In the coming week my main focus is to sell at least five tickets. I know it doesn’t really seem like that many but it is probably going to prove to be quite difficult as everyone I have talked to already has shot me down. I am going to try to sell them to my sister and brother and also to a few people I work with.

Secondly, Jessica and I are going to get together this weekend to put the slideshow together. We already have the majority of the pictures gathered but we need to actually make the PowerPoint. Also, next week we are going to the Brooklyn Branch Library to see if they have any pictures that we can use and do not already have.

After Jessica and my library trip, I need to go to the bar. I am hopefully going to do it the same day we go to the library, but I need to make sure that I am familiar with the 4100 Club’s system since I will be bartending at the event. I am going to contact Mina this weekend to see what nights are good for her. I do know how to use most of the restaurant computer systems and ticket systems since I have worked at many bars and restaurants, but in order to make sure everything goes smoothly on Saturday I want to make sure that I am prepared. When I go to do the training, I also want to see the exact spot where we will set up the backdrop for the slide show to be running and make sure that there are available power outlets in that area.

I am hoping that Mina is free on Wednesday afternoon to train me, since I will be done almost all of my finals at that point. I would like to do the training Wednesday afternoon because then I could go to the Street Team afterwards. I think that there are a couple houses that we should go back to because they truly did seem interested in the event but just wanted to check on the date and we can hopefully get them to buy the tickets in advance or at least remind them again about the 17^th.

This weekend and next week I have a lot to do for the project. On Friday I need to get a role of blue tickets from my job that we can use for either the 50/50 raffle or for the other raffle prizes. Secondly, I am going to contact Dr. Lindenmeyer today to ask her if I will be allowed to make an announcement in class next Wednesday (5/6) about the 4100 Club celebration. That is our last day of class and the in-class final so if I need to do it then before its too late.

This weekend I also am excited about the Street Team outing on Sunday. I am hoping that we can sell a lot of tickets since people in the neighborhood are probably more informed about the event. Also, Stasi said that she was going to go to the lady’s house that contacted Dr. King saying that she wanted to buy tickets today to get the tickets to her, so I gave her the contact information. She is going to call me to let me know if she is unable to make contact with the woman so we can make sure to go to her house on Sunday so she can purchase her tickets.

Additionally, I am making cupcakes for the bake sale on Monday. I am unable to sign up for one of the times to sit at the table in the Commons terrace because I have four final exams next week, but Jessica is going to pick up the cupcakes from me on Monday morning since she signed up for the 11:00 am slot.

Lastly, Jessica and I made plans to go to the Brooklyn Branch Library to try to find more historic Brooklyn pictures to use for the slideshow. We do have some already that we have taken photographs or pictures that are hanging on the Club’s wall and also some pictures from the history group, as well as a few online. We will scan all of the pictures that we can from books and newspapers in the Brooklyn Branch Library. After that, depending on how many photos we have, or don’t have, we will go back to the Club and take pictures of more of the photos on the wall to use for the slide show. After we finish compiling all of these pictures we will put the actual show together. While we are at the Club this weekend for the Street Team I want to try to get there a few minutes early so I can talk to Meena to find out what the situation is with the TVs at the Club, and if we will actually be able to hook DVD players up to the ones around the bar to run the slide show. I also want to figure out where we can set up a larger screen, most likely in the banquet room, to run the slide show and whatever other interviews or information that the history group wants to have running during the event.

Finally, I am waiting on the interviews to be completed so I can start transcribing the information. I really want to help with them, but I do not really feel completely comfortable doing oral history interviews, so I am willing to transcribe as much as necessary to make up for the fact that I am not actually doing the interviews myself.

This week I was somewhat disappointed after leaving class about a lot of things that I was originally told were “set in stone.” After learning last week that all of the silent auction donations that were “set in stone” truly were not, I was upset to hear about the fact that this was the case for other things as well. We all already knew about the troubles we were having getting someone famous to come to the event for the player signing after hearing that some of the items that we a “guarantee” for the raffles, such as the Orioles tickets may not actually come through. When I typed up the group strategic plan, I only put things on there that were supposed to be confirmed, but obviously that was not the case.

The problem that I am having with that is that I feel like some people, and I’m not going to name any names, have not been honest with us the entire time and have told us that they knew things were guaranteed when they clearly were not. We are getting closer and closer to the event and if these kinds of behaviors continue, it will be a serious problem. Okay, now that I’m finished venting, I can actually start to write about what I will be doing for the project this week.

In class on Thursday, I am hoping that Jessica and I can choose a time within the next week where we can go to the club together to photograph the pictures on the wall for the slideshow. Additionally, I have started to make contacts for donations for the raffles and silent auctions. I do not really know any one who will be able to give us expensive sports memorabilia, but I think that I will be able to get some gift card for raffles and smaller items for the silent auction that we can use if we are still lacking in that department.

