In Part 1, we talked about your assignment, and went through the steps required to answer the journalist's five W's +1. In this concluding section, we'll talk about how to build and lead your team to success.
Let's see. You'll need to let your employees know about the dinner. You can use your company's established business communications vehicles (e.g., employee newsletters, memoranda, electronic mail if you have it, employee meetings, bulletin board flyers). But, since this is going to be an elegant dinner, you may want to send out invitations to those who will attend (i.e., employees, stockholders, non-employee members of the board of directors, large suppliers, clients).
You'll need to hire a graphic artist to design the invitation, and the outer and return envelopes. Add to team: Graphic artist, commercial printer. Add to budget: Invitation costs (design, printing).
This means you'll also need someone to collect the invitations when they're returned, and perhaps to enter the information on a data base, from which you'll generate your check-in lists and table place cards. Add to team: Registration committee chair and two helpers. Add tasks: Graphic artist and printer (place cards). Add to budget: Place card costs (design, printing).
You decide that flowers would add to the elegance of the evening -- no, not expensive orchid corsages and boutonnieres for everyone -- table centerpieces, perhaps some greenery around the stage and podium, leis for special guests.
You need to add another person to your team -- someone who'll be responsible for researching, recommending, and facilitating delivery of the flower arrangements, and presentation of the leis to the designated guests. Add to team: Flowers sub-chair and at least five helpers (a total of six, to pick up the flowers, and to present the flowers at the dinner). Add to budget: Cost of flowers.
The employees are expecting to be entertained. You're in charge of that. For your dinner event, this means two things: (1) You need to hire some classy entertainers to provide music during the cocktail reception, and (2) you need to get some employees to get up on stage after dinner and entertain everybody else. Remember, this was mandated by the executive committee.
Your committee is growing by leaps and bounds. You need someone who can audition, select, and babysit the hired entertainment, plus someone who will plan the employee entertainment. Add to team: Music chair, employee entertainment chair (who will form his own committee). Add to budget: Musicians' fees, meals for the musicians, and employee entertainment costs (subject to recommendation by the sub-committee chair).
You need to organize a program. For your dinner, this means appointing someone to be master of ceremonies (emcee), introducing the special guests, presenting the employee entertainment, arranging for the chairman of the board's speech, and acknowledging those who helped.
(It's not a terribly difficult task, but you should know that if you can't find an emcee, you're probably going to be up on stage that night, so don't be surprised.)
Find someone to be emcee and include that person on your committee. Add to team: Emcee. Add to budget: Nothing.
Insurance is important when some types of special events are produced, including booth participation in an exhibition, parades, fairs and other celebrations, and demonstrations that involve children, to name just a few.
Do you need any kind of additional insurance? Probably not. Most companies are well-covered for employee activities, hotels are covered for functions in their facilities. But it never hurts to ask. Do this task yourself.
Let's talk about the entertainment for a moment. Remember, there are two types at your function -- hired musicians, and employees.
Where do you find musicians? There are musicians, and there are musicians. There is the neighbor's son and his garage band, and there is the string quartet composed of moonlighting city symphony musicians. There are bands that belong to the Musicians's Union, and those that don't. There are musical school ensembles, high school bands, entertainers who are sponsored by large companies, Aunt Betsy's daughter who plays the violin quite well, barbershop quarters, etc., etc.
Here's a handy tip. Look in the Yellow Pages under "Musicians" for background cocktail music -- especially duets and small ensembles. You should find talent sufficient for your needs. They are all very good, and you'll find many who can give your cocktail reception the elegant feel that's required. For larger stage performances, look under "Entertainers."
One question that always arises is, "Should we feed the musicians?" The short answer is "yes." The long answer is "yes, but . . ."
Generally speaking, you should feed the musicians. It doesn't have to be the sumptuous dinner you're serving everybody else, unless the group is small. You won't break the budget by serving two to five extra dinners. But if you have a large 12-piece band with singers and dancers . . . well, then, you may not want to give them the good stuff, in which case you'll arrange for the hotel to give them a nice sandwich-and-salad dinner. The musicians won't mind. They're used to this.
Now -- the employee entertainment. You'd better have a good sub-committee chair who can organize as well (or better than) you. One format that works well is the employee talent contest where each department or division puts together its own entry. You might want to talk the boss into letting these employees do their planning and rehearsing on company time (perhaps Friday afternoons).
If you decide on this format, make sure your entertainment chair puts together a subcommittee composed of representatives from each department. His committee not only will have to promote the event and recruit the employee entries, they also will have to select an impartial panel of judges (usually suppliers and clients), and provide appropriate prizes (nice, big prizes donated by suppliers).
