Last night was the work party for the upcoming Associate Matron/Associate Patron workshop. We had an awesome turn out of ten helpers who got everything done in just a couple of hours. We assembled almost two hundred attendee folders, put discs and packets together, and prepared table numbers and toppers. That doesn't count all the work that my awesome secretary put in beforehand to prepare the name badges and the CD labels and sleeves nor all the printing and prep done ahead of time so that the stuff to go in the folders and packets was ready for processing. We didn't need a truck to get the prep materials to the work party, but that is only because my secretary and I put the pick up books together at my house last week so that the binders wouldn't have to attend the work party.
As we head into the last couple of days before lift off, of course the thousand and one little things start popping up, little questions and arrangements that take one minute each, but one minute times one thousand is still seventeen hours of time and so far, I still have a day job too and traveling on the weekends for other people's stuff. I am reminding myself that sleep is highly overrated and that if you give that up, there is plenty of time for everything else, really! I was reminded by someone else however, that I really need to try to sleep at least one night in here somewhere because I can't afford to be tired and cranky for the workshop and putting it on is a seriously high energy event.
Even though I have a great team helping me out on presenting the training modules, there is still a lot of energy that goes into orchestrating the thing, introducing the speakers, taking questions and answers, schmoozing during the meal periods, running the discussion groups and report backs and so on and all of that I do myself, so I really should make an appointment for sleep in there somewhere. I'll have to figure that out real soon, I guess.
The other painful part though is that the rest of the world is rude enough not to stop when I am busy with this. Because of the time line of other activities, I can't just set everything else aside and concentrate on the workshop. I have clothes that are in prep that need to be ready a couple of weeks from now, more events eight weeks and eleven weeks after this and of course the calendar and appointments and all of that to finish. So the finish line is not really Sunday by any stretch of the imagination - it is just the finish of one of many things. Still, getting something DONE has got to feel good, right? I'll let you know next week. :-)
I guess that if I was an event planner or a wedding coordinator for a living, this is what my life would be like, with some events in the long range plan stages, others midway and others about to happen. You know, I've been trying to come up with a retirement job - maybe I should consider event planning. After all, once you've been through the Grand Line, you are an expert at it, whether you wanted to be or not.
Next weekend is the big workshop in Palo Alto - if I don't survive, I won't be able to tell you about it.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A Friend With A Truck
[Note - This was for last week, but evidently didn't post - Sorry!]
One of the things that has always struck me as interesting is that a petition for membership in the Order of the Eastern Star does not have this question on it - Do you have good knees? My tongue is firmly in my cheek when I ask that, but I admit that once, many years ago, when I was at a Grand Conductress reception, just for fun, I counted how many times we stood up and sat down from beginning when the Hostess came in until the end when we sat down after the closing benediction to wait for our turn to go to the buffet tables. I didn't count this past weekend at the reception, but years ago, the count was seventeen. I don't know why that seemed like a lot, especially when you spread that over three hours, but the standing and sitting always seems to come in groups, so it isn't really evenly distributed over the time with rest periods in between.
I was thinking about this, not only because we attended a lovely Grand Conductress reception this past weekend, but because I was thinking of other questions that no one ever thinks to pose before we are asked to do things and the one that struck me this week was that before you get into the Grand Line, someone ought to ask - do you have a friend with a truck?
This past week, we went to pick up the hard copies of the Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron books that will be given out at the workshop at the end of the month. When we set up the workshop, I didn't want to charge everyone who was coming for the cost of a hard copy of the book in a binder because not everyone wants a hard copy book in a binder and making every pay an extra $25 when not everyone wanted one didn't seem fair. So we let people order paper if they wanted it and then I had that number of paper copies run off at my printer so we didn't make a bunch of expensive extras.
Early on in the process, my partner had commented that maybe the people in Southern California could help put the books together. I did manage not to drop the phone with laughter but confess to chuckling a little bit when I asked him how we would get the books north for the workshop if we put them together down there. But I did start laughing when he said - you don't think that we need more than a couple dozen do you? Of course, that was very uncharitable of me and I apologized, especially since he has never had the experience of helping out other people in the Grand Line and seeing what happens. But I knew that we'd have more than a hundred orders so twenty or so did seem pretty funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, this is where my friend with the truck comes in because that is what was needed to pick up the hard copy binders and bring them to my house last Tuesday and the same truck is going to take them to the workshop on the Thursday beforehand. We had so many orders that with the books standing up, the boxes filled out an entire layer in the bed of the truck and not a mini truck either! A full sized pick up! With more papers tucked in the cab behind the seats too!
