Sunday 19th of September will go down in history as the day that I discovered that I could survive any disaster with pose....barely! The event started with a few weeks of inviting USG's, Directors of UN Agencies, Permanent Missions to the UN, ICT's, NGOs and VIP (aka 'celebrities'...and this part had nothing to do with me--not taking responsibility for Chris Brown).
Basically, the evening started tamely with a briefing, then a brief saunter over to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC. We all were happy, cheerful, optimistic, excited and trigger happy (talking about cameras here folks). We swept through security with our Crew Badges and up to the fourth floor on an high of enthusiasm and eager expectation. This is when things began to get chaotic....but nothing prepared me for the evening ahead.
But I should have known. Organizing Captains began moving people around....some began briefing their volunteers, while others did not show up and walk throughs did not happen for those volunteers that needed it. Then guest began to arrive, complete with suitcases that they demanded must be stored (Waldorf's cloak room had not opened yet....and a frantic radio message was sent out to them and to the Captain of Registration....emily who had been hired as a event manager to handle registration and table seating....she was too busy with the secret service to assist us....So, I handled requests from a Permanent Mission about pre-registering their important representatives, and secret service about the same important representatives. Then I tried to snag her as she rushed by....unfortunately, she didn't have time to brief us. So, we began to create our own system to cope with the trickle of guests....
However, when the one or two guests turned into 10s and 20s. I ended up taking over registration....primarily due to my familiarity with the guest list. A guest list from hell (honestly) because there were only about 700 (being generous with my estimate here) seats. There were approximately over 1000 people on the guest list and about 60+ who turned up uninvited with a fw.fw.fw'd copy of the pdf invite demanding to be granted access. The guest list..was not in alphabetical order and was almost impossible to understand unless the guest guessed their classification correctly.
This was when the unbriefed volunteers, struggling against the tide of guests, started to freak out....I over heard one telling the Director of DESA....that she was not on the guest list. But that was merely the start of a rapidly unraveling Registration process.
I was the problems desk...and the Captain's (there were two) of registration....where no where to be found. It was traumatic, I had Permanent Representatives (aka Ambassadors)....yelling at me because they had been told they were not invited, CEOs threatening me, and a horde of justifiably angry individuals plus those who wanted to crash the party swarm around me. Clambering over a marble partition, I took cover in the Waldorf's Cloak room, which you guessed it! had not even opened yet!
Thankfully, this barrier appeared to calm down most but not all of the individuals with problems. I took names and contact details and directed anyone who I thought was legitimate to the upstairs reception. I directed them to the balcony afterwards unless they received a call from me. I think this sparked part two of the bad side of the evening....table seating nightmare!
Luckily, Eric (Registration Captain) arrived to rescue me and started flying through the list assigning people, making apologies to those who had been disinvited (yes, due to huge number of Heads of State that RSVP'd last minute...we spent Thursday and Friday uninviting people). Some turned up anyway, some didn't check their emails....and it was so hard to tell them. I do not envy Eric or I our task.
At this stage, the reception ended. This was when the nightmare began....this was when individuals that I had directed upstairs began stealing seats. This was the stage where grown men began throwing tantrums when security tried to redirect them. This was the stage where I felt completely helpless. Governments, PA's, Ambassadors, Executive Assistants, Directors of UN Agencies, ASG's, and USG's started arriving at the problems desk in droves to report people in their seats....who were also Permanent Representatives etc.
It was a protocol nightmare:-after-all, who gets the unpleasant task of kicking out a country that never RSVPd? This was my crash course in Diplomacy as I frantically reseated people, balanced necessity with my future existence and credibility. Then I got complainssts cos it was too cold in the Grand Ballroom, then complaints that the starters had been served 30 minutes prior and the next course had not arrived. Then complainst from awards recipients who wanted to leave but the ceremony was taking too long. Then a volunteer text me from the Emergency Room (she couldn't breathe and was on oxygen) at NYU.
I looked around at the relatively calmer (people seemed to be enjoying themselves....honestly!) place...and decided to catch a taxi down there. After-all, life is more important that a mere party....even if I have been helping with the thing for over a month.
It was a little discouraging that after all that preparation work--things unraveled on the night. However, as one guest put it (aptly). It gave me the opportunity to see people "in a whole new light". Even people I knew.
So, the learning curve was steep. I learnt how to remain calm under pressure, be polite yet firm and how to take initiative in chaos. So, the event wasn't a loss after-all. Besides, I made some friends that night...that will last a long time. Because our friendships were forged in the fire ;) A little clichéd perhaps but there is always a sweet silver lining to lighten these things up. Besides, who will remember next year? Lets learn from the disastrous moments (and forget the rest).
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