Yeah, I've never had so many phone calls in one day. There are two things I want to quickly touch upon before I get back to work.
1. The booklets - After I filed a complaint with Kevin Hart, he saw the problem was not my fault and decided to reprint the covers for me. YAY! So now I can be proud of my work again. He said he would have them done by tomorrow. *Cross your fingers*
2. Communication - There's no other way to stress how important it is to keep a frequent update with every participant in this event. However, sometimes people throw you a curve ball. I have had five people in the last three days need room adjustments or reservations made. I've had to quickly set up rental cars and drivers for the week. And I've had to work out how things will go when I'm not readily available to fix it. So I only suggest to everyone else, keep the communication lines open. And bare with people when they make your job harder.
Like my dad says, "Procrastination/Lack of planning on your part, does not constitute an emergency on my part." Expect that to happen.
I wish some of these people understood that I'm a full time student and telling me three days before the event that they need a room is just ridiculous, but I have to find a way to make it happen. Even if I have to beg and give away my first born, OK so it hasn't been that extreme, but you get the picture. No amount of organization and planning can prepare anyone for other people's personalities that they feel the world will move for them. This might be me just ranting, but it's rather frustrating to spend the whole semester working on this, and have people change everything the week of the event. At some point, I have to say, "No I'm sorry. You missed the deadline." It's easier said than done with a boss that thinks the same way as the collaborators and students participating.
Communication and consideration for others. Probably the two most important C-words in language... minus Cookie. Cookie Monster had something going there.
(I'm sorry if I'm supposed to be professional in these entries, but I feel it's OK to veer off that when dealing with these situations. I handle situations with humor. If I laugh, it doesn't bother me.)
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2 comments:
I'm soo glad you have a sense of humor about everything! That's what will keep you going through stressful situations. I can completely relate to what you're going through because I was a corporate events intern for a summer and well... WOW!! Dealing with people who have no respect for your plans and hard work is not a fun thing to have to handle.
And in regards to the communication comment, I am a comm. major as you know and I could not agree with you more! Communication is the key to any successful relationship, be that professional, intimate, friendship, family, etc. it is the key to everything. To respect, responsibility, accountability and delegating. It is so difficult, especially when you are coordinating a project/event and have put your blood, sweat and tears into it, and someone has miscommunication or disrespects you and fails to inform you or rsvp on time or whatever it may be and it completely sets off your whole plan. After doing that internship, I would NEVER go into event planning and I have a feeling you are beginning to feel the same way. But "keep on truckin'"! We're almost there. The countdown is on so perseverance is the key for the next month!
It's amazing how rude people can be, isn't it? Sometimes people forget (or maybe just don't care) that others have full plates as well!
Keeping a sense of humor is crucial in times like these. After I couldn't figure out how to get the stencils for my poster to cooperate last week, I tried again last night. It was one of the easiest things I've done recently. I had to laugh at myself instead of having a nervous breakdown that I ignored my poster for another whole week!
It's great that your boss stands behind you. I hate confrontation, and especially to say "no" to people, but sometimes it's absolutely necessary. Great job standing your ground!
Good luck!
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