Event Facilitator
My Sophomore year of college, I had a very tough school year. I came to school on a full ride track scholarship, but I had gotten a season-ending injury before the season had really started. It was a difficult change at first, but with time I realized that it became a blessing in disguise.
With my new found free-time, I started throwing small parties for me and my colleagues. Eventually, small parties turned into bigger parties and bigger parties turned into large scale mansion-sized events.
With every party, came new responsibilities that were presented with each event. No one event was the same (which I pride myself on) which meant that every event had its separate challenges, benefits, and overall attributes. My Job as an event facilitator is to make sure that the event runs as smoothly as possible, and neutralize any challenges that may occur in the process. The event facilitator has to make sure that all of the employees are doing their job effectively as well as ensure that they are always comfortable. He is also in charge of running money from the front door or bar to a secure location.
To better explain the many responsibilities of an event facilitator, I'll describe the three main aspects of the job that I handle:
- Planner
- Coordinator
- DJ
Planner
In order for events to run smoothly, one must have a thorough plan for every single possibility one can predict. It is the Event Facilitator's job to think of every logistical aspect that will affect the flow or outcome of the event.
Vixen was going to be our coming out party. We had thrown events before, but this one was supposed to be the event that defined us from here on out. It was my birthday as well so I worked especially hard on this event. It took us a very long time to just find a venue that would house a number of people that we were going to bring at a reasonable price. My team and I stumbled across a loft that was perfect for what we needed. Spacious floors, good flow for the entrance, not too busy of a street, it was perfect. But a canvas is only a canvas until the artist executes their vision onto it. I had a vision of how the party would go, so I had to plan every detail to the point where the real thing matched my vision as close as possible.
Coordinator
During events, things tend to become really hectic. Workers don't know what to do, someone gets sick, security needs to be called, etc. It is the Event Facilitator's job to make sure that everyone knows their tasks as well as keeping the flow of the event running smoothly.
It was our biggest party to date. We marketed it perfectly, at the perfect time, to the perfect group of people. It was a pool party and the night was warm enough to be comfortable with a bathing suit on. The people came in mobs, large waves of faces I've never seen before rushed the front door at around 11:30 PM. Our security had been distracted by some beautiful young ladies so I checked him. Explaining to him that he wouldn't get paid if he didn't do his job. Right after I had this conversation, I get a call from inside the event. The Power had gone out, the venue was dark, there was no music, my team thinks that we blew a fuse. I immediately sprint to the power box to see what the damage was. It turns out that the main power line had been unplugged. So I restarted the power and plugged in the power and the party kept going. As soon as the party started again, I got a call from the front door. Someone stole our money box with a good amount of cash in it! I rushed to the front to find the security guard and found him talking to the same women that he was talking to when I left. I asked him, "Yo, what happened!? Where's our cash box?" He looked at me in confusion and said, "What? What happened to the cash box?" It took everything in my being to not snatch this man up by his neck, but you got to be cool calm and collected in situations like these. I explain to him what happened and told him that if we don't get cash box back, he will not be getting paid a dime. Needless to say, he got our cash box back.
DJ
The music is what controls the vibe of every event. It is the Event Facilitator to be the master of this vibe or find someone that will.
The party had just started and people were starting to flow in. With me at the helm, my job was to dictate the vibe of the event through the whole night. When people are walking, you want to play music that invites them. Gives them an idea of what the night is going to be like in your hands. Keep people excited for what is to come. When we have a good amount of people that are inside, begin to play the songs that will turn up the party. As the party begins to jump and the vibes begin to heighten, everyone feels that the night will be a successful one. With songs from the present and the past, the DJ had the people in a syncopated rhythm of jumping, shaking, and whining. So much to the point where it almost looked choreographed.
Marquis, you are clearly REALLY good at event planning. Your examples did a good job bringing the description to life and made the details of each task crystal clear to the reader. I could totally relate to the DJ part of your description, because that was my role in a different place in a different time: I used to meticulously record three hours worth of music from vinyl to a reel-to-reel tape deck in order to control the vibe at the parties my crew hosted. Back in the day, if you didn't do this, then you'd have people fighting over which record to put on the turntable. Our parties were better because the vibe was carefully choreographed by a future writing professor.... Good work. I look forward to reading more of your writing in this course.
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