Producing my first big event and nerves are twitching

[gisela]

I am so nervous about this. On November 7th there will be a great show in Copenhagen Denmark with some of the best bellydancers in Denmark and guest star Dalila of Cairo, and I am in charge of this :shok:
It is because I am on the board of the bellydance association and all the others had too busy lives to devote their time to this. So it ended up being me, and the others will of course help out on the day of the show.
I already made one embarrassing mistake by forgetting a dancer and not putting her on the poster. Wow, I feel bad for that. Tried to make it right by sending a new version around and getting it n facebook and the website.

Otherwise I am pretty much on top of things, but I worry that the show I put together will be too long. I got a e-mail from Dalila today that she will dance for a total of 30 minutes. That is a bit longer than I expected.

I'll let you know how it all goes, and I might write here to soothe my anxious mind. You are welcome to come with encouragement and advice.
I feel like this right now::shok::lol:ray::dance::shok:

attached is the poster.

 

[Mosaic]

Congrats on being asked to organise such a big affair, they must know you can do it or you wouldn't have been asked...Fabulous poster you did a great job:clap::clap: I am sure it will run beautifully, I can understand you being nervous, I bet pro organisers also get nervous. You will be a proud 'Mama' when you see it all happening and have every right to be. Just remember that if you need some help along the way, ask & delegate! don't stress yourself out unnecessarily and somewhere amongst the nerves have fun
~Mosaic

 

[Rania]

wow congrats i bet your excited. I have seen your pics, im curious if you have a site and a youtube to see you dance, knowing they thought you where worth of getting invited, I bet you are a talented preformer. Ill google it. Wow! I hope your worry free betime the show happens, don't be nervous, just happy and excited

Best Wishes!

 

[Amulya]

Brave! I know how nerve wrecking it is (did a big event once on my own, never again! too much work) Dalilah is great, I saw her last year in Holland, is she touring?

 

[Daimona]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, but I have to emphasize what Mosaic said:

if you need some help along the way, ask & delegate! don't stress yourself out unnecessarily

Enjoy and have fun!

 

[gisela]

Thank you all for the encouragement. I have managed to delegate things that I either stress about or don't have the possibility to do (like printing etc) and that takes such a lift off my shoulders. I have limited experience with organizing events like this but I have done two smaller shows with very good result.

Rania, I am not dancing in this show as it is a much higher level than me (which is awesome ). I am "merely" organizing it. Inviting dancers, setting the program, making pr, being the one with the overview of what needs to be done etc etc.

 

[Aniseteph]

Yay Gisela! :dance: :clap:

Sounds like you are doing brilliantly - delegating has to be the way to go, especially if you can offload the bits that you know stress you out most.

 

[lizaj]

Wow, Gisela..go girl..sounds wonderful..and a good dancer can't dance for too long..They'll get their money's worth.:dance:

 

[gisela]

Thank you! A simple "go girl!" from you guys is actually making me feel great
My plan is just to start exactly when it is supposed to, NO delays, make the shifts in music and dancer pretty quick and smooth, and then just let it take the time it takes :lol: and hope for the best. If I have to, I'll go to the venue monday morning to remove whatever we didn't have time to clean away after the show. Somehow it will work out...I am positive.

 

[Greek Bonfire]

I bet you will do great. It's when you don't worry that something will get messed up big time. But with you being so conscientious, you will probably dazzle them with your organizational skills. Best of luck to you!

 

[Outi]

Good luck!

 

[Amulya]

Rania, I am not dancing in this show as it is a much higher level than me (which is awesome ). I am "merely" organizing it. Inviting dancers, setting the program, making pr, being the one with the overview of what needs to be done etc etc.

That is much better, to have to dance as well is a killer. I was so dumb that I did that, I thought it was expected as no one had ever seen me before. I felt you can't leave the audience curious.

 

[gisela]

Wehooo, we are breaking even and doing a teeny profit from the workshops and shows! Me so happy! It has been nervewrecking to wait for people to decide if they want to buy a ticket. I myself always pay last minute and I was hoping that was what everyone else was doing too. Turns out... it WAS!

 

[Belly Love]

You're going to do great! Everyone is going to have a fantastic time. Try your best to enjoy yourself so you don't end up regretting that you were too stressed to enjoy this accomplishment

 

[gisela]

Yes, thanks Belly Love, that is a good reminder.

 

[Mosaic]

So glad it is all working out and coming together for you Sounds like you are doing a great job!:clap:
~Mosaic

 

[Samira_dncr]

Wehooo, we are breaking even and doing a teeny profit from the workshops and shows! Me so happy! It has been nervewrecking to wait for people to decide if they want to buy a ticket. I myself always pay last minute and I was hoping that was what everyone else was doing too. Turns out... it WAS!

This is EXACTLY the reason I offer early-bird incentives. Sigh.

 

[gisela]

This is EXACTLY the reason I offer early-bird incentives. Sigh.

I so understand that. We tried too, but we were not in good time so we had to give some slack to let people understand that the event was happening.

It took place last night and it was AWESOME! The place was packed! When I say BIG event it is nowhere near the size of f ex Samira's big event but this country is small and the dance community is also pretty small. With everything taken into account I think the audience numbers and the quality of performers were incredible.
I made it my job to make the performers happy and offered snacks and beverages backstage and gave them a small gift afterwards. I got plenty of compliments on the nice atmosphere and well planned event

Some flaws were that I grossly miscalculated the program time and some tech-problems and a presenter with a mind of her own slowed things down even more. So what I had hoped would take 2 h and 15 minutes actually took 3 h and we had to rush to pack everything together. We were out of the hall half an hour AFTER our end time. That meant we had a very sour person standing with arms crossed looking at her watch, waiting to lock up after us, while we were running around clapping tables together and stacking chairs. We will also have to pay a bit more rent but I am sure it will be fine.

There was only one diva-encounter and it was not our Cairo guest star. I guess there always has to be one who thinks herself a bit better than the rest, right?

The place had a crappy, crappy dvd-player instead of a cd-player. What is up with that???!!! My god! It could only be controlled with a remote control and that one only worked in one out of three button pushes. Poor music-person was going crazy! She did a good job anyway though.

I was so happy that the dancers were incredible. It was a joy to watch and everuone really outdid themselves. I delegated most of the chores during the actual show so I had plenty of time to watch the dancing.

And some sweet, sweet girls even said that they were disappointed when they realized I wouldn't be dancing :redface:
And I got a hug from one of my dance teachers whom I admire very much!

All in all, success but lessons learnt

 

[da Sage]

Congratulations, Gisela! I knew you'd pull off a great event.

 

[Safran]

Hurrah! Well done, Gisela!