The Big Event!

As an intern at Momentum Forum Events I was lucky enough to be a part of the Medaesthetic's International Women’s Day Luncheon 2015. The event was host to special guests such as Hon Julie Bishop MP, Hon Governor Kerry Sanderson and Blake Garvey, Australia's famous bachelor! The luncheon was held on March 6^th at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre with over 350 people attending.  

At this point in time I was only six days into my internship and had done just three days preparation on the event. I found this very daunting as I felt I didn’t know enough about the event I was about to be so heavily involved in. I needed to be able to answer any questions asked of me and make decisions on the spot so confidence was key. This was by far the biggest event I'd ever worked on.

In the week leading up to the event I learnt a lot about how to liaise with journalists and the media. Barbara (CEO of Momentum Forum Events) is very good at creating hype around her events in the days leading up to it, so much so that we sold over 60 tickets in the final days before the event! I worked with her on media releases and emails to journalists as well as preparing the presentation slides that would be shown on the day, which I found very beneficial.

Media Coverage of the Women's Day Event. 

One thing I have learnt is you can never be too organized, as much we did leading up to the event it all boils down to the final 48 hours, things like the seating plan and the guest list were changing right up until 5pm the day before and so it was impossible to finalize some of our documents.

On the day of the event we arrived two hours early to start setting up, but as we approached the ballroom we noticed that the previous event was far from concluding. This meant that in one hour we had to have the room emptied and set up for our 350 guests. Of course, the PCEC staff were in charge of setting the room but we were so limited for time that the Momentum Forum Volunteers had to assist in setting up tables and chairs. I was very shocked that such an experienced venue had allowed for two extremely large events to be held in the same room, just an hour apart.

With the time constraints we were under a lot pressure to complete all of our tasks and make sure everyone was on the same page before the event started. Guests started to fill the foyer while chaos continued in the ballroom. We were able to open the doors just 20 minutes late and considering the circumstances I think this was quite an achievement.

All of our hard work in the week leading up the event paid off as we witnessed the room fill with prestigious guests. The Hon Julie Bishop MP was certainly a showstopper when she accepted her award for “Most Inspiring Woman of the Year 2015”. Throughout the event my tasks varied from informing guests of the raffle and door prizes, assisting them with any queries they had, liaising with the Betty Tran models, and assisting Blake Garvey with the live auction. 

Momentum Forum Event's Volunteers & Blake Garvey.

Overall, I feel very proud of my involvement in the International Women’s Day Luncheon. With just a few days working on it I feel I represented Momentum well and learnt a lot from my experience. 

Bring on the next event!