Momentum's 10th Anniversary Pink Ribbon Ball

After weeks of planning and organising Momentum's Pink Ribbon Ball has finally arrived. The Pink Ribbon Ball attracted over 400 guests and featured a banquet dinner, live auction, testimonial speaker, raffle prize, live entertainment, Belle of the Ball competition and Prince Charming award. The events mission is to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. The night turned out to be a huge success and one of the best Pink Ribbon Ball's thrown so far. I found it a very rewarding experience to see all the hard work pay off and produce a memorable night for a worthy cause. It also showed the importance of public relations in creating these events.

Some of the public relations activities used to produce the Pink Ribbon Ball included:

• Media Releases
• Newletters
• Sponsorship Proposals
• Advetorials
• Flyers
• Banners
• Speeches

These activities were inexpensive and critical in producing publicity and increasing ticket sales leading up to the ball.

On the night of the Pink Ribbon Ball I was in charge of the volunteers to ensure all tasks were completed on the checklist. This involved placing the corporate signs, name place cards, auction catalogues, menus, raffle tickets and ballot bidding on the tables. However, there were a few mistakes with the name place cards so I had to print more by going to the Hyatt's Business Centre. Therefore I tried to take initiative and solve most of the problems on the night to ensure Barbara wasn't continually bothered by easily fixed mistakes. I also took charge and briefed a journalist from The Sunday Times STM about the night's special guests, performers, speakers, awards and auction items.

After the room was set up I was in charge of the guest list where I helped guests find their seats and made sure all special requirements was met. Overall the guest list was successful as the only problems were a couple wanting to sit with their friends on another table. I was pleased with this as I had been updating and following up on the guest list leading up to the event. After all guests were seated the volunteers were instructed to circle the room in case anyone had any questions or problems. Barbara told all the volunteers not to stress if they didn't know the answer but to be polite and find someone who could help them.

The other task the volunteers had were to inform guests about the raffle where guests could win two business class tickets to any Singaporean Airlines destination and to collect the raffle tickets. The raffle had a few issues as people weren't aware they cost $50 as it wasn't written on the tickets. Therefore next year we've taken to note to make sure the price is clearly stated on the raffle tickets. After the raffle tickets were collected we assisted with the live auction by taking the winner's details and handing out the item vouchers. Every item was sold in the live auction raising substantial funds for breast cancer research.

Overall the evening went relatively smoothly and all guests enjoyed their night based on the congratulations Momentum received after the event. I improved a lot of my public relations skills organising this event and look forward to perfecting my skills in my last few weeks at Momentum.

Stay tuned to hear about Momentum's next event the Melbourne Cup Luncheon!

Thanks,

Ashleigh Mills
14843011