What a week! My annual gala for JICNY was on Monday. It is the one event that we use to raise money to fund our annual budget. It’s always a stressful event as I need the funds and rely on the event. I work full time, so pulling this off as a volunteer is very stressful. We have also set the standard that people know our event is amazing and each year I leave on a high and lie awake that night wondering how we will do an even better event the next year. I also thought I could share some of the things I have learnt that can be applied to all our lives, not just event planning.
1. Give up control – this is hard for a control freak like me, but sometimes you have to realize that you need the help of others to make things happen.
2. Specialists – we live in an ever increasingly complex world. Previously we would have only outsourced the catering and invitations and now I use many vendors to help.
3. Full picture – it’s so easy to get caught up on one goal, such as how much are we bringing in. There are other measures of success like brand visibility, buzz and building young leadership and volunteers.
4. Brand – I always teach my networking participants that everything you do influences your brand, even where you meet someone says a lot about you. Did you meet a client in a diner or a hotel lobby bar? People know our events always have a certain standard and I make sure every part meets my brand standard from invites to music to food.
5. Sales – This is one of the most important lessons. No matter how many emails we send, people respond when you reach out to them personally.
6. Thanks – An event is a great way to say thank you to volunteers and people. We don’t have money to pay people but we can say thank you with an invite to a fun night out.
7. Histadlut – doing your best effort and staying focused regardless of anything going on. It’s so easy to get frustrated and disenchanted. You have to stay on the job until the end as you don’t know how your efforts impact the final outcome.
8. Vision – have a clear vision of what you want. So many people will share opinions and there is so much information out there that you need to be clear on your vision and trust your instincts.
These are small lessons we can apply when fighting for services for a special needs child, figuring out dating lives, planning for a family reunion etc…
I hope that you can use these lessons on your life too!
Originally published: October 27, 2013
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