You may want to give each employee team a small budget ($100 or so) for anything they may need to improve their chances of winning (e.g., costumes, props).
Have you thought about photography? Your annual employee dinner doesn't end when the employees go home. They come to work the next day and talk about it. And if it's a hit, they'll say nice things about your function. If it's a flop, you'll want to know that too. One of the ways to help the employees "remember" that it was a fine and fun event is to circulate scrapbooks of photos taken at the dinner.
This means you need a photographer. You either can hire a professional, or recruit employees to do this. Here's something to consider: Employees, even committee members, are there to enjoy themselves. Why give them a camera to lug around all night?
Hire a professional photographer. They come in all flavors, they are not cheap, but they need not cost an arm and a leg. Add to team: Photographer. Add to budget: Photographer's fees, plus film, processing and prints.
Where do you find a photographer? If you have friends in advertising or public relations agencies, call them. They've probably used photographers before and can give you leads. Like anything else, referrals are the best advertising for photographers. Of course, you can always look in the Yellow Pages, but be sure to look under "Photographers-Commercial" and not "Photographers-Portrait."
Interview each photographer, and ask to see a portfolio. Be sure to specify that you want to see photos taken at functions similar to yours. You want to make sure you get the quality you want, and that the photographer has had similar experience.
For a function like this, it should cost you about $200-$400 for the photographer, plus film (be sure to specify black and white or color, slides or prints), processing and prints. Let the photographer take care of all this for you. Don't try to save money and run around getting the processing done yourself.
Once you get your prints, you can put them in scrapbooks and circulate them around the company. Everybody will get a kick out of seeing themselves and their co-workers in the different setting, all dressed up, and acting sophisticated.
Or, try buying some of those disposable one-time cameras (one for each table should be sufficient), and announce that everybody at the dinner is required to take one (and only one) picture during the evening. Have them leave the cameras on the table when they leave. Then, pick them up yourself and have them processed. I guarantee, when you display them at work, the pictures'll be a big hit.
You get a memo from your boss, asking you to try something different: "We have never had a printed program before, and a nicely designed program would add immensely to the elegance of the evening. And oh yes, what about table favors?" Oh, great. More work. As if you had nothing else to do.
Relax. It's not that bad. You do have a graphic designer on your team, remember? Call her up. Tell her to come over right away, you need to talk.
Your graphic designer will recommend the program design. You need to figure out what's going to be included. You decide on a message from the president (because that's what he'll expect you to do), a listing of the evening's events that includes the program itself, the menu itself (using all those high-falutin' foreign words and descriptive phrases provided by the hotel), and acknowledgements (donations by suppliers, individuals and companies who provided special considerations, your company itself, the hotel, and committee members).
No additional committee members are needed. Add to cost: Design and printing of program.
What about those table favors your boss mentioned? Assuming you can spend about $5 to $10 per person, contact an advertising specialty house. They're in the Yellow Pages under "Advertising Specialties." These people have tons of catalogs that contain whatever it is you're looking for in the way of company gifts.
Call two or three and go visit their showrooms. Or, if you have a general idea of what you want, have them come to you. You'll need to give them as much information and guidance as you can, so they can suggest items within your price range and vision.
A word of advice: Begin early. If you select the product at least a couple of months before you need them, you can have them delivered to you by cheap, slow boat. But if you're ever in a rush and need them right away, we're talking airmail here, and that can more than double the cost of your table favor.
You must remember to budget not only money, but personnel and time. You will become painfully aware of this when you call committee meetings. Your team members' supervisors will release them for meetings because you have top-level endorsement. But their work cannot help but suffer. Be considerate.
Periodic meetings keep everyone up-to-date, and hold team members accountable for performing their assignments (it's not pleasant for a committee member to attend a meeting and report that s/he did nothing constructive while fellow teammates were working hard on the project).
Plus, your butt is on the line, so make sure your team members are doing what they're saying they're doing. If the boss asks questions, you'd better have the right answers. Remember, he trusts you and is depending on you to get the job done.
During the month of January, you may want to meet once a week. You can slow down to once every three weeks in February through April. Go to every other week in May and June, then at least once a week in July.
Plan to do very little else during the entire two or three days before the event. It's a fact of life. If anythng is going to go wrong, it's going to wait until the last moment. Besides, you wouldn't believe how much work pops the closer you are to the event. Plus, it will seem that no one except you will be able to take care of what needs to be done.
Make sure you assign someone to take minutes at every meeting. Immediately after each the meeting, send out a conference report (minutes) to each committee member, highlighting action assignments and deadlines. It would help to give each committee member a task to perform and to report on at the next meeting.