Also, I do feel a little better about the project after making the strategic plan for our group because now I know what everyone is going to be responsible for. (Thanks for letting us turn it in late) As long as everyone sticks to the plan and gets done what they say they are going to get done, I think that it can be a successful event even if we do not have a famous person their for the autograph signing.

My main concern at this point is selling tickets. I really think that we need to sell as many as possible before the event in case none of the community members show up at the door. I really think that we need to start advertising a lot more. When Jessica and I go to the Club next and I am in that area, I am going to take flyers to all of the local schools to ask I there is anywhere that I can post them. Also, local post offices and libraries generally have some kind of community bulletin boards, so we should be able to post flyers and advertise there as well.

When we arrived for the Street Team outing on Sunday, I was slightly nervous. I’m not sure why because I have to talk to complete strangers at my job all the time, but I was anyway. The first few houses, I made Hillman and Gerard do the talking. After watching them do a couple, decided that I could do it. I was happy that I did because the first house that I walked up to, I was able to sell two tickets! It probably helped that the woman was a UMBC alumni, but either way, that’s two more people coming to the event. After that I was not able to sell anymore tickets, but we did get to pass out flyers to many of the houses on the street. While we did get shot down immediately a few times, most people at the very least listened to what we had to say. One problem that we were having was with people not knowing what they were going to be doing on May 17^th. I can understand that, however, because if someone put me on the spot and asked me to decide right away if I would definitely be attending something a month away, I would not know an answer either. Since many people did seem legitimately interested in attending but were unable to make a definite commitment without checking with their husbands, checking their kids sports schedules, etc., we made sure to remind everyone that they could still purchase tickets in advance from the bar for a reduced rate, and could even still buy them at the door at the last minute. While it was not quite as successful as we had hoped at selling tickets, I do believe that it helped incredibly to get the word out there to the community and to get them excited about the event.

This week I have learned that we need to get definite donations for the silent auction since we no longer are able to get the items that were originally planned. On Tuesday in class, I plan on discussing this need with everyone in hopes that the class will be able to help. This weekend, however, I will be contracting local sports stores and memorabilia stores in hopes that they will be willing to donate items that we can use for the auction. Additionally, my Dad knows a lot of people within Baltimore’s sports scene, so I am hoping that he will be able to make some contacts for us to get more donations for the auction. I really do need the classes help with this though, as I am hoping to be able to have, in writing, at least 3 but preferably 5 donations that we can auction off at the event in order to obtain straight profits.

Additionally, we need to purchase tickets to use for the raffling of the sports tickets that Corey has obtained through his contacts as well as for the 50/50 raffle. After discussing this with Dr. King today at our meeting, we decided that we can simply purchase the rolls of tickets at a pretty cheap price from local stores. We need to have two different colors though, one for the regular raffles, and one for the 50/50 raffle. I can more than likely get a role of blue tickets from my job to use for one of the two raffles, so that will just leave one separate color role for us to purchase.

Also, when we go meet on Sunday for the Street Team, I want to look around the club to see what pictures that they have hanging on the wall that Jessica and I can take digital photos of to use for the slideshow that will ideally be running throughout the whole event. We need to figure out if we can use someone’s camera, and if not, I know Corey has a nice digital camera, so next week in class, hopefully we can set up a time where Jessica, Corey, and I can go to the club to take these pictures.

Lastly, the Event Planning group needs to decide on what kid-friendly events that we will have during the event. I know many people have shot down face painting, but I think that it is a fun and cheap way to entertain children. Additionally, if we are able to obtain for free, or even purchase cheaply, silly little prizes, such as balls, stickers, bubbles, just inexpensive things that we can use to give away to children, we can possibly have some sort of games set up, like a small putt-putt green, and if they can make a certain number of points they win a prize, or maybe a small basketball hoop set up outside with the same concept. I think that we should have at least three different activities for children, so if we do one or two games, and then either face painting or balloon animals, etc., that should be sufficient.

This week in our committee meetings I found myself getting somewhat frustrated with some of my group members and the decisions that were made, especially regarding the prices of the tickets. I know we need to make money, but I think that selling the tickets for $20 a piece is extremely pricey, especially when you consider the community we will be attempting to sell a large portion of our tickets to, the Brooklyn community (lets face it, many of them will not be able to afford that kind of price) and UMBC students. I think that it is ridiculous to think that we will be able to sell the tickets for that high, if the event was not something that I am a part of, there is not way that I would even consider spending $20 on going to it. I really want it to be a success, but I think that in order to get people to purchases tickets, we need to slightly lower the price, as well as give them more of an incentive to come to the event. For me personally, I am not a sports fan and I don’t know a thing about any of the sports figures. I think that for people who are in the same situation as I am, we need to have some kind of fun activity drawing them to the bar on May 17. I know things like Bingo games sound corny to us, but I think some type of game like that with good prizes awarded would be something to entertain a lot of the older regulars and community members, who we definitely want at the event. As far as some kind of thing enticing college students who are not sports fans, I really haven’t thought of anything good yet, but by Tuesday I plan to have something to propose to my Event Planning group.

