CRYOUT was a one day event with a sole purpose of serving the undeserved, at-risk communities in the South Los Angeles area. On February 20, 2010, about 100 USC students took their Saturday in order to help the community through painting, clean-up and other service projects.
Little did I know how involved I would become in the execution of this event.
48 hours before CRYOUT...
Me: "If you need any help, I love planning events, so let me know if there's anything I can do to help!"
Friend: "Want to help us run the event?"
Me: "Uhhh...yes!"
The next 48 hours included me getting caught up on all the details, reviewing the timeline with the event leader, offering suggestions about scheduling, and figuring out last minute logistics to help the event run smoothly. My Friday night was spent coordinating the check-in table procedures and ensuring that all aspects of the event were fully communicated to all involved.
As an event planner, it was an awesome experience in making decisions quickly, and maintaining a calm demeanor in the midst of a stressful situation. If there's one thing I learned from this event: communication is key. Just because the leader of each aspect (community sites, buses, funding, set-up) know what's going on, doesn't mean the rest of the leaders are aware. Communication across all teams is essential to the smooth execution of an event.
Check out this cool video summarizing the events of the day!