So if you don't have a friend with a truck, what do you do? Make fifteen trips with three boxes each time? For that matter, what do you do if you don't have a print shop? The average book size is about two hundred pages, although in an odd break from what is commonly known, the 2013 Worthy Patron books are actually more pages than the 2013 Worthy Matron books - go figure! And the total came to about 36,000 black and white copies all of which had to be hole punched. Now the print shop has a drill for that, but I am sure that in days past, some poor Grand Line officer, along with all of her Chapter, her friends and those she could beg, borrow or steal, sat somewhere doing all that punching by hand.
So it isn't just about time and money, it is also about local resources - you need a friend with a truck!
Next weekend, I am in Auburn and Rancho Cordova.
One of the things that has always struck me as interesting is that a petition for membership in the Order of the Eastern Star does not have this question on it - Do you have good knees? My tongue is firmly in my cheek when I ask that, but I admit that once, many years ago, when I was at a Grand Conductress reception, just for fun, I counted how many times we stood up and sat down from beginning when the Hostess came in until the end when we sat down after the closing benediction to wait for our turn to go to the buffet tables. I didn't count this past weekend at the reception, but years ago, the count was seventeen. I don't know why that seemed like a lot, especially when you spread that over three hours, but the standing and sitting always seems to come in groups, so it isn't really evenly distributed over the time with rest periods in between.
I was thinking about this, not only because we attended a lovely Grand Conductress reception this past weekend, but because I was thinking of other questions that no one ever thinks to pose before we are asked to do things and the one that struck me this week was that before you get into the Grand Line, someone ought to ask - do you have a friend with a truck?
This past week, we went to pick up the hard copies of the Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron books that will be given out at the workshop at the end of the month. When we set up the workshop, I didn't want to charge everyone who was coming for the cost of a hard copy of the book in a binder because not everyone wants a hard copy book in a binder and making every pay an extra $25 when not everyone wanted one didn't seem fair. So we let people order paper if they wanted it and then I had that number of paper copies run off at my printer so we didn't make a bunch of expensive extras.
Early on in the process, my partner had commented that maybe the people in Southern California could help put the books together. I did manage not to drop the phone with laughter but confess to chuckling a little bit when I asked him how we would get the books north for the workshop if we put them together down there. But I did start laughing when he said - you don't think that we need more than a couple dozen do you? Of course, that was very uncharitable of me and I apologized, especially since he has never had the experience of helping out other people in the Grand Line and seeing what happens. But I knew that we'd have more than a hundred orders so twenty or so did seem pretty funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there.
Anyway, this is where my friend with the truck comes in because that is what was needed to pick up the hard copy binders and bring them to my house last Tuesday and the same truck is going to take them to the workshop on the Thursday beforehand. We had so many orders that with the books standing up, the boxes filled out an entire layer in the bed of the truck and not a mini truck either! A full sized pick up! With more papers tucked in the cab behind the seats too!
So if you don't have a friend with a truck, what do you do? Make fifteen trips with three boxes each time? For that matter, what do you do if you don't have a print shop? The average book size is about two hundred pages, although in an odd break from what is commonly known, the 2013 Worthy Patron books are actually more pages than the 2013 Worthy Matron books - go figure! And the total came to about 36,000 black and white copies all of which had to be hole punched. Now the print shop has a drill for that, but I am sure that in days past, some poor Grand Line officer, along with all of her Chapter, her friends and those she could beg, borrow or steal, sat somewhere doing all that punching by hand.
So it isn't just about time and money, it is also about local resources - you need a friend with a truck!
Next weekend, I am in Auburn and Rancho Cordova.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Repondez S'il Vous Plait
This past weekend was the last Official Visit for 2012 and another Grand Officer reception. While I was reminded that the next Official Visit in this State will be mine, causing a momentary heart beat skip, I was able to calm myself by remember that the next Official Visit is still six months from now, so a bit less immediate than it sounded. Whew!
But the reception, combined with a comment about the Worthy Matron dresses, combined with getting the workshop done, combined with getting the invitations for the Revealing of the 2013 Grand Officers printed brought to mind an interesting topic that does have some elements of frustration in it. Now you may think that a reception, a dress, a workshop and a Revealing have nothing in common, but they do. What they have in common are that they are all things that have a response request and deadline.
I have discovered, to my dismay, but not my shock I confess, that some people are really bad about letting you know they are coming to a free event. In fact, there are some occasions where I don't even bother worrying about RSVPs anymore because I just know that I won't get them. As for orders being on time, many people are wonderful about that, but enough are not that it really creates bother.
