Event Coordinating

Fundraisers

S.A.F.E. Place's annual gala event was a fundraiser called Celebrity Server. By reaching out to donors and other stakeholders, I recruited leaders in the community to purchase tickets to the fundraiser for themselves as well as their clients and staff. In this way, we selected 300 people of influence and status in the community to attend our charity auction event. I coordinated opportunities for the influential donors to speak publicly about our event to their networks. In order to sell tickets, I also promoted the event on social media, through targeted ads and to our followers.

An important aspect of our event was the silent and live auction. Through cold calling businesses and navigating corporate giving departments, I obtained donations for the auction, like vacation rentals, airline tickets, and valuable jewelry. I negotiated contracts with the venue, as well as entertainment. I also recruited individuals to serve as event staff to run check in, supervise the silent auction, and provide other support for guests, and I supervised those individuals working during the event.

The Celebrity Server event was a huge success, grossing over $600,000 for the organization.

Trainings and Conferences

I planned and anchored dozens of trainings, meetings, seminars and conferences while I was at Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence. I was extremely well-suited for that job because I had previously been responsible for planning and anchoring trainings for staff and volunteers at S.A.F.E. Place.

In both roles, I planned the event by negotiating contracts with the venue, caterers, and trainers and speakers. I also created marketing materials and was responsible for advertising the events, ensuring consistency of brand. I handled registration, and attendee communication, and kept all records in the constituent management database up to date.

Organization

I provide my team with documentation that they will need to stay informed about what will happen at the event, what is expected of them, and other areas where we will need support. I may call these documents a Banquet Event Order, or BEO, even if we are using multiple vendors. The BEO should be organized in a way that is quick to read and understand, but also contains all of the important information for the event. For events that span multiple days, the BEOs are separated by day.

Another important document for event planning is an internal agenda, or run-of-show. This is not the same as an agenda or program that is shared with event attendees. The internal agenda will have much more behind the scenes information that will help everyone on the team know where they should be at any given time.

Some helpful programs that I have used when planning and managing events are Little Green Light, Salesforce, Donorperfect, OneCause, and, of course, Microsoft Excel and Word. These programs can be used for tracking registration, fees, running reports, and organizing the information for the BEOs and agendas.

Virtual events have become a staple of life and are particularly convenient when it comes to conferences and trainings. In 2020, when many individuals were working from home, I led the way for company to adopt virtual trainings, complimented by learning management software. I conducted research and facilitated an internal training on best practices for live-streaming trainings for adult learners, with an additional focus on accessibility. My internal training was then added as an offering for other organizations throughout the state who needed to adapt to virtual trainings and meetings.

My crisis management skills come in handy when running events. I am "in-the-zone" during events and I am very flexible, when a problem arises I look for solutions instead of melting down.