DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Bad Manners and Brimstone
HTML https://badmanners.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Entertaining and Hospitality
*****************************************************
#Post#: 16393--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this?
By: NyaChan Date: October 17, 2018, 10:51 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the delay everyone. We’ve had some big changes occur
(unrelated to my post) and tensions between the new staff and
volunteers in leadership positions have resulted in the certain
volunteers resigning or being fired. The nonprofit is an animal
rescue and I have decided to go back to just assisting with
animal care as I can’t support what the leadership chose to do.
I’ll leave the drama to those who seem to enjoy it.
I do appreciate getting your thoughts on the event even though I
will no longer be participating in planning. Getting
unvarnished opinions would have helped me argue more confidently
for doing things differently from the other organization if I
were still on the committee.
In case anyone is interested, I got in touch with my contact and
she gave me details on how their event turned out:
Raffle: over $11k in sales
Silent Auction: unknown, but several items were bought above
market value and every item had multiple bids
Food: This was odd – apparently their meet n’ greet reception
had food and alcohol which was included entirely and they had a
lot left over of both. The main event had items that ran out
while others still had trays left over. From the nature of the
items (meat vs. veggie), I suspect they didn’t order enough
vegetarian options to accommodate vegans and vegetarians. I
thought for sure they would have been wiped clean of everything
since they only spent 1k on the food and our last event cost 5k
in catering.
Tickets: Approx. 80 table tickets, 50 standing only tickets,
and 25 meet n’ greet tickets. She shared that they let a few
big donors from the meet n’ greet who didn’t buy tickets to the
event in anyways because they didn’t want to offend them by
asking them to pay again. They were a little short on
volunteers to staff the event which did not surprise me in the
slightest because they required people staffing to still buy a
ticket to attend. She said they discounted the tickets to $80,
but still!!
Speaker: TV personality with a pretty big fan base. I’m not
going to say the name only because I want to share what the
contact told me and I don’t want her to get in trouble. The
person’s staff was apparently difficult to work with and very
demanding. The rider in the contract was already a little over
the top IMO, but apparently they took blatant advantage of
whatever gestures were offered to them. When a volunteer
offered to pay to have dinner for the speaker delivered to their
green room during the event, staff ordered not just for the
speaker, but for themselves and picked out two entrees per
person + appetizers. Speaker was gracious in person and
unprompted reminded people to donate to the cause.
Overall: She regretted the tiered structure as some attendees
were confused as to what they had actually purchased despite the
org’s attempts to make it clear. That said, they did get a lot
of compliments, local news coverage, and requests from attendees
to make sure they get an invite back. I still think you have to
feed people a real meal if you charge them that much and I guess
I don’t really buy the idea that having the lesser $100 ticket
is “nice” so that people who can’t afford to pay $150 can still
attend.
#Post#: 16398--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this?
By: Chez Miriam Date: October 17, 2018, 11:18 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=NyaChan link=topic=734.msg16393#msg16393
date=1539791495]
Tickets: Approx. 80 table tickets, 50 standing only tickets,
and 25 meet n’ greet tickets. She shared that they let a few
big donors from the meet n’ greet who didn’t buy tickets to the
event in anyways because they didn’t want to offend them by
asking them to pay again. They were a little short on
volunteers to staff the event which did not surprise me in the
slightest because they required people staffing to still buy a
ticket to attend. She said they discounted the tickets to $80,
but still!!
[/quote]
Thanks for the update, NyaChan - sounds as though just helping
the animals would be a more harmonious way for you to continue
to help [it's what I would choose].
I think I'm turning into a grinch, because I do a lot less
volunteering/helping since I instituted a rule that doing "you"
a favour shouldn't cost me (much) money. I'm happy with small
spending because I want to, but $80 to stand on my feet/rush
around making things work OK doesn't sound as much fun as
feeding/cleaning/socialising animals!
#Post#: 16403--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: Hanna Date: October 17, 2018, 11:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
How does the $11K compare with prior events?
#Post#: 16496--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: NyaChan Date: October 18, 2018, 10:04 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Hanna link=topic=734.msg16403#msg16403
date=1539793886]
How does the $11K compare with prior events?
[/quote]
I know it is more than what they’ve made in the past but I’m
sorry, I don’t have the specific figures. I suspect their
donations for prizes were probably nicer than normal because
businesses had better advertising opportunities with the
connection to the speaker. When I went to say I couldn’t help, a
committee member told me we had secured a commitment from a
prominent brand of cat litter which would not normally come our
way. Who knows, maybe they’ll turn it out well or change their
mind on their own once they feel confident in recovering the
speaker fee. Fingers crossed!
#Post#: 16497--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: Aleko Date: October 18, 2018, 10:23 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote]They were a little short on volunteers to staff the event
which did not surprise me in the slightest because they required
people staffing to still buy a ticket to attend. She said they
discounted the tickets to $80, but still!![/quote]
They wanted people to pay $80 for the privilege of doing the
work at the event? :o :o :o Flaming Norah! That's downright
insulting; I'm surprised they got anyone at all to do that.
#Post#: 16509--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: Rose Red Date: October 18, 2018, 11:10 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I agree. That's crazy and I wonder why anyone volunteered at
all.
They should be paid with a free meal at least but even nothing
is better than making them pay to work!
#Post#: 16591--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: jpcher Date: October 19, 2018, 9:32 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the update . . . I think you dodged a bullet by
getting out.
Too bad your organizers are in such a disorganized state. It
could have been a nice events with the changes that were
suggested here.
#Post#: 16592--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: Luci Date: October 19, 2018, 9:41 am
---------------------------------------------------------
If there are people willing and able to pay to work, it’s their
decision. If they feel forced to do this by social pressure,
it’s their problem.
#Post#: 16595--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: lmyrs Date: October 19, 2018, 10:04 am
---------------------------------------------------------
It sounds like the other event was successful, if a little short
of volunteers. They raised more money than normal and the
speaker did their job.
I get lots of people wouldn't like this, but it seems a lot of
people do, and fundraising is about getting the most money.
#Post#: 18952--------------------------------------------------
Re: Would you attend this? Updated page 3
By: bopper Date: November 13, 2018, 4:14 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The VIP meet and greet thing sounds good..if people want to talk
to the speaker.
For the regular tickets...
How many people are motivated to go to this fundraiser? Is it
one of those deals where there are many corporate tables?
How many people want to see this person speak?
What is there to do for 4 hours?
*****************************************************
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page