The Literati Lounge

On Wednesday, December 9, 2009, four classmates and I hosted “The Literati Lounge,” a wine and cheese fundraiser for Frontier College, at Re: Reading a used bookstore on the Danforth. The event was the major project for our Event Management course in Centennial College's Corporate Communications and Public Relations post-grad program.

The event was tons of fun. We had readings by two award-winning authors: Pasha Malla, author of The Withdrawal Method, and Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans and co-founder of the public relations firm Thornley Fallis. We also had a raffle, free book giveaways and, of course, lots of food, wine and book-related discussions. We spent most of the first semester working on the event and along the way I learned some valuable lessons:

Don't be shy – when you need something, ask for it. Initially, when we pursued sponsors, we weren't as proactive as we needed to be. Therefore, we ended up doing a second wave of solicitations and targeted far more sponsors more aggressively, which got us some amazing raffle prizes. We realized that people actually were willing to help, but more often than not they were extremely busy, so following up (sometimes multiple times) was critical.

Double check everything and don't be afraid to negotiate. Considering how much planning and work went the event, it was inevitable Murphy's Law would eventually rear its ugly head. We decided that the best way to showcase and thank our sponsors would be a banner with their names and business cards. I got a quote from the printer and got everything ready. Just to be safe, I called to double check the quote....and was given a completely different price. The confusing and contradictory information continued for the next few days until I was finally told that, not only was my initial quote for a nonexistent option, but the actual option cost five times that incorrect quote. Fortunately I explained my situation to the manager at the print shop and was able to finally get the banner printed at a large discount.

Although I'm outgoing, I tend to avoid conflict and confrontation, so when I realized this situation had plenty of both I found it a bit nerve-wracking. Fortunately, negotiating wasn't as scary or difficult as I'd feared. Plus, following up to confirm the quote, even though I had previously used this printer, was critical in resolving the situation without breaking our budget.

Sometimes things work out, even when they don't. The situation with the print shop wasn't the only time we realized this. All of the groups in class had been fortunate enough to have beautiful weather on the days of their events. Unfortunately, on the day of our event Toronto had its first major winter storm.

Although this resulted in a few no-shows, we still had a decent turnout. Also, the bookstore was less crowded so people were able to mingle without feeling cramped and crowded and some even bought books, which made the owner of the bookstore happy.

Have fun because time passes way too quickly. About three months of planning and hard work paid off in an event that ran smoothly and passed more quickly that I thought it would. Everyone had a great time, our guest authors were stellar, and Christopher, the owner of Re:Reading was wonderful to us. Best of all, we were able to raise over $800 for Frontier College. It was fun to work with great people and create something we could all be proud of.