I am often contacted by law firms whose large-scale or high-profile events are overwhelming their marketing team with the tasks and details needed to produce the event successfully. While I always recommend contacting an event planner before the going gets tough, I’ve learned that we can get-going with just 3-6 weeks notice if everyone has a clear picture of their roles and responsibilities. So we developed a quick-pick list of short-term event planning services to rescue our legal marketing friends, but helpful for other event planners as well:

REGISTRATION RESCUE

You need this if … you’re waking up in the middle of the night dreaming of clients out in the cold, standing on registration lines like tourists at the TKTS booth.

We arrive early, handle guest check-in at the registration desk, and clean up, so you can focus on developing relationships with your attendees, rather than managing logistics. Give us your guest list three days before and we’ll print and stuff your name tags too.

LOCATION RELATIONS

You need this if … you think the terms apron, boneyard and crescent all refer to things in the kitchen and you’d like to keep it that way.

Following your site selection and contract signing, we facilitate venue arrangements through clear and consistent communication in advance of the event and manage the needs that arise on-site during the event.

VENDOR RE-DEVELOPMENT

You need this if … you’ve talked to your go-to AV guy about microphones and a screen but can never seem to get through the estimate sitting in your inbox, especially since his equipment descriptions don’t contain any vowels.

We finalize proposals from vendors and manage their tasks through the event, including catering, consulting, destination management, entertainment, event design, graphic design, photography, printing, promotions, production (audio-visual, lighting, staging, videography), and transportation, among others.

The TASKMASTER

You need this if … every to-do on your legal pad is turning into you-do-two (because each task takes more steps than expected) or you-do-too (because swamped team members need more advance notice).

We lay out the list of roles and responsibilities in a detailed timeline, from the start of our involvement through the post-event debrief, and check in regularly with each person involved to report back as each task has been accomplished.

BRIEF RELIEF

You need this if … it all started with one partner, but nine others keep calling and sidelining your day as you go on a wild goose chase for just “one more thing” they need to know about the event.

We develop and update a Master Event Plan of all the services and event details, from the start of our involvement in the event planning process, and provide it to you as a reference on a regular basis.

When time and resources are tight, the key to producing a successful event is to have very clear, delineated roles, starting with the ones listed here. If you need to be rescued – or just need more info, including pricing for these services – email me at ginger@gingerdonnanevents.com.

It’s the calm before the end-of-year slash holidays solicitation storm and it’s got me thinking about what we can pay forward this year. I like to have a donations plan in place before the holidays, lest I go broke responding to every return address mailing and “last chance for a tax deduction” email over the next few weeks. And thinking about how much to give always brings me back to my childhood.

I first learned about tithing back in Sunday School when contributing 10 cents of my one dollar allowance seemed oh, so manageable. When the novelty wore off, and I looked around and saw a struggling congregation, I began to think that tithing – at least in the traditional sense of the word – was something that was done in older times, particularly when religious institutions were the only organizations feeding the hungry and providing other outreach, and those contributions went beyond church expenses to uplift an entire community.

Traditionally, to tithe means to give one tenth of one’s income. For most people, that’s a staggering number of funds earmarked to pay a mortgage in order to stay out of foreclosure, to cover the cost of daycare while two parents go to work or to travel to see grandparents who no longer live down the road. So I prefer to think of tithing as any contribution to a religious institution or another non-profit organization that fulfills a societal need in which the donor believes. The key to uplifting our global community is to have as many people contribute as possible, at whatever level they can.

If all 8.4 million residents of New York City (with a median household income of about $48,000 according to the 2010 census) gave just 1% of their pre-tax income – $486 – to the charity of their choice, that would come to $3.9 billion, a little over what the American Cancer Society has contributed to cancer research since their inception in 1946. Imagine what could be accomplished by that much cancer research in just one year.

Still too much, you say? If every adult living in the tri-state region gave just 1/2 a percent of their income, $16.8 billion would advance the efforts of thousands of worthy causes.

