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.