While most people might stressed and crack when things go wrong, I am not one of them. Perhaps being a supervisor of a small store where things went wrong- all at once- all the time gave me some preparation for this. Instead I go into a calm state where I manage to power through everything. Well that was what it was like this time.
It was friday, the last day of the Symphony of Sunflowers event. The Symphony of Sunflowers involved several major sponsors, including Perth glory, Waldecks, Benara Nurseries and more. It involved nurseries all around WA selling sunflower seeds to raise money for the Help a Child Grow Fund. And now finally was the wrap up where we were supposed to thank our sponsors, announce the money we raised and also put on a bbq for the children and parents that were going to benefit from the funds raised.
If there is one thing I learnt from this event, its that preparation is key. That and that stress helps noone. Not only were there a number of things forgotten, left behind or not organised but we were running out of time.
It was 2 pm on Friday afternoon and the fruit hadnt been cut up for the platters, there was no ice or eskies for the drinks and no coffee and tea to go with the hot water and cups that we brought with us. What do we do?
Dont tell our supervisor thats for sure. While some people might find events a piece of cake, Tessa is definatley not one of them. Instead we go about our business without telling her whats wrong. Any more stress and she was sure to break down.Us interns ( there are two of us at Therapy Focus) were in charge of the BBQ and the fruit platters. Once we had rang reinforcements to bring the tea, coffee and ice we were close to the starting time. Meanwhile Ash and I felt like we were on My Kitchen Rules - you know your on a time limit and have to make all these dishes- we were madly chopping up as much fruit as possible, prepping the area, warming the barbeque.
All this time I couldnt believe how much had been left to the last minute, and how much sometimes when it comes to crunch time some people can handle it and some people cant. While Im sure uni is supposed to teach that to us- I mean we surely have enough stress, with exams, assignments, group work, working with real clients and trying to juggle it around work and if your lucky- a social life. Its something Im not sure that you can really be prepared for.
But its definately something that you should do- the feeling afterwards when you pulled everything off, when everyones congratulating you on how well you did and all the staff come to talk about all the things that might have gone worng- and did. That is a feeling I wont forget.
3 comments:
It sounds pretty stressful but at least you pulled it off in the end. It's great that you've got another intern at Therapy Focus to work with. All the interns at my internship dropped off pretty fast, I'm the only one left!
The title of this blog made me giggle because it’s so true! A lot of the time I feel we interns are like ducks- acting cool calm and collected on the surface while underneath our legs (or minds) are working like mad to trying to keep us afloat! It’s great that you could make the value judgement even in the hectic pre-event chaos that your supervisor couldn’t handle any more stress. When push comes to shove it’s better to do something that nine out of ten times will go unnoticed but when the supervisors realise your hard work (which they eventually always do) it’s really appreciated- which it sounds like was the case here. Good work! :)
Reading this post makes me think of all the lists that we had made at my placement of what we need to take to the event that we are doing at the time. It is so annoying to make all the lists and ensure everything is prepared but your post reinterates that prior preperation is absolutely essential.
I do find planning meetings can be quite annoying and very repetitive, especially if you are the one that has been actually setting up what tasks need to be done and completed.
One of the saviours that we do have in the office is our event toolkit/toolbox. In the kit is safety pins, tape, packing tape, tissues, blutac, bandaids, mints, panadol, string, scissors, rubbish bags, glue, velcro dots, felt markers, paper clips, note pads, alfoil, pens and plenty of other items. You honestly never know when you need these items and they are so handy to have as in PR and events there is bound for something to go wrong and need to be fixed.
At one event I found quite stressful we had arrived at what I thought was plenty of time, 4 hours, to get a little bit of set up that was required done and we were ready. Of course it took much longer and we just finished 30 minutes early than the start time which was the same time as the first guest arriving.
I also totally agree with the boss issue, sometimes it can just be too much for them especially if they are getting it from all angles, not just yourself as one person. I believe that if you are going to get it all done on time then it is not an issue but obviously if its going to be delayed or not even going to happen and cause a problem for the event than it is important that they are aware of this.
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