Open day is looming..

In the few weeks leading up to Open Day, everything we'd been researching and preparing for, was being locked in. A lot of time has been spent on the phone with different companies, to make bookings for Open Day. We've been locking in entertainment including bands, roving entertainers, carnival rides and a petting zoo! 

Practical items on the day such as portable toilets, and furniture has all been booked. Asha and I have also met with a gentleman from the company who we've hired the marquees from, and we've made a mud map of where everything needs to go. The marquees are enormous, and because of their size, need to be set up a week out from the event. 

Asha and I also made lists of any signs we would need for the day, and sent them off to the company who would make them for us. Signage for the event needed to be made for Open Day, in order to let people know where certain activities were being held around the campus. It was also my job this week to proof, and proof again, the program, before it was being sent to the printer. 

Other practical jobs, such as making up rosters for the volunteers on the day of the event, as well as meeting with student ambassadors, to discuss their roles on the day of the event, also had to be done in the weeks leading up to the event.

Finally, an important task Asha and I completed, was meeting with the Operational, Health and Safety Officer at Curtin University. She discussed with us any risks that may occur, through the activities, and plans we had for the Open Day. In the meeting we noted everything she said, and we made a document filled with information on how we would go about avoiding these risks, and what we would do in the case that they were to occur. Another aspect of the meeting was to make an emergency response document, that included phone numbers of who to call, if something was to go wrong on the day. 

Doing all these tasks, helped me realise just how much effort, time, and money, goes into preparing for an event the size of Open Day. Our to-do lists never seem to get any smaller, no matter how much we get done, however, lists and recordings of what we have done, and on what days, has helped me to keep track of our progress over the past month.