Something else to think about -- invocation. If one of your employees is comfortable doing this, then fine. However, you may want to consider inviting a local clergyman, perhaps the pastor of an employee's church, to deliver the invocation. This is a customary practice, and no one should be offended by the gesture.
It is appropriate and customary to offer an honorarium to the pastor for this service. Add to team: Either an employee who will deliver the invocation, or the employee who recommends the pastor. Add to budget: $50 to $100 honorarium.
Your planning is more or less complete. There will probably be some loose ends that need tightening up, or some other activities that may be added.
Depending on your particular situation, there may be other considerations and needs that must be met in the planning process. Work them into your planning, using identical procedures. Break everything down into its component parts and attack them one at a time, making sure you integrate any needed team members, and plan and account for the additional costs.
The four steps in the special event process are research, planning, EVENT EXECUTION, and evaluation.
Wake up early on the day of the annual employee dinner. There's plenty of time for rest tomorrow. If you've planned it right, your flower committee will show up at the dinner with the posies, the hotel will set up the room according to your directions, the musicians will show up on time, your committee heads and their groups will arrive when they're supposed to, and everything is under control.
Make sure you have a long registration table set up, with an ample supply of chairs. The hotel most likely will supply you with a parking validation rubber stamp. Have the registration chair assign at least three people to register guests, with plenty of room between the workers. Assign one person specifically to validate parking tickets.
Please, please provide nametags for each person who'll be in attendance. On the nametag, include the guest's name, plus department for employees, company names for clients and suppliers, affiliations for other special guests, and table assignments. There are simple label programs that enable you to produce the nametags on your office computer.
The advantages of nametags: Nobody will be embarrassed because s/he doesn't know an employee's name, they give special recognition to clients and suppliers, they can serve as a source of department pride (different colors), and they help you "take roll" (if the nametag is not picked up, you know the guest skipped the function).
Don't forget to make contact often with your committee chairs, who should be taking care of their specific areas of responsibility -- making sure of the musicians are fed, directing placement of floral arrangements, placing table cards and favors, and making sure the stage arrangements (audio, lighting, decorations) are done correctly.
You will probably be personally in charge of working with the hotel representative that night (e.g., giving the okay to begin serving, asking for adjustments to lights and arrangements if needed), and most likely will be directing the photographer. Prepare ahead of time, and give to the photographer, a list of shots you want. Most of these will be candids, but you'll want some posed shots.
Eat quickly but elegantly, with one eye on your food, one eye on your fellow tablemates, and one eye on your watch. Oh, and keep another eye open for the manager, who'll hunt you down like radar fairly often and ask if everything is proceeding satisfactorily.
Once your dinner is finished (sorry, but you'll probably have to skip dessert), politely excuse yourself and get back to work. During the welcoming and entertainment portions of the program, situate yourself next to the podium side of the stage to assist the emcee and provide an extra set of hands.
Sometime during the evening, probably when guests begin to leave, the hotel representative will seek you out to sign the bill. Make sure their count agrees with yours before approving the charges. If there are discrepencies, tell the representative. You may have to settle first and negotiate with the catering manager at a later date, but if possible, try to get any problems resolved before you leave.
You're done. When the last guest has left, personally thank any committee members who remained behind with you, and . . . go home. Take a nice, long, hot shower and collapse in bed.
But, when you return to work on Monday morning, don't forget to send thank-you letters to the employees on your committee, your graphic designer, photographer, musicians, the hotel catering manager, clients, suppliers and anyone else who had a hand in the event.
You'll also need to file a final report with your boss.
The four steps in the special event process are research, planning, event execution, and EVALUATION.
If you had been keeping your boss up-to-date with periodic progress reports, there probably will not be any unpleasant surprises to spring on him, re: expenses.
You can't just show up Monday morning and tell the boss how much everyone enjoyed the dinner. You need to prove it. How do you do that? By writing a formal evaluation report.
You could have made your job easier by distributing evaluation survey forms to each table just before the program, and asking the guests to give you feedback on the event. You could ask about publicity efforts (how they heard about the event and exactly what persuaded them to attend), the site, the food, the background music, the employee talent contest, and other amenities.
Ask your sub-committee chairs to write you a brief (maximum one-page) evaluation report of what was done, and what can be done to improve in the future.
Use the evaluation surveys and sub-committee reports to help you write your final report. You need to show that you did a good job.
If you turn in a good, comprehensive report, two things can happen. One is definitely good, and the other might be either good or bad, depending on your point of view.
The definitely good thing: Everyone will think you're a genius and can do anything.
The good/bad thing: Everyone will think you're a genius and can do anything.
Go ahead, accept the next assignment. Be your organization's problem-solver.
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