On receptions and other events like the Revealing, where the event is open to whomever wants to come, the Past Grands as a rule are very, very good about letting people know that they are coming which is important because you want to have chairs in the East for sure and maybe courtesies also for them, so that part works very well. But I have pretty much given up on getting a general membership count for such things. I've now had three receptions, Grand Warder, Grand Marshal and Grand Conductress, and in each instance I have had to tell my chairman a number to expect based on a guesstimate from previous experience. For the Warder and Grand Conductress receptions, we pretty much hit our target number spot on. I may have had twenty empty chairs in the East at my reception last year, but less than a dozen empty in the audience, so that is about as perfect as you can get. But my Grand Marshal reception popped all expectations and we had to bring in two extra tables and my Chapter members had to eat in the kitchen because they gave their tables to guests. Yay for my awesome Chapter members, but sigh on not knowing who is coming.
I have the same expectation for the Revealing. My chairman wanted to know about RSVP information and I told her to go ahead and put an e-mail address or a phone number on the invite, but not to expect that we could actually plan food based on getting those RSVPs because that just doesn't happen. We have a gigantic room, so I am not worried about running out of seats. I just hope we get the right amount of food, not too much, not too little because food is expensive and I hate to see it wasted, but I also hate the thought of guests going unsatisfied. My mother would never live it down if I threw a party and anyone left wanting more food. Sigh some more!
Of course, it gets more tricky with dress and workshop orders. On the dress form, which was handed out and then mailed out last year with a due date of March 15, I am told that usually only about thirty people get those things in on time and the other two-thirds of the people tend to trickle them in all summer. Of course, the fabric can't be ordered until all the orders are in or the ordering is closed, so the ordering has to be held open until about now or lots of people wouldn't get the dress they want.
On the workshop, the deadline was July 6 because I needed to take everything to the printer on July 11 and I needed counts. Lots of people did sign up on time and that was Awesome! And there were some people who e-mailed me to tell me that they were coming and wanted to order stuff and had just put the stuff in the mail and they are great too because I don't mind getting the paperwork later if it means that I have the right count for the printer and especially the right count for the caterer. Food really is expensive!!!
But what do you do with people who mail their stuff late and don't tell you that it is on the way? You don't want to turn them down because you want them to come and participate and get the materials, but oh what a total bother! I ordered a few extra things, expecting some lateness because of my experience from the past two years, but I have a feeling that I will still end up making a last minute Kinko's run to get just two or three more somethings ready to go because I really want every single person who can attend or who wants the materials to get them. Sigh a third time!
Next weekend I will be in El Segundo and Los Angeles.
But the reception, combined with a comment about the Worthy Matron dresses, combined with getting the workshop done, combined with getting the invitations for the Revealing of the 2013 Grand Officers printed brought to mind an interesting topic that does have some elements of frustration in it. Now you may think that a reception, a dress, a workshop and a Revealing have nothing in common, but they do. What they have in common are that they are all things that have a response request and deadline.
I have discovered, to my dismay, but not my shock I confess, that some people are really bad about letting you know they are coming to a free event. In fact, there are some occasions where I don't even bother worrying about RSVPs anymore because I just know that I won't get them. As for orders being on time, many people are wonderful about that, but enough are not that it really creates bother.
On receptions and other events like the Revealing, where the event is open to whomever wants to come, the Past Grands as a rule are very, very good about letting people know that they are coming which is important because you want to have chairs in the East for sure and maybe courtesies also for them, so that part works very well. But I have pretty much given up on getting a general membership count for such things. I've now had three receptions, Grand Warder, Grand Marshal and Grand Conductress, and in each instance I have had to tell my chairman a number to expect based on a guesstimate from previous experience. For the Warder and Grand Conductress receptions, we pretty much hit our target number spot on. I may have had twenty empty chairs in the East at my reception last year, but less than a dozen empty in the audience, so that is about as perfect as you can get. But my Grand Marshal reception popped all expectations and we had to bring in two extra tables and my Chapter members had to eat in the kitchen because they gave their tables to guests. Yay for my awesome Chapter members, but sigh on not knowing who is coming.
I have the same expectation for the Revealing. My chairman wanted to know about RSVP information and I told her to go ahead and put an e-mail address or a phone number on the invite, but not to expect that we could actually plan food based on getting those RSVPs because that just doesn't happen. We have a gigantic room, so I am not worried about running out of seats. I just hope we get the right amount of food, not too much, not too little because food is expensive and I hate to see it wasted, but I also hate the thought of guests going unsatisfied. My mother would never live it down if I threw a party and anyone left wanting more food. Sigh some more!
Of course, it gets more tricky with dress and workshop orders. On the dress form, which was handed out and then mailed out last year with a due date of March 15, I am told that usually only about thirty people get those things in on time and the other two-thirds of the people tend to trickle them in all summer. Of course, the fabric can't be ordered until all the orders are in or the ordering is closed, so the ordering has to be held open until about now or lots of people wouldn't get the dress they want.
On the workshop, the deadline was July 6 because I needed to take everything to the printer on July 11 and I needed counts. Lots of people did sign up on time and that was Awesome! And there were some people who e-mailed me to tell me that they were coming and wanted to order stuff and had just put the stuff in the mail and they are great too because I don't mind getting the paperwork later if it means that I have the right count for the printer and especially the right count for the caterer. Food really is expensive!!!
