by Amy Ferrone
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!