Aside from Event Planning stuff, I really think that we need to stress the importance of the street team in class and make sure we have a large group in order for it to go successfully. I know we are supposed to have our t-shirts by next weekend and we need to make sure that this is a definite so we look more “official” when we go out. Finally, I know we talked about making a questionnaire about Brooklyn to hand out with the flyers and everything when the Street Team goes out so as long as everyone still wants to do that, I will make one up and figure out how to get copies made so we can pass those out when we go out next Sunday.

On Monday, March 30, Hillman, Natalie, and I went to the Brooklyn Park neighborhood to begin the Street Team’s process of speaking to neighbors and community members and passing out flyers. From this first say, we realized two things. The first is, if you go on a weekday in the middle of the day, no one will be home, and secondly, we need t-shirts to look more professional and a much larger street team if we want to actually be able to talk to and pass out flyers to the entire neighborhood. In order for this to be more successful, we need to get t-shirts as soon as possible. It does not look professional and no one really knows what to expect if they see three kids all dressed differently walking up to their door. I think that from now one, anyone on the street team should be wearing the t-shirt in order for people to be more receptive. Additionally, we need more flyers. I know flyers cost money to print, but if we either take money from the fund or if everyone goes to the library and spends about three dollars, at ten cents per page, that would be plenty of flyers to pass out to the whole neighborhood and a small expense individually. Next time we go, we also need to have our pamphlets and questionnaires ready to pass out. If we go on an evening night around 6 pm or on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon with all of the necessary materials, the Street Team can be a huge success. Today, we only actually got to talk to one man about the event, as most people were not home, but we did place flyers in many of the mailboxes surrounding the club, and also gave some to the owners to post around the club.

As far as food for the event, we also spoke to the owners while we were there for the Street Team. They would be willing to set up a buffet for us. The first price that she gave us on a per person basis was $22 per ticket. We told her that while we appreciate her helping us that was not a realistic price for many of the people that we would be inviting, college students in particular. After this, she told us she would be willing to bring it down to $15 per person. At this price, on the buffet she would include two appetizers, mozzarella sticks and chicken wings, salad, and then spaghetti, meatballs and bread for an entrée. She also said she would be willing to include ice tea on the buffet, but any sodas or alcohol would come from the cash bar. I think that $15 is a little more realistic, but still could pose difficulties as to whether or not people will actually be willing to spend that kind of money. I am not sure if anyone else is interested in this idea or not, but I think that it is a possibility that we could use some of our funds to pay Nina for part of the food costs in a effort to lower the ticket price.

This past weekend I went to the Arundel Burning book signing. It was kind of sad, because there were about five people there for it. It was an interesting trip though, as I got to meet the owners for the first time and some very interesting regulars. Paul and Anne, who go to the club every night of the week, told me that they were very close to Manny and Dino, the Club’s previous owners. They also told me that they stopped going for a while when the club was sold but recently started coming back when they realized how nice the new owners actually were. I also learned a lot from Paul about the history of the club, and I agree with Katie, he will be a wonderful candidate for the oral history. It was sad to learn from the couple that a lot of the people in the community who had been regulars of the club for years stopped coming for two reasons. One of the reasons is that the owners are not from the United States, which a lot of the older folks have a problem with, for whatever reason. Another reason is because a girl who used to work there was a horrible person. She stole almost 1,000 dollars and a Keno machine from the owners who gave her a free place to live and then when they caught her, she told community members and old regulars a lot of bad and untrue rumors about the couple.

This coming weekend, Hillman, Missy, Natalie, and I are going out on Saturday for the street team. We are basically going to be going door to door promoting the even on May 17^th as well as asking for pictures and memories that local community members have about the club in its better days. Hopefully we will be able to also meet people who are interested and knowledgeable for the oral histories. After we go door to door, I am planning on going to the club to hopefully meet more nice people like Paul and Anne who will also be willing to work with us for oral history interviews. Finally, since I am part of the event planning, I am going to meet with the owners to work out the food for the event. Hopefully they are willing to make some sort of deal that comes along with a ticket purchase, but this is obviously at their discretion. I plan on having the final details about food for the event on Tuesday in class.

Committee Ideas

History:

- Find/contact local members of the community

- Interview them- Talk to newer members of the community about what they think of the club/ what they know about it

- Interview older members of the community- Find out what they know about the club/ if they used to or still do frequent the club

- More in depth demographic analysis of Brooklyn

Event Planning:

- Secure a definite date for the event!

- Secure all sports figures for the event- since we will have a set date, this should not be a problem

- Secure all prizes for raffle and for silent auction- also since we now will have a date, this should not be a problem

- Discuss what kind of D.J./ live music will be at event

- Discuss decorations for event- should be sports themed since that is the theme of the club

- Plan on how we will share with those who attend the event the historical importance of the club and the need to preserve it (Slideshow playing throughout the event, etc.)