But what do you do with people who mail their stuff late and don't tell you that it is on the way? You don't want to turn them down because you want them to come and participate and get the materials, but oh what a total bother! I ordered a few extra things, expecting some lateness because of my experience from the past two years, but I have a feeling that I will still end up making a last minute Kinko's run to get just two or three more somethings ready to go because I really want every single person who can attend or who wants the materials to get them. Sigh a third time!
Next weekend I will be in El Segundo and Los Angeles.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Deja Vu All Over Again
So how many times can you reach the point where you are almost done with something? Have you ever noticed that when you are in the last ten percent of a task and you think you are just about done, something comes unstuck and then you are not quite about done, so you fix that and something else gets fuzzy and you fix that and so on and so forth. I could swear that a number of comics I have read and cartoons I have seen build on this premise that there is always one more leak in the dyke than you can plug with your hands, feet and nose. :-)
Sometimes, when you can't get something done, you have to get it to a certain point and then decide that you are done, at least for now. The draft calendar for example, simply has to go to print for the workshop and unfortunately, it seems that some of the people in organizations other than mine are not quite as fully fleshed out on the details of their events as we are. So it looks like we have dates reserved and sometimes places but no times and sometimes no places. But since these things are for other people to decide, we are just going to go with the calendar we've got without them and hope that in another month, when it is time for the Itinerary to go to print, these things will be filled out. Sigh!
Appointments are proceeding well and hopefully we will be all finished with all of those in time for the Itinerary. I still have a few people that I have not asked yet and a few that I have asked that haven't gotten back to me, but I have heard a rumor that sometimes people go on vacation and don't answer their phones or their e-mail during that time. Can you imagine that? Disconnected people - Wow! I wasn't sure that was allowed in this world any more.
The agendas for all the Schools are done and we have started lining up the staff members to teach at the various events. And the books and the workshop packet materials, all but the infernal calendar, are ready to go to the printer. I am still feeling a little crunched though, because there is plenty still to do and we are picking up our travel schedule again, starting tonight, so I will be back to squeezing things in at the airport, late evenings at the office, and riding in the back seat of the car. Of course, the nice thing about the back seat is that you can put a pillow behind you and stretch out your legs and put the laptop in your lap and type away. At least, I can, thank goodness. Some people I hear can't look down in the car. That would be tough.
I have to believe that planning for the year is actually harder than doing the year, to keep alive the hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not in fact an oncoming train, but of course I could just be drinking the Kool Aid when I think that.
This weekend, I am going to Yorba Linda, Riverside and the Grand Treasurer's reception, which is someplace that I can't remember, but I just get in the car and the car goes to the right place and then I get out and I am there and then I get back in the car and it takes me someplace else and that is the right place too. It must be a magic car. :-)
Sometimes, when you can't get something done, you have to get it to a certain point and then decide that you are done, at least for now. The draft calendar for example, simply has to go to print for the workshop and unfortunately, it seems that some of the people in organizations other than mine are not quite as fully fleshed out on the details of their events as we are. So it looks like we have dates reserved and sometimes places but no times and sometimes no places. But since these things are for other people to decide, we are just going to go with the calendar we've got without them and hope that in another month, when it is time for the Itinerary to go to print, these things will be filled out. Sigh!
Appointments are proceeding well and hopefully we will be all finished with all of those in time for the Itinerary. I still have a few people that I have not asked yet and a few that I have asked that haven't gotten back to me, but I have heard a rumor that sometimes people go on vacation and don't answer their phones or their e-mail during that time. Can you imagine that? Disconnected people - Wow! I wasn't sure that was allowed in this world any more.
The agendas for all the Schools are done and we have started lining up the staff members to teach at the various events. And the books and the workshop packet materials, all but the infernal calendar, are ready to go to the printer. I am still feeling a little crunched though, because there is plenty still to do and we are picking up our travel schedule again, starting tonight, so I will be back to squeezing things in at the airport, late evenings at the office, and riding in the back seat of the car. Of course, the nice thing about the back seat is that you can put a pillow behind you and stretch out your legs and put the laptop in your lap and type away. At least, I can, thank goodness. Some people I hear can't look down in the car. That would be tough.
I have to believe that planning for the year is actually harder than doing the year, to keep alive the hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not in fact an oncoming train, but of course I could just be drinking the Kool Aid when I think that.
This weekend, I am going to Yorba Linda, Riverside and the Grand Treasurer's reception, which is someplace that I can't remember, but I just get in the car and the car goes to the right place and then I get out and I am there and then I get back in the car and it takes me someplace else and that is the right place too. It must be a magic car. :-)
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