My Spectacular Second Day

Hello, it's me again! 

This past Sunday marked my first full week towards completing my field experience here in Canada. My first day in the office was on Wednesday, June 5. It just so happened that my second day, Thursday, June 6, was also one of the most important annual events for the office. Every June for the last 4 years, Raising the Roof has held a live battle of the bands event to raise funds to support their homelessness prevention initiatives. There are raffles, both live and silent auctions, and games to play all while some amazing bands are competing for the judges’ and audience’s vote. It’s a really innovative, inspirational, and downright fun fundraiser. I’ve never been to a work function that was so entertaining! 

But I didn’t just enjoy myself on my second day. I also learned about effective planning, crisis management, administration, and networking. In fact, I learned the most I ever have about professional events. 

Here are The Six Lessons I Learned from Sounds in the 6ix:

1. Effective Teamwork

• Leading up to the Sounds event, there were a few bumps in the road with staff getting ill or injured. Unexpected events like this can be an absolutely devastating turn of events. Big events require an insane amount of mental and physical labor to set up. If you don’t have the capacity to do the work, someone else will need to help or it won’t get done. You have to carry each other to the end! I was utterly impressed by this staff’s ability to support each other. Seriously. You’d think they could read each other’s minds! Aside from their supernatural connections, staff reinforced each other by verbally asking what they could do to support each other, vocalizing their needs, and confronting any issues they witnessed head-on. It was a night of stepping up and filling in the gaps. However, there weren’t too many gaps to be filled that night! It was all thanks to the earlier work from lesson number two...

2. Account for Everything

• The staff’s initiative certainly accounted for a majority of the smooth sailing at Sounds, but a significant amount of scrapes and bruises were avoided thanks to the extensive planning beforehand. For me, I got a very small glimpse of the development that goes into carrying out a massive fundraising/social event like Sounds (I literally joined the project the day before!) but from what I saw I can conclude that preparation is the ultimate key to success. The amazing event planner accounted for everything needed to conduct Sounds. Notes were made to explain how every detail should look and operate, right down to what filter should be laid over the social media posts! Having this detailed plan of the night made it easier to figure out what was needed to fix any issue that arose. Another key to successful preparation actually occurred after the event. In the days that followed Sounds, the event coordinator sat everyone down for a staff debrief. We discussed everything memorable from the night, both good and bad. Notes were taken so that new plans could be made to make the next year to be even better. All of this diligent prep work is utterly essential to put on a good event, but it’s not the only thing to remember...

3. Mistakes Happen

• Even the most detailed plans can be derailed. It’s really important to understand that mistakes happen. Things can be miscalculated, and some circumstances are simply out of your control (such as staff illnesses!) You need to remind yourself that not everything nor everyone is perfect, and sometimes you need to stray from the plan to account for the mistakes that come with imperfection. Being cognizant of this goes hand in hand with lesson number four...

4. Flexibility is Key

• Because a few mistakes and errors are practically inevitable, you need to be flexible in your role. Responsibilities can be changed based on how needs change, and you should be prepared to adapt in order to account for these changes. This is a big aspect of teamwork as well because you need to be willing to change your role to help others with theirs. It can be hard adapting to new positions or experiences, and this is where lesson five is the most important...

5. Be Brave

• I was very nervous on my first day of work. I knew I was going to meet a lot of new and important people, and I worried about how I would interact with them in meaningful and productive ways. This worry was amplified by about 10,000 degrees my second day. I have never been on the asking side of a large-scale fundraising event before (sure, I worked the middle-school bake sale, but I’ve never networked for an organization like this before!) And it was only my second day! It’s ok to be nervous, but you can’t let worry consume you. Your job needs to be done, and your team needs your support! Remember that success rarely comes from a place of comfort. Sometimes being brave and faking confidence is the only way to complete a job (or in my case and Sounds, sell raffle tickets all night long) This confidence and bravery can also help you make new friends, as I learned after making meaningful connections while supporting my coworkers. Being brave is necessary, but it can also be very exhausting. This fact makes lesson six especially relevant...

6. Balance

• When this much effort goes into such a big event, you absolutely have to celebrate its success. This need for balance is exactly why we had a big dance party after the night concluded!  You need to balance the hard work of the planning and orchestration of big events with some fun afterward. Fun is an essential ingredient in every successful workplace. Without it, you’re on the fast track to big burnouts and work-fatigue.

Again, I am extremely thankful to work with an incredibly supportive and driven group of people. I am completely amazed by their talents and by their ability to create and facilitate such an amazing event. I’m grateful that I got to learn so much in such a fun environment too. If that was only the second day, I can’t imagine what a summer’s worth of knowledge includes!