This year, we’re trying to do our part by donating our fund for printed holiday cards and sending an e-card instead. To join our holiday card mailing list and learn about the organization we’re supporting this year, click here.

Thank you for reading, and for tithing – any amount you can.

I went to Baltimore to help out with the 2nd half of the Elev8 Fall Learning Institute, which was taking place at the Hotel Monaco. Specifically, one of my tasks was to work at the dine-around Tuesday evening. The group of 125 attendees at the convening was going to be broken down into 5 groups, and each group would be going to a different restaurant for an authentic Baltimore meal and experience. Each of the 5 restaurants already had contracts negotiated, details ironed out, and was visited the Saturday prior by Kathleen, the on-site member of GDEvents, to verbally go over details one more time.

My task was to take a cab to the restaurant I was assigned to, check in with the owner/manager, make sure the space was set up for the appropriate number of guests, etc. Then I was to meet the convening attendees at a middle school where their afternoon learning tours were ending, bring them on a bus to the restaurant, ensure they had a great dining experience, and finally get the guests back to the hotel in one piece. And I was going to be able to have a nice meal as well! I really thought that this would be an easy evening – yes, I was being introduced to another service that Ginger Donnan Events plans, but one – that with all the advance planning already done – would not be too taxing for me. I had a great book that I was ready to devour along with my fried chicken.

So here’s what actually happened: I take a car service to the restaurant, and it’s closed! I never thought that this was even a possible scenario, let alone the one I was living. I immediately text Kathleen, with my driver by my side. (By the way, if you’re ever in Baltimore and need a car service, I highly recommend Eco Green Ride – ask for Tia with the stilettos and the great stories.) I’m told the restaurant was opening up just for our party – great, except I’m standing in front of the restaurant, and it is dark with no signs of life. I knocked on every window and door around the building, called the restaurant and left a message, but nothing! Kathleen and Ginger decide that I will wait there until 5:15 (the bus full of diners was to arrive at the restaurant at 6:00) before we make the call to go somewhere else. Meanwhile Kathleen, who is completely prepared for anything, and completely unflappable in the face of any emergency, works with Ginger to book another restaurant for my group.

Tia and I waited for one hour until 5:15, periodically knocking on the doors and windows, and calling and emailing the restaurant to no avail. Now I am tasked to get to the new restaurant before the bus does (thanks, Kathleen and Natalie D for getting all parties onto the correct buses!), make sure the dinner goes smoothly, and be available for anything that comes up. Since the new restaurant was down the street from one of the other dine-around restaurants, I went back and forth between the two for the evening. I made sure that the buses were waiting once the dining was finished, and got everyone back to the hotel in one piece. The only downside? My two restaurants were Lebanese food and seafood, and since I am an extremely picky, unadventurous eater, I had French fries from room service at the end of the night!

What can be learned from this experience? What looks like a simple evening out can easily turn upside down. Kathleen has worked on hundreds of these group reservations in her event-planning career - not once encountering a closed restaurant – but she was prepared for any eventuality, including having on hand the list of restaurants that were originally vetted for the dine-around, but not ultimately chosen for this particular evening. And she never panicked; she just calmly worked out a new plan, apprised me of the details, and checked in on me periodically to make sure I was secure and comfortable with what I was doing.

Unflappability, grace under pressure, and over-preparedness – Kathleen has it, and one day, hopefully I will too!

Select teams of 25 individuals from each of Elev8’s four sites around the country –  Chicago, Oakland, Albuquerque and Baltimore – came together along with representatives from Public Interest Projects and The Atlantic Philanthropies for an unparalleled learning opportunity: to share experiences, to build partnerships across Elev8 sites, and to expand on the expertise of all Elev8 participants.  Ginger Donnan Events coordinated all arrangements for this convening, including registration, travel booking to Baltimore, communication with attendees, as well as on-site management of 2 ½ days of workshops, learning tours, and dine-arounds.