Posts Tagged ‘Event’

Human Rights Convenings

Saturday, November 5th, 2011

Public Interest Projects’ Convenings of the U.S. Human Rights Fund

November 7-9, 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 14-17, 2010 in Los Angeles, California
January 11-14, 2009 in New Orleans, Louisiana

The 2011 convening “Using Human Rights to Achieve Racial Justice: We Shall Overcome,” hosted by the U.S. Human Rights Fund with support from The Overbrook Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Just and Fair Schools Fund, was attended by 150 advocates and funders. In addition to building the registration website, making travel reservations and communicating with attendees, Ginger Donnan Events coordinated arrangements for the course of events over the three-day convening.

The 2010 convening brought together 15 funders and 80 advocates working on three inter-related human rights campaigns to develop new campaign strategies and advocacy skills, and explore collaborations. Travel arrangements were made for the guests to attend the welcome reception:

USHRF10 Welcome Reception

2 ½ days of meetings:

USHRF10 Meeting

three site visits:

USHRF10 Site Visit

and two off-site dinners:

USHRF10 Dinner

The 2009 Global Strategy Exchange Convening was an opportunity for the organization’s grantees to meet and learn from key international human rights activists. The event included hotel and travel arrangements for 140 attendees, two days of meetings, two days of site visits around New Orleans and Mississippi and all food and beverage, including an off-site group dinner.

Working with Ginger Donnan is an experience unlike any other.  Convenings and special events are by nature a stressful experience for the hosts.  So many people’s needs to be addressed, so many details to consider. Ginger’s organizational skills expertly bring order to chaos.  She identifies a problem and is able to nip it before it has a chance to derail the process.  Ginger is a systems person.  She has event planning down to a science and navigates you through each bump and curve with grace and calm.  It has been more than a pleasure to have Ginger at the helm of our special events–she is magic.  – Sue Simon, Director, Human Rights, U.S. Human Rights Fund, June 2010

The Libra Foundation’s Grantee Convening

October 17-19, 2011

For three days in Chicago, all of The Libra Foundation’s grantees were brought together for the first time to network and get to know the work of grantee organizations from their three  priority areas: women’s rights, environmental sustainability, and social justice and drug policy reform, all working within a human rights framework.

We managed the budget, handled online registration and individual attendee communications, vendor coordination and meeting needs, transportation and travel booking, and on-site management, all while keeping the client fully informed through timely updates.

Photos credit: Hiroshi Landazuri

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Event Emergency Plans

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

by Ginger Donnan

There’s nothing like a hurricane to make you focus on your emergency plan, at home, at work or for events. The stories we’ve been hearing from clients, vendors and volunteers are tough but luckily, not heartbreaking, since those we’ve talked to have come out the other side safe and sound. We didn’t have any events taking place for the past week but we’re never in the clear when it comes to upcoming events. September and October are still a part of hurricane season, not to mention the unthinkable, like once-in-a-century earthquakes and the ever-present threat of terrorist attacks.

Inclement Weather: For outdoor events and festivals, just a little rain can make for a complete change of plans including back-up indoor space, rescheduling or the cost of additional tents with or without sidewalls. For meetings and conferences, a little rain typically won’t change much, until the winds pick up and transportation gets difficult. The date of the event is too late to talk to your venues and vendors about flexibility in case of cancellation or postponement.

Natural Disasters: Just because the news says a hurricane is on the way, doesn’t mean you and your vendors are on the same page in terms of when force majeure comes into effect. Hurricane Irene hit New York Saturday afternoon but what if you had a brunch scheduled for earlier that day that no one planned to attend because they needed to be in their homes when the storm hit? Don’t wait to communicate.

Terrorist Attacks: It was one of many people’s first thoughts when the earthquake hit, because the threat of terrorist attacks has not gone away. You need to know your venue’s evacuation protocol, including when to stay put. Event planners are not first responders but they should be first communicators when an emergency happens just prior to or during an event they’ve organized. This doesn’t (necessarily) mean you get up to the podium and start pointing at exit signs but you do talk to the security/police and your client to confirm proceeding with the first step of a pre-established plan.

