Well, starting a blog right before our biggest event of the year was a great way to lapse in updating it for a while! We’re finally starting to catch up after a very successful luncheon celebrating Susan B. Anthony’s 192nd birthday.
From my perspective the luncheon went very smoothly. Our team seemed to run like a well-oiled machine. I hardly even saw any of the other staff during the event because we were all so busy doing our own tasks.
The days before the luncheon I worked non-stop to acquire names of attendees from sponsors, table captains, and individual seat purchasers so I could enter them into our database and assign them to tables. The Monday before the luncheon I output all of this precious information and printed out about 900 name tags which the amazing Friends of the Susan B. Anthony House spent all afternoon assembling for me. Then two hours before the luncheon began, a bevy of volunteers and I set about the task of laying out all the name tags for attendees to pick up on their way
in. As guests poured in, there didn’t seem to be too many problems or bottlenecks, so I consider the job a success.
Meanwhile, other House staff and volunteers were setting up all of the tables, placing 90 table cards, laying out 900 programs, 900 donation cards and 900 pens.
At the same time still more staff and volunteers were setting up the museum shop and the Nursing Friends of Susan B. Anthony display.
While all of our set-up was happening we also had Marc Hamilton from Hamilton AV setting up the audio visual equipment. Again this year, we had closed captioning set up in the Convention Center, and a webcast for out of town donors and members.
This doesn’t even bring into account the wonderful work all of the Rochester Riverside Convention Center staff put in! I am totally impressed every year by how deftly they manage to serve so many people so efficiently.
Did you know that all of this and more happened behind the scenes? I know before I participated in this kind of event planning, I never put much thought into what goes into it.
One thing I feel the need to emphasize, is that we love this! It is hard work, but it is so wonderful to throw a party for our friends. And for me it is a joy to be able to put faces and personalities to all of you whose names I see as I work in our database or whose voices I hear on the telephone! So if I met you or crossed paths with you at all on Wednesday, it was wonderful to meet you or see you again, and if you didn’t make it to the luncheon, I hope to see you there next year!
I’ll tell you, when I had a small gathering at my house last weekend, after this luncheon for 900 a party for 12 sure felt like a breeze!
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Claire Hawley Zarcone
Administrative Assistant
Susan B. Anthony House
17 Madison Street
Rochester, NY 14608
585-279-7490 ext. 10