Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Event Planning
Whitney Haddard
November 1, 2010
The business seminar on Wednesday, Nov. 17th is now only a little over two weeks
away. My staff has taken care of everything to insure that the event runs smoothly and
accomplishes the objectives we discussed.
Please see the attached itinerary detailing the day’s agenda for the attendees. It is
structured so that the variety of topics covered by speakers is spread out, with no two
similar sessions back-to-back. Breakfast and lunch will be eaten whilst the seminar
continues, so as to include all of the speakers within the booked time frame at the venue.
The social event will be a treat for employees of the firm; a plated dinner with
entertainment by The Legal Eagles will conclude the day. This relaxed-but-sophisticated
social event mirrors the corporate culture of Lawrenceville Legal Partners. During the
dinner, Mr. Morrison will be acknowledged for his upcoming retirement, and service
awards from the company will be presented.
I will touch-base with you again in the next week, but please don’t hesitate to contact me
with any questions.
Sincerely,
Whitney Haddard
didn’t want to make the attendees feel like they had to take extra time out of their lives to
come to this business seminar required by work. Also, I didn’t want it too near
venue was booked from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. and I knew that I needed to have a social portion
to conclude it. I decided that since it was such a beautiful venue, the social part would not
take place somewhere else, but would also take place in the chapel. Since the venue was
only booked until 8 p.m. I figured that a dinner could take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
and leave an hour for cleanup of the all day event. Starting the day around 9 a.m. just
seemed like the time that most people begin what they are doing for the day, and making
them come any earlier would have been rude. This gives the caterers, and my staff time
to set up everything and prep everything for the long day from 6 a.m. to about 8:30 a.m..
I decided to use all of the sessions in the seminar because I thought that they
were all important and helpful for the attendees. The reason I did not have them run
concurrently and have the attendees choose one or the other at a specific time is because
my venue did not allow for that. It is one large room that can only host one speaker at a
time. One problem I did run into when putting together the itinerary was time for
breakfast and lunch. I came up with the solution of having the caterers set up a
continental breakfast (ready for the attendees at 8:45 a.m.) and a buffet lunch (ready for
the attendees at 12:35 p.m.) in a downstairs classroom. Attendees will get their meal and
then bring it back upstairs for the continuing seminar. Also, during the breakfast there
would be vendor samples for the new office coffee provider. The sessions that occur
whilst the attendees would be eating their breakfasts and lunch are sessions that they will
most likely not need to take notes. These are sessions that can just listen while they enjoy
their meals. Aramark would provide breakfast and lunch through the venue so as to cut
costs and save for the plated dinner by an outside caterer. The breakfast would be bagels,
muffins, fruit, cereal and juices, and the lunch would be 3 kinds of sandwiches or burritos
including one vegetarian option, potato salad and sodas (this is much like the set up
As I said in the cover letter, the sessions are structured so that the variety of topics
covered by speakers is spread out, with no two similar sessions back-to-back. I made
sure lunch was in the middle of the day, I didn’t want the half before lunch to be longer
than the half after, or vice versa. After the update on new clients (so around 12:35p.m.)
attendees will make their way downstairs for the buffet lunch. The next session doesn’t
begin until 1 p.m., giving the attendees time to all get their lunches and make their way
back upstairs. When this “listening” session ends (as I mentioned before) I put the team
building exercise. The attendees will have just been energized by lunch and will be
seating from the seminar (herringbone: because it allows for note taking and focuses all
to one speaker) and to set up the seating for the dinner (cluster: because it takes the
audience to a more intimate setting). So I decided to have the outside caterer set up a cash
bar in the downstairs classroom for a cocktail hour to take place while upstairs is being
changed. The reason I decided to get an outside caterer is because the law firm made it
seem like the social part of the day needed to be special for the attendees. A fancy seated
acknowledged for his upcoming retirement, and service awards from the company will be
presented. Also, the Legal Eagles will perform their set on the stage in the chapel.
Attached is a task sheet for the dinner. I had to do this for an assignment in my
Publicity Methods class, and I did it for this event to start to get my ideas flowing.