Coming soon: Our September newsletter shares our emergency plan for a 300+ person conference this past spring. Not on the mailing list? Sign up here.

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Communication in Every Case

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

by Ginger Donnan

It’s prep time for fall events and as today is the day that my fiancee and I close on our first home, with a wedding around the corner, I can’t help thinking how similar event communications are to the communications involved in buying a house – and getting married, for that matter.

Six months ago, finding a home was easy-breezy, just a weekly call to our realtor to get together and see homes. In the event world, it’s the same. An inquiry here, a piece of information shared there – over the course of a few weeks (or months) you’ve narrowed down the vendor search. In both cases, it’s very similar to dating, as you feel each other out to see if the home or event will be a match made in heaven.

Then it comes time to commit. You found the house/vendor you want but a few things stand in your way. Along comes contract negotiations. A few more weeks go by and just as you’re ready to collapse from communication exhaustion, the contract is signed. But there’s no rest for the weary because the event (move) is around the corner and logistics still need to be worked out.

Your realtor, lawyer and bank can’t accomplish much without your cross-communication, and the same goes for the production company, band and DJ, when they’re all brought together for a single event. Just because you already talked about the tasks and timeline doesn’t mean anyone is going to remember much of either next week. And it’s not their job – the successful home purchase/event/relationship lies on your shoulders.

So you communicate. You confirm. Perhaps, you vow. And on the event/closing/wedding day, you enjoy (with a few palpitations in every case)!

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What Does it Take to Be an Event Planner?

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

by Emily Collier

What does it take to be an event planner? My name is Emily Collier and this week I am finding answers to that question as I am an intern for Ginger Donnan Events during the 4th Annual CPER Convening. Ever since I was eight years old, it has been my dream to be an event planner. As a Senior from Morristown-Beard School, it is a requirement to be an intern for at least a week in whichever field of business we choose, so that we can have a sense of the real world before we head off to college. I was able to meet Ginger Donnan through a friend who had worked with her on the Family Reach Foundation’s 5th Annual 5K & Family Fun Run.

When I first contacted Ginger I did not know that the 4th Annual CPER Convening would be during the same week of my internship. Our schedules worked out so that I could help with final preparation before Ginger Donnan Events goes to Alexandria, V.A. I will also be able to help on site with this weekend’s upcoming event.

Working with Ginger Donnan Events has given me a new prospective on what goes into planning events. It takes much more than organization and color coordinated post-its to put an event together; it takes diligence, creativity, and patience. Ginger Donnan Events goes above and beyond when it comes to serving people. It has been an honor and a privilege to be able to help such a great team of people. I look forward to learning more of the ins and outs of planning events this weekend because I know that this is an experience I will never forget.

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Are you a Commodity Supplier or a Strategic Partner?

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

by Ginger Donnan

I recently came across a fantastic way of describing the levels of service that a vendor or consultant provides. As Ed Delia describes it, we can be:

Commodity Suppliers: generic and lowest-priced

Trusted Suppliers: consistent and good to turn to in a pinch

Valued Suppliers: proactive and vocal with the client’s customer in mind

Preferred Suppliers: live and breathe continual improvement

Innovative Suppliers: influence the market

Partners: co-creators, seamlessly integrated into the client’s team

Strategic Partners: enter into joint ventures with the client

At the very least, Ginger Donnan Events strives to come in to a first-year event as a valued supplier, evaluating the event from top to bottom and keeping the attendees’ needs first and foremost. With our second-year clients, we are preferred suppliers looking for ways to take the event to the next level. Some second-year clients may even be consider us a partner.

In the middle, though, is the innovative supplier, someone or some company who is making a very public and visible difference in the industry, such as designer extraordinaire Preston Bailey,  Howard Givner and his Super Planner iphone app  or BidPal and their auction bidding device. This is a category that I would like Ginger Donnan Events to join.

Which level of service are you providing? What kind of supplier or partner do you aspire to be?

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