawed* 1 2.8 oz can French-fried onions -Preheat the oven to 350 F -In a casserole dish, combine the soup, milk, soy sauce and pepper. Stir in the green beans and half of the onions. -Bake until bubbling, about 25 minutes. Top with the remaining onions and bake for 5 more minutes. Serve hot. *Or cook 1 ...
7 comments
Read more

Bring On the Bombs

In today's edition : I generally try to keep on top of cultural trends even if I don’t adopt them, but there is a growing movement that I have only just discovered. Not long ago, I was walking along in Berkeley, California while visiting my daughter, and I saw a signpost that had been covered with yarn, like someone had sewn a knitted scarf to it. It was colorful and randomly striped, and I pointed it out as if it were the most unusual thing in the world. That’s when my daughter explained the nature of what is known as yarn bombing. It’s when knitters attach something they’ve created to a public object, most often doing their deed stealthily and anonymously. They leave a “bomb,” so to speak, for no other purpose than to brighten up the place and to bring a little cheer to those passing by. Their work has been equated with graffiti, except that the woven yarn is not permanently installed and does no damage to the object it covers. And instead of signifying the territory of a street ...
2 comments
Read more

Cindy Loo Who In October

What is it with people and Cindy Loo Who? Of my last one hundred blog hits, forty have been direct visits from regular readers, and fifteen have been as a result of people searching for "Cindy Loo Who," the little pixie from Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas . A couple of years ago, I posted an image of the original Seuss illustration as compared to the TV cartoon image, and for some reason, that post is bringing in the crowds, relatively. Maybe it's the weather. It isn't even November yet, and already we've had frost and have had to dust off our winter coats. When it gets cold like this, I start to think about Christmasy things like listening to Nat King Cole and decorating the tree. It's ironic because I am offended when retailers start pushing holiday stuff early, but I don't mind my own private celebrations. When my sister and I were much younger and still living with our parents, we would pick a day in July, close the curtains to darken the ...
8 comments
Read more